Watch this snake that dropped into a Charlotte NC kitchen for some eggs:

[Are_grits_groceries]

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It was a run of the mill Sunday afternoon here on our little farmette, until a noise in the kitchen made us look up...at the spice cabinet...where THIS was descending toward a basket of fresh eggs on the counter...! To answer your questions:
- Rat Snake. Non-venomous, beneficial due to their penchant for eating rodents and (OUTSIDE) eggs.

- It got in through a hole in our laundry room floor, which is now covered by a VERY heavy concrete block and which will soon be permanently plugged.

- Yes, we let it finish the egg.

- Using two brooms, a whole lot of patience, nudging, and encouraging, we finally convinced it that going out the open window was a MUCH better option than slithering away behind the fridge! As soon as we could get its bulk under the brooms, we hefted it out the window, and off it went to the rest of its evening. And then we drank. (Kidding! okay, sort of. Lol!)

All's well that ends well, but...JEEZ!!!
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article22845687.html

Look before you scramble!
I've seen some huge rat snakes at my relatives' farms. Scary as shite if you aren't expecting it.

[magical thyme]

1. thank you for the reminder

of why I prefer freezing to death here in the north to moving to warmer climes!

aaaaack!!!!!!!

[countryjake]

3. How far North are you?

Rat snakes have a pretty extensive range in the Eastern US.

[magical thyme]

4. Maine. the only snakes I've seen up here are tiny garden snakes

Not even the pretty green ones just a little further south of here. Plain brown and small. And never, ever ever one in my kitchen

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. You do have rat snakes there.

Here is a link that explains what to o should you find one:
http://www.animalcontrolsolutions.com/animals/rat-snake-removal.html

[magical thyme]

9. ah. that explains it. I keep all my food closed up,

in fridge and freezer.

Now I wouldn't mind a rat snake visiting my barn and keeping the mouse population down.

[countryjake]

7. Yeah, I don't think they are found clear up there.

I have seen them up in Wisconsin, tho, and it gets damn cold there.

We have them where I grew up in Northwest Ohio...while I was back there a few years ago, I almost walked right into one walking in the woods around the house. I heard the birds all putting up an alert, thought they'd spotted a sleeping owl and I was peering up the trees, looking for it. They had spotted something alright, but it was no owl.

Rat snakes are expert climbers and faster than most other constrictors.

[NutmegYankee]

49. They are Connecticut, but this is the northern end of the range.

[marym625]

2. Oh my god

I would have freaked out. Imagine waking up with that thing in your bed.

Yep. Good reason to be in Chicago. No rat snakes coming in.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Well you do have rat snakes there.

They are just one species there.
Here is a link to a snake removal company in that area:
http://www.snake-removal.com/Chicago-IL.html

[marym625]

16. I don't want to know

I hate creepy crawling slithering things inside. I am just going to pretend that they don't live here.

[Are_grits_groceries]

18. Whatever works.

[marym625]

23. Sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful

I do appreciate the link.

[Are_grits_groceries]

35. You weren't. Didn't mean to sound snippy. nt

[marym625]

53. You didn't.

Just wasn't sure.

[callous taoboy]

8. I'm so glad y'all didn't kill it. I love snakes.

I teach second grade in Texas and I order a rat snake named Ciena from our science center each year. She is a sweet, very docile snake and all of the kids hold her. That was a big one you had there! No way would I have attempted to grab it.

[countryjake]

11. I'm happy they weren't all freaking out in that video.

And I'm also glad they left it go on its merry way. I love snakes, too.

That's cool that you teach your kids to appreciate them!

[callous taoboy]

17. Well, we do have some baaaaaad snakes around here as well-

Rattlers can be a very real danger, and our coral snakes. But a lot of people around here think all snakes are dangerous, even the little garters. Sad.

[Are_grits_groceries]

19. I live in South Carolina.

We assume they are all poisonous until we know for sure.

[Behind the Aegis]

37. That's how my momma raised me!

We have more than a few here in OK, a few are quite poisonous. I don't take chances because I have 4 small dogs, who, for some reason, aren't afraid of snakes.

[Sancho]

10. Haha...my 80+ neighbor called 911 last week when she found a black rat snake under the couch!

She loves to garden and left her door open. The cops thought it was pretty funny, so they took the snake out and turned in loose. It promptly scooted into our yard. My wife had a new plant for our yard, and she refused to put it in 'cause the snake was "out there somewhere" so she gave the plant to our neighbor!!

Thanks goodness there was no gunplay, flash bangs, arrests, or tasers involved. You never know when you call the police down here.

At any rate, the neighbor, my wife, the snake, and the plant are all alive and well. The police had a good laugh.

[7962]

12. One of the few snakes that doesnt get an instant run from me!

Those and green snakes. As soon as you see them, you know they're not poisonous, especially green snakes. But those other ones that are gray or brownish etc, could be anything!

[pengu]

13. You're awesome for not killing that snake

Rat snakes are very, very cool. They're not just harmless, they're very beneficial. I wouldn't want one in my kitchen, of course! You get a big virtual hug from me for treating that snake with respect, and even giving it an egg.

Twelve thumbs up!

[Vinca]

14. I wouldn't mind having one around to keep the mouse population in check, but

he can't live in the kitchen! Yike!

[Are_grits_groceries]

15. He just dropped by for a snack. nt

[callous taoboy]

20. I had a big one living around my back porch a few summers ago-

The problem I was having with field mice cleared up in days. Unfortunately I think my neighbor killed him a few days later.

[countryjake]

36. Here's the one that I almost walked right into...

at my late folk's home in Ohio.

He's a pretty good-sized one (and he's still there, according to my brother).

[callous taoboy]

44. Wow! He's been eating well!

I love their climbing abilities. I had a young one, about a foot long, climb up the wall of my house to get to a bird's nest in the corner of my porch overhang. I was sad that he got to the swallow chicks, and I watched an epic battle between momma bird and the snake, but he got up there and ate the three chicks. It was something to see.

[countryjake]

46. My brother and I had an "incident" with this fella, a few months after the pic.

Even tho we'd both grown up with the Black Rats and had been taught as kids by both our folks that they were to be treated as well as any of our other critters, not to be harassed in any way, we failed their lessons, hilariously, as we were cutting and clearing things after my mother passed away. That snake in the photo was dubbed "Ollie", due to a scene involving an old Apple tree, an extension ladder, a chain saw, and my bro, consequently renamed "Stan Laurel".

After picking up many a harmless snake in my time (probably Ollie's great-great-great grandparents), on that day, I simply could not bring myself to grab him. He was at least a good seven foot long and his head was almost as large as my hand.

We raised chickens when I was a kid and the Rat Snakes never harmed any of them, not even the chicks, but they sure kept the rats from getting our corn! I've watched them stalk, wrap, and swallow, too.

[AllyCat]

21. OMG! I like snakes, but I think this would do me in.

[Hoppy]

22. Did he at least offer to pay for the egg when he got caught?

[Orrex]

25. He can't afford to pay because he works for scale.

[Orrex]

24. Are you crazy?!? It could have given you the rabies!!!!!1!

Very cool story and vid!

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Birds, reptiles and fish do not get rabies.

The Facts

WHO GETS RABIES?
Rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus that can infect all warm-blooded animals including humans. This means it can infect you or your family. Raccoons, foxes, skunks, bats, woodchucks, cats, dogs, and cattle are most likely to get rabies. Rabbits, opossums, squirrels, hamsters, rats and mice seldom get rabies. Birds, reptiles and fish do not get rabies.

http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/rabies.htm

[Orrex]

34. Uh, yeah.

Hence the hyper-bombastic subject line.

[NutmegYankee]

48. That is the only good thing about being bitten by a snake.

No rabies shots. You still have to get the Tetanus booster though and fill out a lot of paperwork. I know this from personal experience.

[hlthe2b]

26. Kali should weigh in... and tell you how frequently she finds rattlesnakes IN her house!

Just a fact of life for many areas of the country...

I, personally am happy there are non-venomous snakes out there, but of course don't want them in the house either.

[Mr Dixon]

27. SMH

Sorry but I would have killed that M.F. on spot, I don’t have time to try and identify shit death 1st identity later.

[randome]

28. Damn! I thought this was going to be a Lindsey Graham thread!

I mean, come on: snake...North Carolina? The inference is clear.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[mnhtnbb]

29. Uh, wrong Carolina. That snake--Lindsey Graham--is from SOUTH Carolina.

[mnhtnbb]

30. I've seen some HUGE black rat snakes around here. Usually moving very fast.

One was as long as our driveway is wide: we saw it slithering across the driveway heading for the ivy some years
ago just as we turned off the street to come down the driveway.

[lonestarnot]

32. That thieving no good. Must be a GOPer.

[hunter]

33. Snakes are marvelous.

If snakes didn't exist who would ever guess that it's possible to hunt on land without any appendages?

[frylock]

38. Oh hai!

[Arugula Latte]

42. I can haz dis egg to suk?

[Arkansas Granny]

39. When I was growing up, we had a healthy population of black rat snakes that lived in and around the

barn. They would take an egg now and then and occasionally a baby chicken, but my dad always figured it was a good trade off for the number of mice, rats and other varmints they kept out of the animal feed. Sometimes we would find one in the house, but we would catch it and take it back down to the barn.

Daddy always swore that if you had black snakes around, they would keep poisonous snakes away. I don't know how true that is, but in all the time we lived there, I never saw a poisonous snake.

[tblue37]

40. I love snakes and my kids and I have kept several as pets in the past. I

am amused at their reluctance to touch this handsome fellow. He was undoubtedly lethargic after his meal, so they easily could have picked him up--carefully, for his comfort's sake after eating, of course--and carried him outside.

If you would like to read some amusing anecdotes about my various snake (and other animal) friends, check out my essays on my Pet Tales website:

http://www.pettales.homestead.com/articleindex.html

You will need to scroll through the article index a little bit to find snake stories specifically, like "Sidewinder on the Desk," "Snakes Got Feet!," "Ah, How Cute!," and "My Snake Ate My Other Snake!" There's also one, "A Skink Named Lunch," about a lizard intended as a meal for a snake that had been off his normal feed (frozen pinkie mice&quot for some time, so I had arranged for live food to encourage his appetite. Wraith refused the skink, too, so I simply adopted the skink, named it Lunch, and kept it as part of my menagerie until it died of natural causes two years later.

[Arugula Latte]

41. Still not nearly as bad as the spider rain in Australia.

[Are_grits_groceries]

43. Give me the snakes.

Like I said, that spider rain would have me using a flamethrower in every direction. Might not be a living thing within miles.

[Arugula Latte]

45. Yes. The total nuclear destruction of Australia

would not be an over-reaction to a spider rain.

[3catwoman3]

52. Although I put small spiders outside...

...when I find them in our house, I do not think I wish to know what spider rain is.

[Arugula Latte]

54. It's as bad and literal as it sounds.

[NutmegYankee]

47. Even the snakes have heard about the national egg shortage.

[lonestarnot]

50. Good thing you don't live on a plane.

[Fumesucker]

51. When my oldest was about five we lived in an old country house

She came into the living room one day and said "Daddy, there's a snake in the kitchen" so we all rushed into the kitchen, no snake to be seen..

About fifteen minutes later she comes in again, "Daddy, the snake is back in the kitchen", back we go into the kitchen to find about a five foot long king snake hanging out of one of the cupboards.

Like the OP we just rounded the snake up and reintroduced it to the wild about fifty feet away from the house.