Gray Rat Snake

This gray rat snake slithered into my family room tonight. I have no idea how it got in. Otis, my dog, went nuts and chased it under a desk in another room where it was cornered. It rattled its tail, hissed and struck out in a great imitation of a rattle snake. It was at least 5 feet long. Once I got Otis shut in another room, it took me awhile to figure out how to get it out of the house. I finally got it to crawl into a black cloth shopping bag, carried it out, and turned it loose outside, but not before I took a ton of pictures. Once I got it out on the patio, it calmed down, wasn't in a hurry to leave and let me take a lot more pictures, before I prodded it to leave. Etowah County, Alabama. (IMG_5878)