Well he should get busy eating rats then! This is the first year we have had a problem with rats. We have horses, goats and chickens (actually the chickens belong to my neighbors, they just spend most of their time at our place) and even with all the grain we use, never had a problem with rats until recently. My neighbor thinks it may have something to do with the large amount of rain we had earlier in the year and over the winter. Anyway, it would be nice after taking ten years off my life this snake would take a bite out of the rat population.

Yup, San Diego Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer annectens). Harmless rodent eater. Here is a link that might be useful: California Herps

There are NOT baby "water moccasins" (Cottonmouths). Your friend clearly doesn't know much about snake identification. This is a hatchling of either the Southern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor) or possibly the Eastern Coachwhip (Coluber flagellum) (the babies are difficult to distinguish from just the head. These snakes are harmless lizard eaters. The Southern Black Racer is one of the most common snake in Florida and that is the way I would lean on this one based on this photo. This post was edited by FHFchrish on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 8:25

CUTE! One of the non-venomous ones ... maybe eastern Garter Snake? (they like swamp and pond habitat)