Ah, that helps. It is a Texas Garter ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_garter_snake ), which is unique in the bright orange or red stripe on the back. They are wonderful to have around for the gardener, so much that people have changed the name from "Garter" (after a garter belt which held up socks in the old days, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_%28stockings%29 ) to "gardener snake", since they eat all manner of slugs, bugs, worms, and other garden pests. Though totally harmless, they can be nippy, and will spread the head and sometimes the whole body in an effort to look dangerous. They are eaten by skunks, coyotes, crows, hawks, raccoons and others.
In captivity they generally settle down and make decent pets, but require a UV light in order to maintain health.

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: Thx Alex. I did forget to mention that
: I am in Northen Bexar County. It's the
: bright orange midline stripe rather
: than a dorsal along the spine, that
: throws me. Hoping you could identify it
: as eaither a checker, a racer or a
: ribbon of some sort
: Rolf
: