I understand there are “black snakes” in the neighborhood, and that they like to nest under decks (like we used to have) and they eat small rodents. Now we have a porch instead of a deck, and this year we have numerous holes in our yard made by small rodents (voles and chipmunks, somebody told me). So I think I like the kind of snakes we “didn’t have” before, as opposed to the kind we really don’t have now.