It reminds me of the Bull/Cornsnakes(though they weren't quite that brightly
marked) we had when I lived with my GP's on their farm...they'd slither
under the chicken and their roosts and break and suck up the eggs ...Hated
those snakes I did....Does this snake hiss?...uggghhh. Me no like
Snakes....Dave Y. and his DW Patti on the other hand... love them:-( Yeak!

You might want to post your pics in alt.binaries.pictures.animals for
the ID help. They do it there all the time for a variety of species. If
your ISP doesn't carry abpa, I can post your pics and message there and
relay their replies to you if you want.

Sorry for the big snip, but my server is really picky about having less
reply text than original text.

Could your visitor be an Eastern Fox Snake?  Though the coloration of
yours is somewhat lighter, the spot pattern is very close.  Here's a
link to one site that might help:

http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products/snake/fact%20pages/fox_snake/fox_snake.html

It doesn't appear to be a copperhead, which was my initial *brief*
impression, having nearly stepped on copperheads a number of times
(gotta watch those logs...;) ), but I'm by far no expert.

Hope it helps, but even more so, hope you don't have any tornadoes to
force you to share space with it.

Purrs-

Chris, Tripper, Katie, and Hazard

Wouldn/t have the foggiest what species it is, but its a very pretty snake,
IMHO.

But I still would'nt go into you storm cellar, even if s/he was the snake
equivalent of Prince Charming or Cinderella.

Yowie

I took the liberty of posting your urls to abpa with a ping to someone who
frequents there who knows his stuff about snakes etc.  I'd call him a
herpetologist (one who studies snakes, lizards, frogs & such), but I'm not
sure if he really is or not.  Here's his reply:

The snake is harmless gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer). They're loud
hissers and will bite but are completely nonvenomous.
The snake is probably in your basement to eat rodents or seek shelter from
the heat. I would suggest that you remove the snake by sweeping it in to a
large trash can and then dump it outside.

Which snake ID book are you using?
I always recommend the Peterson Field Guides.

All venomous snakes in the US except for the coral snake are pit vipers,
that is they have a heat sensing  pit located between the eye and the
nostril.

There are some good gopher snake photos posted here:
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Animal&rel-taxon=contains&
where-taxon=&rel-namesoup=like&where-namesoup=gopher+snake&where-lifeform=any&wh
ere-collectn=any&where-photographer=any&rel-location=like&where-location=&where-
continent=any&where-country=any&where-state=any&where-county=any&rel-kwid=equals
&where-kwid=

or

http://tinyurl.com/2equr  (I used tinyurl.com, he posted the humongous one
above)

Hi, Sherry
    That is a bull snake, aka gopher snake and pine snake. It is not
venomous and, although it puts up a terrific threat display, hissing
loudly and striking furiously, it is unlikely he will actually bite you.
I have had them strike AT me and miss and even butt me with their noses.
They get up to eight feet long and are quite strong. They make great
pets. If you have venomous snakes in your area, encourage him to hang
around. He will eat most venomous snakes, especially rattlesnakes.
    If I were nearby, I would cheerfully take him off your hands. I had an
eight-footer a few years ago named Attila. I posted a couple of
anecdotes about him and how he interacted with our menage.
Cheers,
Dave