What kind of snake, Virginia

Any snake experts? 

Look up Bull Snake. (edit: I take it back evidently Virginia doesn't have Bull Snakes.)

How about a Northern Cottonmouth? Get it to open its mouth and see if it is white inside.

https://reptile.guide/virginia-snakes/

Google said the same.

But they're not in Virginia...

Looks like a Rat snake

Copperhead? 

Venemous snakes tend to have more triangular  heads and non-venomous are squarer. Did you get a look at the business end?

jgrewe said:

Looks like a Rat snake

I think rat snakes are almost black and don't have much in the way of markings.

Email to Virginia Herpetological Society came back with Eastern Hog-nosed snake. 

https://virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/eastern-hog-nosed-snake/index.php

Which is hopefully accurate, since they're not harmful. 

In reply to Spearfishin :

That's good. Zooming in, head looked like a pit viper's, but markings are too stripey for copperhead.

Well, those are pics my dad took with his potato phone, then texted to me... So probably could have started with better pics, but you work with what you've got!

The hognose snakes we had in Ohio were more grey and black. Looking at the markings now it probably is one. Without seeing the head that well, I was thinking it was a southern or grey rat snake. They tend to keep the juvenile markings like it has.

Hognosed snake

Judging by the dots on the sides that was what was photo'd. To me its is a cool snake. It might help keep the mice away. :0)

Duke said:

Venemous snakes tend to have more triangular  heads and non-venomous are squarer. Did you get a look at the business end?

jgrewe said:

Looks like a Rat snake

I think rat snakes are almost black and don't have much in the way of markings.

 

Black snakes (Rat snakes) can vary in color.  They look very much like his picture when they're younger, and some never fully lose the patches, and the patches become more evident if they are getting ready to shed. 

The reticulations in the pattern suggest not a black/rat snake, though.  I don't think they are reticulated.  Edit, I take that back.  Some of them are reticulated, like this one:

Not a copperhead.  Copperheads have a more circular pattern and almost all subspecies have a "dot" in the pattern, like this: 

I'm going to guess that it's a black/rat snake, and you can tell from the shape of the tail that it's a male.

My dad has no interest in killing it, so probably can bring some updated photos as spring wears into summer. He's retired, so I suspect he'll bump into it again. 

Hog nosed like to put on a big display like a cobra, then play dead. They're entertaining to run across. Snakes make for good neighbors 

Congratulations to your dad for not killing it. Very beneficial animal to have around the house. 

Snakes fascinate me.  I love seeing them around.  Unfortunately I have a neighbor who hates them and kills every one he sees.  I told him to just shoo them over to my yard and I actually spied him doing that last year.  I wish I had videoed it because he looked like those people in a scare prank video.  He was so creeped out by it.

I agree that they're good to keep around, they keep the vermin at bay and he wouldn't be there if the mice and rats weren't too.

I know that some snakes look like tougher snakes as a means of deterrence, but it can also be a means of getting them shot so they may want to think about doing some quick evolving if they're trying to front too hard.

A garden hose works well to get them out of your yard instead of killing fyi.

I have a neighbor who freaks out when she sees a snake.  Mostly she sees black snakes.  I'll grab a pair of leather gloves and go over and do my best Crocodile Hunter impersonation and grab it right behind the head and carry it over to my yard.  I have to be discreet though, because if my wife sees a large one close to the house, she doesn't like it much.  We routinely get them in the 4 to 5 foot range. 

Whatever that thing in the top pic is, it is well-fed.

Non venomous snakes are bros. Toads too. I s messing with my woodpile last summer and discovered a toad under a log. My reaction was, "my bad!" and I shooed it to safety.

No step on snek. 

Definitely harmless - the pattern is wrong for a copperhead or cottonmouth, and the face, while hard to see, appears too round. My guess is some sort of water snake or hognose.