This looks a lot like the local Rough Earth Snake. It is harmless and it won't eat your
toads or frogs. But if it did, that's it's job! Actually, they eat earthworms, which are also
beneficial. But you can't eliminate all predators on all of your "beneficial" critters. There is
a natural give and take, and they all are good in your garden. (I'd say "balance" except
that term is rather hackneyed--I think it is more accurate to say that while populations
aim for equilibrium, there are always natural stresses and each population responds to those
stresses. The goal of a good gardener should be to have as many of these beneficial local players
as possible so they're available to do their thing as conditions present themselves.)
The photo below of the snake in question comes from the site Texas Snakes and More
(
http://www.texassnakes.net/pictures.html#west) that has lots of images of
Texas snakes. The site also has links to Amazon pages for books about Texas snakes.
Actually, I'm pleased to report that since the last time I went looking for good Texas
snake information online that there seems to be more all of the time. For example, I found
Austin Reptile Service, a site out of Austin, Texas, and this is a page with links to herp
groups in other regions of the state: [url]http://www.austinreptileservice.net/links.html
[/url] It looks like this fellow does educational/interpretive programs with snakes. That's
especially important these days when places like the Fort Worth Zoo decide that the
herps aren't as important as some new glossy Disney-style visitor building and wipe out
the aquarium and the herpetarium to put it up.
My ID from your photo isn't 100%. The scale (length, circumference) in the photo isn't
precise (looks like lettuce and carrot or dill nearby?), but it looks to be very small. I don't
see any kind of pattern on the scales (like on a coachwhip or brown snake), but I'd say
your snake, with it's body and head shape, is non-venomous. And, as a rough guess
(pardon the pun!) I'll reiterate that I think it is a rough earth snake.
The photo below is linked from this page:
http://www.texassnakes.net/RoughEarth.htm.