Warmer weather brings snakes out in Northeast Texas

With temperatures rising, Northeast Texas’s least cuddly citizens are coming out to warm themselves in wooded areas, pastures, and even back yards. Keeping your family safe during this season means knowing which snakes are venomous, where they like to hide, how you can deter them from entering your yard and your home, and what to do if one does appear.

Venomous snakes of Northeast Texas:

Northeast Texas is home to many different varieties of snakes. From coral snakes to cottonmouths to garden snakes, we truly have a vast array. The most common venomous snakes in this area are copperheads, cottonmouths (water moccasins), coral snakes, and, believe it or not, rattlesnakes.

Copperheads are a member of the Pit Viper family of snakes. This means that they have small pits between their nostrils and eyes that hold detecting organs. These organs allow copperheads to have an infrared view of potential prey. Copperheads primarily hunt rats and other small mammals, but they have been known to be aggressive with humans when agitated.

Visually, they’re sandy brown with copper/darker brown colored bands. Their head will be the same color as the bands. Copperheads are typically seven to ten inches long as adolescents, and two to three feet long as adults. Unfortunately, although they’re easily distinguished from other species of snakes, copperheads are experts in camouflage. Their tan and brown pattern allows them to easily blend in with fallen leaves, dead grass, and rocks.

Cottonmouths, or water moccasins, are the only semi-aquatic pit viper in the world. They are members of the Pit Viper family like copperheads, but they primarily prey on fish, lizards, frogs, and other amphibians. Cottonmouths can typically be found in or around bodies of water, such as lakes, creeks, and ponds.

Cottonmouths get their name from the light color of the inside of their mouths. When threatened, these snakes will flatten their bodies to appear larger, while opening their mouths and hissing. Cottonmouths are typically around three feet long but can grow up to six feet in length in ideal habitats. They have thick bodies and are dark brown to blackish in color with occasional yellow banding. They blend in easily in murky water, making them difficult to discern from floating debris such as waterlogged wood.

Coral snakes are smaller than other venomous snakes in Texas, but they have the most potent venom of any snake in North America. Worldwide, they are second only to the black mamba. They are also unique in that they are one of only two elapid snake species on the continent. Coral snakes spend most of their time underground or in leaf litter. They are banded in black, yellow, and red over their entire bodies. This color pattern allows them to blend into the leaves they hunt in and allows humans to discern them from other snakes.

While their venom is extremely toxic, coral snakes do not pose much of a threat to adults. They have very small mouths and must bite several times to inject venom. They also only tend to bite when picked up. They are much more dangerous to children for these reasons.

Two varieties of rattlesnakes are found locally: pygmy (or ground) rattlesnakes and timber rattlesnakes. Pygmy rattlesnakes are, as their name suggests, a much smaller variety of rattlesnake. They’re gray in color, with black spots and an orange stripe down their vertebrae. Their rattles are very small – so small, in fact, that they’re regularly referred to as “rattle-less ground rattlers.” Pygmy rattlesnakes blend in easily with fallen leaves and rocks, much like other snakes of the area. Their prey primarily consists of small mammals and birds.

Timber rattlesnakes are tan or gray in color and have black or brown splotchy bands along their bodies. They camouflage themselves in leaves also. They grow up to three to five feet in length in adulthood and hunt small to medium-sized rodents, reptiles, and amphibians. Timber rattlesnakes are not known to be very aggressive to humans, but their venom is quite potent.

How to identify venomous snakes:

There are many characteristics of venomous snakes that allow humans to identify them; in the viper family, head shape, pupil shape, and behavior/temperament are the major factors to look at when differentiating them from nonvenomous snakes.

Vipers have a small neck and a triangular head, making them easily recognizable. A vast majority of the venomous snakes in Northeast Texas will have this triangular head, as four of the five most common venomous snakes in our region are vipers. Their nonvenomous counterparts will have a smooth, round head that seems to blend in with the rest of their bodies.

Vipers also have eyes that set them apart from other species. Rather than a round pupil, vipers have an elongated pupil reminiscent of that of a cat. Viper behavior is much more aggressive than the behavior of nonvenomous snakes. Upon encountering humans, vipers have been known to hiss while lifting their heads off of the ground. If a human agitates the snake, the snake is likely to quickly strike. Nonvenomous snakes are typically disinterested in confrontation and will generally leave the area.

Since coral snakes are not members of the viper family, different methods must be used to identify them upon sight. An easy way to recognize a coral snake from its nonvenomous doppelgangers such as the milk snake and the king snake is the order of the banded colors down the snake’s body. Remember: “Red touching yellow will kill a fellow; red touching black is a friend of Jack.”

Keeping snakes out:

Snakes, being predators, rely on camouflage to hunt their prey. Eliminating common snake hiding places such as fallen leaves, piles of rocks, and heaps of trash or other items can significantly lower the likelihood of a snake calling your yard home. Also, be sure to keep your yard mowed. Tall grass is a great hiding place for snakes.

To stop them from wanting to enter your yard to begin with, home remedies abound and products are available in most lawn and garden departments. The most common practice is using a scented product designed to repel snakes. Some will instead use ammonia, as it has been known to repel snakes as well. Some others swear by the use of vinegar around ponds and pools.

When you see a snake:

Animal control experts advise that if you encounter a snake in your path, the best response is to slowly back away from the reptile. If the snake you meet is nonvenomous, simply leave it alone. The snake will eventually leave.

If you find a venomous snake, slowly back away from the snake and retreat as far as possible. If the snake is in your yard, contact local animal control to remove the snake. Some may choose to exterminate the snake themselves, but it is always safer to call a professional for removal.