How can you tell if a snake is poisonous?

Question

I found a brownish color snake on my patio - about 14" long. How can I tell if it is poisonous? I've read that poisonous snakes have a triangular shaped head. thanks for answer.

Answer 1

Wow people are really either misinformed or they just have no idea and are answering anyway. Diamond shaped heads, triangular shaped heads, holes above the nostrils, bite you and you're dead, slits in the eyes, fangs, etc... DUH!

The only way you can tell, as some people have pointed out, look the snake up, take a photograph and find the snake on-line or take the photo to a professional.

-Good Luck.

Answer 2

Snakes are venomous, not poisonous. Most will have an arrow shaped head that sets them apart from non-venomous, but this is not 100% true. Many non-venomous snakes will mimic a venomous one by flattening their heads to make them look wider and more threatening. Other species, such as coral snakes, do not have a large head at all, and closely resemble harmless species such as milksnakes and kingsnakes. Any snake you buy will most likely be non-venomous. Pet stores rarely carry hots and any breeder would let you know. Most breeders of hots only have those types and you wouldn't be looking there in the first place. Avoid catching snakes in the wild as you deplete a natural resource and you will end up with an animal with parasites and mites. Contrary to what toe cutter said: most venomous species in North America have slitted pupils. The only exception I can think of off-hand is the coral snake, which is a diurnal (meaning active in the daytime) species with round pupils.

Answer 3

look at the eye if there is a slit it is poisonous



and look at the face poisonous snakes will have a vent (round hole) between the eyes and the normal vents


also if you look at the tip of the tail on the belly it will have streight scales that go all the way across the whole tail

if it's poisonous it's scales will only go half way across
(2 scales per row)

you can look in the mouth for fangs or try to tell by the shape of the head like evey one said or take it to some one that know about snakes
hope this helps you

Answer 4

In any given region there are only a couple of snakes that are poisonous - I suggest you ask some local place (maybe the forestry service, or somebody) for a list of the poisonous snakes in your area. Memorize that list - and then see if the snake is on it.

There is no universal way to tell if a snake is poisonous.

Answer 5

First, there's no such thing as a "poisonous" snake; a POISON is something that you must ingest(swallow)or inhale for it to harm you. You can eat any snake, and unless you choke on a bone, it won't hurt you, though I can't promise you'll like the taste. Snakes can be VENOMOUS, which means that they produce toxins in special glands that can be injected into another animal via hollow fangs connected to the glands by ducts, and the main purposes of venom is to subdue prey, and begin the digestive process before the snake swallows it.

In the United States, you can generally distinguish venomous snakes by their vertical, eliptical pupils, like a cat's, since with one exception, all of our dangerously venomous snakes are Pit Vipers-the Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Cottonmouths. That one exception is the Coral Snake, which is a member of the Elapidae, or Cobra family, and like most members of this family, it has round pupils and a small, rounded head, like most of our harmless snakes. While it is true that most Pit Vipers have heads that are more or less equilateral triangles, with a narrow and distinct "neck", the Pigmy Rattlers tend to have narrower, smaller heads, while many non-venomous snakes, like Ratsnakes and Garters, will flatten and spread out their heads to resemble a venomous snake if they feel threatened, so head shape is not always reliable. When it comes to snakes outside the US, none of this information will hold up at all, since some of the world's most lethal venomous snakes, like the Black Mamba and the Australian Inland Taipan, have rather smallish, oval-shaped heads and round pupils, while all Boids(boas and pythons), as well as the harmless African House Snakes, have triangular heads and vertical, cat-like pupils, but are non-venomous.

Answer 6

There ARE no hard-and-fast rules for telling if a snake is venomous. Just learn the venomous snakes that are common to where you live and then stay away from everything that crawls. By the way, Voodoo, there are some venomous snakes in the world that have fat bodies. Have you ever heard of the Gaboon viper? (Look it up.)

Answer 7

Brown snake, look at the pupils of its eyes if its round non poisonous diamon poison also if it has a triangle shaped head its probably pisonous but not a good way to tell better to look at the pupils.If it is a copper head it will not have fangs allthough they are very poisonous and sometimes brownish colored.

Answer 8

There is no one simple way to tell if a snake is venomous.
Get a field guide for your area and identify the snake.

Answer 9

Here are some good ways to tell if a snake is venomous(not poisonous)

1)Triangluar head due to VENOM sac's located behind the jaws
2)Slitted pupils. Now, there are some venomous snakes that have round pupils, but they are very few and far between.
3)Body size. Unless you manage to find a FAT venomous snake... most venomous snake will have a slender body due to the fact that they don't have to constrict their prey.

good luck
-Voodoo

Answer 10

The answerer above me is essentially correct. You could purchase a field guide to reptiles "Peterson" field guide is one which is decent and inexpensive. This is a good way to familiarize yourself with the snakes in your area