How can you tell a snake from its skin?
Look for the snake’s color and pattern. Snakes can go from simple muted singular colors to vibrant and very identifiable patterns on their scales. The patterns can be on either side of the snake and on the back or the belly.
How can you tell a snake is poisonous by its skin?
One way to determine if a snake is venomous is to look at its underbelly. If there is a single row of scales leading to the anal plate, the snake is venomous.
What kind of snakes does West Virginia have?
The timber rattlesnake and copperhead snake are the only two poisonous snakes in West Virginia. They belong to the group of snakes known as pit vipers, which also includes cottonmouths. A pit viper has pits or openings on its head – one on each side, between and slightly below the eye and nostril.
What do you do if you find snake skin in your yard?
If a snake’s shed skin is left for long, it might attract mites. Although mites rarely transmit diseases to humans, their bite results in swelling, itching and pain. Therefore, dispose of the snakeskin, while wearing a hand glove, into a plastic or waste disposal bin. Skin shedding is a natural process snakes undergo.
What does it mean when you find a snake skin in your yard?
The presence of a shed skin indicates that a snake has been living within the vicinity for a while. Once you detect the she snake skin, make sure you identify the place where the shed skin is found as such will guide you into detecting where the snake itself has been hiding.
How often does snakes shed their skin?
All animals shed their skin. Some just do it in more grandiose (and visible) style. While humans “shed” millions of skin cells every day, snakes and other animals shed a layer of skin in one continuous piece, a process called ecdysis, which occurs between four and 12 times a year.
Do poisonous snakes shed their skin?
All snakes, both venomous and non-venomous, shed their skins several times a year. Snake sheds may remain complete and intact, or may frequently come off in sections. Sheds may show up in a yard, under a home, or even occasionally indoors.
What does a garter snake look like in West Virginia?
This snake is quite variable in color, ranging from greenish, brown- ish or grayish with sometimes indistinct lateral stripes on the second and third scale rows. Gartersnakes are common in West Virginia.
What snake in WV looks like a copperhead?
Eastern Ratsnake (A.K.A. Blackrat Snake) The most common snake misidentified as a copperhead is the harmless juvenile Eastern Ratsnake (formerly called the blackrat snake). The Eastern Ratsnake starts life with a strong pattern of gray or brown blotches on a pale gray background.
What snakes are found in WV?
Snakes in WV. They are vertebrates because they have a backbone. Snakes are also the first animals in evolution to develop the amniotic egg. Here in West Virginia we have 22 species of snakes with only 2 of them being poisonous. Copperheads and Rattlesnakes are the only venomous snakes found in West Virginia.
What venomous snakes live in WV?
Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) are the most commonly seen venomous snake in West Virginia. Colored to match the dead leaves on the forest floor, copperheads blend in masterfully with their habitat.
What are the poisonous snakes in West Virginia?
West Virginia has 2 types of venomous snakes: the northern copperhead and the timber rattlesnakes. The majority of bites from venomous snakes in WV come from copperheads, but deaths are actually rare.
What kind of snakes live in West Virginia?
By Jennifer Adams and David Garst. The timber rattlesnake ( Crotalus horridus ) is possibly the most misunderstood snake species encountered in West Virginia. Timber rattlesnakes are actually quite secretive and passive animals far from the aggressive creatures perceived by most people.