Rat Snake or Copperhead, How To Tell the Difference
89Snakes Are Beneficial
Living in balance with nature can offer some challenges. Here, we try to not kill snakes unless they are a threat to us or our livestock. Snakes are a great help in dealing with rats and mice, and they have provided the material for many of our homeschool lessons!
Often people kill snakes for no real reason except ignorance and fear. This is not good because snakes provide a valuable service to the homesteader by keeping small rodents in check. A large black racer lives under our barn and I have not seen a mouse there in awhile. We do try to discourage snakes around the chicken coop because the snakes seem to love eggs as much as we do! Snakes generally get a bit of attention here though, because the kids like to journal the different species they have come across.
It is startling to walk into the chicken coop and come face to face with a large rat snake though, especially since they often look very much like a dangerous copperhead. How does one decide which is which?
Rat Snakes, Beneficial Friend
Rat snakes go by many names. In our area they are called Texas Rat Snakes, or Chicken Snakes because they are often found near chicken coops. Normally the rat snake will be dining on the rats and mice that thrive on the grain that is so plentiful in the chicken yard but sometimes they will eat the eggs.
These snakes are proficient climbers. One afternoon I went into the chicken coop intent on cleaning the nesting boxes and came literally face to face with a large, adult rat snake hanging from the low rafters of our small hen house. I backed smoothly away, hoping that the snake would not get startled and bite!
Rat snakes are not poisonous. They will bite when startled or threatened and the bite looks very much like a human bite on the skin. It lacks the two distinct fang marks of a poisonous snake. While it does hurt it is not going to make you sick. Just wash the area carefully with soap and water and watch for signs of infection as you would with any other wound.
Texas Rat Snakes are one of the largest snakes found in my area, often reaching lengths over six feet. The background color of an adult will range from yellow to orange to brown and it has tan or brown blotches on it which makes it look similar to a dangerous copperhead. It will sometimes even rattle it's tail emulating a Rattlesnake! This similarity is good for the snake in some ways because predators naturally shy away from it but around populated areas it will get it killed because people often don't stop to analyze which of the two it is before killing it.
A Rat Snake has round pupils in it's eyes, unlike the elliptical, "cat's eye" pupils of the Copperhead.
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Copperhead Snake, Dangerous Foe
There are several subspecies of Copperheads but the one most easily confused with the beneficial Rat Snake is the Southern Copperhead. These snakes live in partially wooded areas that are near a source of water such as a stock tank or creek. They can be found under debris, decaying leaves, and rotting stumps. On the homestead watch out for them if you are dealing with brush piles or wood piles.
The Southern Copperhead grows to a length of about 36 inches. It's color is a pinkish tan background with darker hourglass blotches across it's back. It is nocturnal in the heat of summer but becomes more active in the daytime as the temperatures cool during the autumn months. This snake is one of the most abundant poisonous snakes in the area. There have been few deaths reported from the bite of a Southern Copperhead but it is important to seek medical care immediately. The bite will have two punctures from the fangs, and in this way can be identified as being a venomous bite.
It also eats rats, mice, and other small rodents but the danger of a bite makes it important to me to keep this species away from the areas that my children are most. If possible we catch the snakes and relocate them, however we will kill them if need be. Keeping areas of brush and trash away from the areas that people will normally be will help as well. Seal up openings in foundations and around pipes so the snakes can not get into the house.
A copperhead will not climb like a rat snake will, so this is another way to tell the difference between the two.
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Discouraging Snakes
The other day I was writing and my youngest children came running in to tell me there was a snake coiled by the goat barn. I sent my fifteen year old out to investigate and he was sure it was an adult Copperhead, and asked for permission to kill it. I looked at it, but thought it was a Rat Snake and told him to let it go. When I loaded the pictures on the computer he had been correct in his identification and I had been too interested in getting back to my writing!
The best way to discourage snakes from being close to your home is to get rid of habitat and food supply as much as possible. Store wood at least 18 inches off the ground. Keep the rodent population down by use of traps. Other than that there is really no good way to do it so it becomes important to teach your children to be cautious around any snake they see and to move away from it as quickly as they can. Use gloves and boots when working with brush and woodpiles, and be alert for movement. Snakes will normally avoid human contact.
Apparently marigolds are natural detterents for snakes so you might think about planting them around areas that you would like the snakes to stay away from.
By allowing snakes to share your environment you can benefit from the natural pest control they provide.
Rat Snake or Copperhead, How To Tell the Difference in the News
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Helpful Links
- Texas Junior Naturalists Snakes FAQ!
The Texas Junior Naturalists is an online resource for studetns of nature and the outdoors - Snake Printouts - AllAboutNature.com
Snake Printouts - Print out snake pages/information sheets to color. Snakes are a large group of reptiles; there are over 2,000 different species of snakes alive today. Snakes live in a variety of land and water habitats
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Comments
Actually there are very few deaths from copperheads, altho the bite can make you sick. It is very important to seek medical attention immediately if you suspect a venemous snake has bitten you. A non venemous snake bite will look much like a human bite mark, while a venemous snake will leave fang marks.
Wow, what a cool hub. Great info!
Great info! My sister was bit by a copperhead. She was very sick for a long time, and still has pain at the bite site on occasion.
I've lived in areas with Copperheads and Rattlesnakes. We call Rat Snakes 'Chicken Snakes', as you mentioned. Great information for identifying the poisonous Copperhead.
i actually have a pet copperhead, her name is Fluffy and she is just a baby right now, but when she gets bigger I wish to socialize her so that I may handle her without upsetting her. For right now though, I use a snake hook when I want to take her out to play!
Melanie
AAAH! I don’t dislike snakes , but as soon as I saw that first photo I was like “venomous!!!snake!!!!”
boo bad very bad
I can attest to the fact that marigolds are NOT a deterent for snakes. I also heard they are good against mosquitoes. I used to plant them in the decorative pattern of my window well. The snakes used to hide in them as they became bushier.
Thank you for the useful information. I hope more people will follow your lead and clean up areas of concern to DISCOURAGE unwanted snake populations instead of killing snakes. Photographing a snake from a safe distance, then using the photographs and references (internet, books, professional naturalist, etc.) to correctly identify a snake is an effective way to learn about snakes and avoid killing non venomous species. This proceedure prevented me from killing a snake I mistakenly thought was (copperhead) a threat to my dogs. It can be difficult to think clearly when my adrenalin is rushing. Thankfully I took the time to carefully study and now know I have a resident corn snake I can enjoy from a distance as it does it's part in keepng nature in balance ( so I don't have to fight an out of control mouse/rat population). It also led me to this interesting site.
We have found three baby snakes in our home. They seem to come out mostly at night. They appear to be about a foot long, black with some grey on them. I have not gotten close enough to determine the shape of their pupils or the pattern on their backs. I am among those who prefer to keep snakes out of the house and I don't feel comfortable with my grandchildren staying over night. My husband says they are chicken snakes. We live in the country of north Texas. Our land is kept clear and mowed. How do I eradicate the snakes from my home?
The chicken snakes eat mice. The best way to eradicate them is to make sure that you do not have a mouse population. :)
i hate snakes
dude this is awesome info thank you
is it absolutely so that copperheads don't climb?
You're missing the most effective snake deterrents of all. Lining sulfer or terpentine around the perimeter of your home will work. A snake will not cross over either, and it will even keep the snakes you already have in your yard! Terpentine will kill your grass, but sulfer will not. It really does work.
i'm greatful for the info, but i'm still not sure my mother and i are still debating about this snake that we found is a copperhead or just a harmless ratsnake
If it is a ratsnake Kris the pupils of the eyes will be round, if a copperhead they will be slits.
if you encounter a copperhead you will know it! their skin is always easy to identify and their head is very easy to identify at a distance also! I just killed and skinned one for myself a few hours ago! i had to get it out of the neighborhood before any kids or pets got harmed! a rat snake is just as good at pest control as copperheads, so i see no use in having them around!
just fount a five foot Rat Snake in the house ahhhh!!! Did not know what it was at first so I hate to say we killed it, but it was not easy those things are very strong. I hope there are not anymore snaking around. Surprised to see that one first snake we've had. I really do hate that it had to die but with a three year old and six year old running around I was not taking any chances. I did say a little pray for it afterwards. Thanks to this website I now know that it was not going to kill anyone so thank you for writing this!!!
Thanks for the overview. We get a few rat snakes around here, and I like the tips on keeping the population down.
Reptile Keeper, good information but I do not allow comments that contain swearing. If you care to repost with clean language I will be happy to o.k. it
sorry but it makes me really mad when people dont have a clue what they are talking about, but if you have any questions, let me know
Rat snakes-can reach up to 8ft, they are good for mice and rat problems, they canbe very mean but will eventually calm down after being handled.
Copperheads-are VENOMOUS and can put you in the hospital, they carry a hemotoxic venom which rots the flesh away. they can kill you, there are deaths on copperheads, they are just as dangerous as any other type of venomous snake, they should not be messed with unless you have many years of expierence and studys on this snake, any other questions, feel free to ask.
No alive copper head is a good copper head ! thats all i have to say about that !
I live out of the city limits and last night my dog kept barking. I went out with a flashlight and found a small snake by the garage. Came running in the house and hollered at hubby to come kill a snake. He went and looked at it and told me no, it was a rat snake. He let it go. I found your page today and now I'm glad I trusted him and he didn't kill it. Snakes frighten me so bad but I will try and be better and not panic if I see this one again. Thanks for your info.
if you are close enough in the wild to see what shape a copperheads pupils are i think you may be in some trouble.
i was drivin home about an hr ago and there was a snake in the road. i wasnt sure if it was dead or alive so i backed up to look and it slithered across so i tried to hit it because it looked like a copperhead but it got in the grass and went into the bushes before i could. i know it had too much pattern in its movement to be a rat snake, but im not sure if it was a copperhead or somethin else.
I can't handle snakes. I realize they, like lots of spiders, have a God given purpose, but they scare the double hockey sticks out of me.
I have a special prayer for them thats worked wonders so far. "God, if you love the spiders/snakes, keep them out of my home, because they will die in here, and you know it."
Haven't had one get inside my territory since!
how to keep snakes out of my chicken eggs -plus i had a goat die this week is a copperhead bite enough to kill a goat her jaws were a sweelled up .needs to be safe for goats and chicks ,. thanks for any help
My daughter came home tonight and happened to see a copperhead snake with a frog in it's mouth. It was halfway out of the bottom of the garage door frame. It went back in. We go by there several times a day. We have kids ages 3, 6 and 14. They go out to the garage all the time to the second fridge and they go out there to fill up the dog's dish. Should I be afraid of more copperheads in the garage or walls? Will it get into the house? Is it nesting? I am afraid. Very afraid! How do we get rid of it?
Just had a black rat snake in my room today. I have no idea how it got it. I found it because of my cat hissin at it. We got a hoe and picked it up and put in a box and sent it down to the end of the yard. I find snakes facinating but they really scare me. Great information. Thank you for posting it and educating me.
Thank you for the excellent writeup with pictures.
There was a rat snake (pretty sure) hanging out of our A/C return vent in the house when I got home tonight. 30" long, and shook its tail like a rattler, just as you described. We have a young child in the house so I killed it. After it was dead, I then went on to try and identify it. Thanks again for putting this out there!!!
I had 4 baby chicks and yesterday my Hubby saw they were missing..while looking around he found a VERY large snake Not sure what it was he killed it.It was a chicken snake and when he cut it open it had all four of our babies in its belly..SCARED the crud outta us..Thanks for your site it is so helpful....
I picked up a 4ft long copperhead the other day at my fishing pond. I live in Kentucky and copperheads are very common here. The one thing that threw me about this particular snake is that although the coloring was an exact match to those I've seen before, the head was almost black in color. Could this be a cross-breed of some sort ??
While copperheads can not usually climb, they can sometimes and they will coil and spring, just like all snakes. If you see a copperhead, or even suspect, leave the area, you can call some exterminators to get rid of snakes, but they will not "relocate" them, and they are sometimes expensive. I had always heard that copperheads like water and will be found there, but we have found them in the country roads sunning themselves, and in the pasture near any muddy areas. Also Copperheads are ussually fat and not as long as a rat snake/chicken snake. Great idea for keeping snakes at bay is keeping your mouse/rodent population down and keeping any animal feed (even dog food) cleaned up. Only feed what your animal will eat right now, AND we keep cats to control the mouse population - our cats tend to keep away rodents and snakes from the house and outbuildings.
Amazing !!!!!!!!!!!
comment to Rick Tedder. . . with all due respect I have seen and heard about the large (sometimes 6ft.) copperheads in KY. All turned out to be corn snakes or large northern banded water snakes. Copperheads do not interbreed.
I have to say in spite of this article trying to be educational about snakes and which ones are dangerous or not, I still dislike the opinion that Copperheads and other venomous snakes ought to be killed. Snakes of all kinds have a place in the natural habitat, and for us humans to place ourselves above all the other organisms of the world is a shallow opinion at best. I think that instead of trying to shape nature to our every desire, we need to instead accept that nature can be dangerous, and that the "wild world" deserves our respect-not the other way around. So, instead of reaching for the axe or hatchet, please look in the yellow pages to see if there is some animal relocation service or the like to move the animal in question out of your backyard if you can't stand to let it stay. If nothing else, perhaps call your local pet store to see if they have any employees who would be willing to move the snake for you.
(As a side note, if I'm not mistaken most snake bites actually come from when people try to mess with or kill snakes- so please try to live and let live.)
Concerned... when it comes to a dangerous snake and my 6 year old...the 6 year old wins...hands down. COmment back when you have a venomous snake living under your kid's playhouse.
Oh..and I don't consider human life over animal lifel..shoot..if I had a murderer living in my goat barn I would kill him/her too.
Marye, I think you may have misunderstood me slightly-I also would act the same way with a "murderer in the barn," but the difference is that the murderer has intent to kill, while the snake doesn't-no snake has premeditation to kill a person. If I were to find a venomous snake under a playhouse, I would use it as a chance to teach my child about respecting nature. In stead of simply killing the animal, I would teach my kid to avoid that animal, and would then move the snake to a safe distance from my house. This whole snake-issue is just one part of a bigger problem in my opinion, which is the way we treat nature. We expect nature to bend to our every will and to accommodate us, when in reality we are only one insignificant portion of this planet in which we live. This is not to say that we should let ourselves get killed and ignore our survival instincts-rather that we should not succumb to our knee-jerk reactions and fears. Killing an animal solely for the reason that it can pose a threat to us demonstrates the height of our ignorance of the natural world around us-look at the problems caused by use of DDT to try and kill mosquitos, the dust bowl caused by our short-sighted farming techniques, the havoc that wild pigs cause in Hawaii, the problems caused by soaring deer populations due to our elimination of their natural predators, the problems caused by wild cats in Australia, and perhaps most obviously to us Americans the problems caused by introduction of Kudzu to try and stop runoff and loss of good soil because we cut down the trees and introduced worms to North America. In Pre-Colombian times the forests of North America had such huge trees that according to some accounts you could ride wagons between them-try and do that in a forest today. Getting back to my main point, we as humans need to recognize our place in nature, and give up on the belief that all nature is "for the taking" or expendable when we want it to be. If we fail to do this, I fear we may bring ourselves to an early extinction from this planet by killing one too many organisms which turns out to be beneficial or necessary in ways we could never have predicted.
So, am I trying to say that killing Copperheads will end humanity--Of course not, but the mindset that enables us to do so just might.
I am amazed. Really amazed that "Concerned" is so overwhelmed with a warm fuzzy desire to let all all things live, that you would subject a child to the foolish perspective of, "this is avery harmful creature, capable of killing a small child with its venom;" so jsut know that and avoid it. If you see a bunch of them, just find another place to play. If you lived in my neighborhood and I ever found out you simply moved a truly dangerous animal or reptile, and I could prove it.. I would have your butt in a court house soooo fast your head would spin. And your DDY comment highlights to me your shortcomings. DDT did more good for this planet than I bet you know. It has never ever been proven to cause any harm when used properly. Research DDTs value and the knee-jerk reaction used to ban it.
Tree hugger, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but isn't you name a bit facetious? The so called "knee-jerk reaction" to DDT was anything but-it took many years from its introduction as a pesticide in 1939 for people to realize the impact it had on the environment, most notably with Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring." This chemical which did "more good than I know" has been clearly shown to be perilous to the population of the Bald Eagle, which has made a drastic comeback from near extinction since '72 when DDT was banned for use in the United States. Additionally, the research I have heard shows that trace amounts of DDT can be found all the way in Antartica where it was never used because of its persistence in nature and how it gets biomagnified as you trace up the food chain. The problem with these trace amounts is that if DDT keeps getting introduced, as it still is in some countries, then eventually it ends up in our food supply-as recently as 2005 the CDC tested peoples blood and found trace amounts of it in almost everyone tested. Furthermore, Organochlorine chemicals like DDT have been linked to Diabetes and cancer. So, if you really love trees, would you want them to be void of any of our national bird? I think I'll stand by my claim that DDT is much more harmful than good. (Just go to the Wikipedia article on DDT and double check the external sources if you don't believe me.)
As for being fuzzy about the Snakes (which is the whole point of this article) I'd have to say that yes, I think that most all things deserve to live-unless they directly threaten my life. I do not have the hubris to think that this planet with countless different species of so many different shapes and sizes is set out just for me, evolution demonstrates that everything is in flux, and that we are just one small portion of the biosphere in which we live, yet our impact on all other organisms is huge and often detrimental. But, returning to snakes specifically I think the real knee jerk reaction is to kill them, when they will be more likely to run and hide from us than anything else-never have I found a snake in the woods that didn't want to get away from me as fast as possible. Also, let me re-iterate that the greatest danger from snakes is us-if you try to mess with or kill them that is when you put yourself closest to the snake and have the highest likelihood to get bitten yourself.
So, please let the snakes be, respect their place in the natural habitat, and try to learn the facts about DDT before saying it is "fine if used properly."
Today I have captured a copperhead in my homemade funnel trap. It's probably less than 2 ft long. Now I am not sure what to do with the thing. Animal control dept is closed for the day. It's not a threat in the trap so cops wouldn't want to deal with it. I won't release it in my neighborhood or anyone elses. Concerned, if you would like to come get it, you are welcome - but I want my trap back.
Tim, I would love to help but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. I am currently living in Central Virginia, and unless you are within an hour or so drive from here I'm afraid I won't be able to personally pick up the snake. Have you tried contacting a local pet store to see if they have someone who would be willing to relocate the snake for you? Additionally, if you click on the hyperlink in P.W.H.S Reptile Keeper above, they have a service to move any reptiles in Central Pennsylvania. The contacts for that service are located on that very page if you scroll down.
Also, know that snakes can go for a long time between meals, so if no one can help you right away the snake will probably be fine for at least a week (if it has some access to water that is).
As a last resort, could you take the trap out into the woods some place, and open it enough for the snake to come out on its own? Snakes tend to want to try and get out of cages/traps, and wouldn't need much encouragement to go out into the woods given the opportunity.
I lived in the country for a while here in Texas, we have come across both copperheads and rat snakes. We have a kill policy for the yard proper because of the small show dogs running the back yard (although my cairn terrier thinks he is some somethin' when he sees one). We have used Diamateaous Earth (not sure if that is spelled right) we put it around the perimeter of the yard after we check to make sure it is snake clear. My husband just puts it out with a fertilizer spreader once a week when he cuts the grass.
We have not seen a snake in the yard since, and the DE is ok for pets and chickens.
Look you all need to calm down about the snakes I have grown up in moutians and seen and killed every kind of snake if it is poisionous I kill it because God has given me his premission but all you have to do to keep them out of the yard is to get a plastic owl and move it every three or for days if you don't move it they will figure out it is not real good luck
thank you for that useful info plz more similar hubs
From this point on comments will be monitored before being posted. Arguing is pointless, and it is certainly NOT the point of this article.
fascinating.
Very cool hub. Great info!
cgull8m says:
2 years ago
Nice information, the copper head snake looks deadly with its eyes, hope there is a quick remedy before the poison becomes fatal.