“The northern water snakes, the first part of their body has vertical striping down the body, it almost looks like bands, and then it becomes more broken, blotches as it goes down the length of the snake,” Bitler said. Harmless northern water snakes are often confused with cottonmouths. Timber rattlesnakes are now found mostly on the coast and in the mountains, Bitler said. They are the largest rattlesnake species and can grow to more than six feet long. They are only found in the southeast corner of North Carolina. The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is listed by the state as endangered. North Carolina has three rattlesnake species, and all of them are protected under state law. “They have very clean edges versus a cottonmouth that has more of a pixelated or broken edge with a very similar pattern,” he said.Ĭottonmouths are found in the Sandhills and Coastal Plain regions of North Carolina, he said. They’re not a species of snake that changes color or changes pattern as they mature,” Bitler said. “For a copperhead, they have a very distinct pattern that they’re born with. Copperheads are brown, gray-brown, tan or more pink, with an hourglass pattern of darker brown down the back. The most common venomous snakes in North Carolina are copperheads and cottonmouths, also known as water moccasins.Ĭopperheads are identified by the “Hershey’s Kiss” pattern along their sides, according to WRC. “If someone says, ‘I still don’t like snakes, but I let them be,’ that’s a win.”Ĭopperhead snakes are found statewide. “We’re not out there turning everyone into a snake lover, we want people to be able to coexist,” he said. During the busy spring season, there can be hundreds of photos posted each day of snakes people are trying to identify. The Facebook group is one way Bitler and the other moderators on the site try to help people learn to identify snakes and how to exist in an environment with snakes. But, he said, it is very rare for someone to die from a venomous snakebite. A lot of that is because they’re most active when we’re most groggy, that’s early morning and later evening,” Bitler said. “North Carolina is one of the leaders in copperhead bites in the country. ![]() “It is important for us to learn to live with these animals.” It’s not just that they eat rodents,” he said. “Snakes play a really important role in our ecosystem in so many ways. To get rid of unwanted snakes on a property, it is important to clean up any areas where they have access to food, water and shelter.North Carolina's three rattlesnake species and the eastern coral snake, all venomous, are listed as either endangered or of special concern for population decline by the state.Copperheads are found statewide, while cottonmouths are mostly found in the Coastal Plain region.Six of those are venomous, including copperheads and cottonmouths (also known as water moccasins) There are 37 species of snakes in North Carolina.
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