Snakes in Nevada

Nevada is home to about 30+ species of snakes, and only 8 of them are venomous. All 8 are rattlesnakes. There are no copperheads or cottonmouths in Nevada or anywhere in the far West, so identifying the dangerous snakes here is straightforward: if it is not a rattlesnake, it is harmless to people. That leaves 30 species you can meet without any real risk.

Nevada is the heart of the Great Basin, a vast cold desert of sagebrush flats ringed by dry mountain ranges, and farther south the land drops into the hotter Mojave Desert near Las Vegas. This range from high sagebrush steppe to low Mojave creosote flats explains the rattlesnake lineup. The Western Rattlesnake (in its Great Basin form) and the Prairie Rattlesnake cover the northern and eastern sagebrush country. The southern deserts add the heat-loving specialists: the Mojave Rattlesnake, the Sidewinder that loops sideways across loose sand, and the Southwestern Speckled, Speckled, and Panamint Rattlesnakes that match desert rock and gravel almost perfectly. The Western Diamond-backed reaches the state's far southern tip.

The harmless snakes are the ones you are most likely to actually see. Gophersnakes are common and famous bluffers, flattening their heads, hissing, and buzzing their tails to imitate a rattlesnake despite having no venom and no rattle. Kingsnakes hunt and eat rattlesnakes and are immune to their venom. Garter snakes stay near the scarce water of springs and creeks, racers move fast across open ground, and nightsnakes come out after dark. None of these can seriously harm a person.

Honest safety: almost every serious snakebite in Nevada is a rattlesnake bite, and most happen when people handle or corner a snake or reach into rock crevices and brush without looking. Deaths are very rare with antivenom and prompt care. Give rattlesnakes distance, watch your hands and feet around rock and woodpiles, and they will move off on their own. Never handle a wild snake, no matter how calm it seems. If a bite occurs, keep still and call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or 911.