Snakes in North Carolina

North Carolina has roughly 40+ snake species, and only 5 of them are venomous. As elsewhere in the region, that means most snakes you meet here are harmless. The state stretches from high Appalachian peaks to barrier islands, and that long environmental span gives it a varied snake fauna.

The diversity follows the three classic regions. The Appalachian mountains in the west hold cool-forest and rocky-slope species, the central Piedmont holds woodland and field snakes, and the coastal plain in the east is full of pine flatwoods, pocosin wetlands, blackwater swamps, and tidal marsh. Sandhills, river bottoms, and the brackish edges near the Outer Banks each add their own residents, so a snake list assembled from the mountains looks quite different from one made at the coast.

The venomous snakes group cleanly. The Eastern Copperhead is the most widespread, a pit viper found in woods and suburban edges across much of the state, while the Northern Cottonmouth is a pit viper of the eastern swamps and slow waters. The rattlesnakes present are the Timber Rattlesnake, found in both the mountains and the lowlands, and the small Pygmy Rattlesnake of the southeastern pine and wetland country. The Eastern Coralsnake reaches the far southeastern corner; it is a secretive banded elapid that stays in leaf litter and is very rarely seen. The familiar color rhymes only roughly apply in the US and should not be used to identify a snake.

Most snakes North Carolinians actually see are harmless. Black racers and rat snakes are common around homes and woods, kingsnakes are valued because they eat other snakes, and garter snakes are frequent in gardens. Northern watersnakes and other watersnakes share ponds and rivers with cottonmouths and are routinely mistaken for them. For safety, the honest reality is that most bites happen when people try to handle or kill a snake, and deaths are very rare thanks to antivenom and medical care. Never handle a wild snake, and if a bite happens, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or 911.