How can you tell a poisonous snake from a non-poisonous one?

I feel sorry for the snake, but i understand you were protecting your girls. and i dont blame you, i am a big snake person my self and love them to death. There are several traits that you can tell harmless from harmful, first is the shape of the head, garters and other snakes like that typically have a distinct rounder face, cotton mouth, and copper heads happen to have sorta arrow shaped heads, i believe these are the main poisonus snakes in your area, since you do live in the woods though, i would become very familiar with any of the venoumus snakes in your area, and spiders for that matter. that way if your girls or you are ever bit, and they give you a disription you can somewhat have a idea. and you will know the diffrence. this can come very helpful, becasue some ar e alot more harmful than others, and the venom acts diffrently in diffrent snakes. i would look them up especially since you live near woods. which are perfect habitat for snakes. good luck

Well, it sounds to me like it was a hog nosed snake. I don't think it's poisonous. But there are a lot of snakes with leaf like disigns. Normally, if it doesn't have a rattle, it's not poisonous but I wouldn't take chances. Next time, just leave it alone and let it go away on it's own. Snakes usually come to the pavment at night because it's been warmed by cars and the sun all day long. It'll go away in a short time. In the U.S., we don't have very many poisonous snakes so don't over worry.

Snakes live in a world of eat or be eaten. They take one look at us, and "think", "I can't eat this thing, but its big enough to eat me." As a result, they are very much afraid of us.

There are only 4 species of poisonous snakes in North America; cottonmouth water moccasin, rattlesnake, copperhead and coral snake. Learn to identify these snakes from photos, and you can safely assume that all other snakes you see in North America are non-poisonous.

Another thing, even though I dont agree with killing animals, if youre going to kill a snake to protect your kids, here's something you should know. It can take an awfully long time for a snake to die, even after it receives an obviously fatal injury (like having its head severed from its. I heard of an incident where a man killed a snake, removed its head and threw the head away. However, 2 children retrieved it a few minutes later and started throwing it back and forth between them. One of the children was bitten on the hand (with venom injected) and had to be hospitalized. Give all "dead" snakes a wide berth, they may not be quite as dead as they first appear.

Hope I could help. :)

In the U.S. all poisonous snake breeds but one have very distinctive characteristics that make it pretty easy to tell.

Those Poisonous snakes have very large heads shaped like a diamond, cat eyes, pits under the eyes, and very wide bodies.

The Coral snake is the only U.S. snake that differs and it resides mainly in the far eastern states. It is small and has multi colored bands.

The Night snake is supposedly the most venomous snake in the U.S. but it's fangs are positioned at the back of the mouth therefore bites don't result in injection of poison.

Hope this helps,

I think it is great that you are considerate enough for non-venomous snakes to ask.

The evolution of snakes has been towards more venomous snakes, but you might still find the old-world pythons around in the wild.

The only site I can find that would be of any use in this matter is this one:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/veno...

but as you mention you get wild snakes, why not consider getting a book about thew snakes of your area? They normally make identification really easy, and it's good education for the kids.

Snakes are not poisonous they are venemous....People dont understand that a snake does not hunt you down to attack you. you are 100 times the size of them and all you have to do is walk the other way. I handle snakes all the time at work and even venemous ones. Never have I been sought out to be attacked by any of them. Any state you live in you should know what animals, insects and plants pose potential hazards to you or your pets.

I can usually tell if its poisonous or not by the pattern on the skin... I don't think that one was poisonous, but just incase keep your eyes open:D Oh and just to let you know, there are less poisonous snakes than there are safe snakes.

Many poisonous snakes have pointed noses. you may want to look it up as little more on the internet.

I found a website with pictures of the poisonous snakes you can find in the U.S.:

http://www.pestproducts.com/snake_pictures.htm

I hope it helps.

You could check the internet, or go to your local pet store and talk to someone there.