Specific Snakes

Poisonous Snakes

VIPERS

Vipers are venomous snakes. They have teeth that are hollow and are normally carried folded down along the roof of the mouth. When preparing to bite, a viper erects these fangs. Most vipers are terrestrial, but some have become adapted to life in the trees and are bright green.

An adder is one of many venomous snakes of the viper family mostly found in Europe. It feeds on lizards and small mammals, but its bite is rarely fatal to humans. The young are born live. The death adder is a large venomous snake in the Cobra family. It is found in Australia and New Guinea and looks like a viper.
Pit vipers are different from the true vipers because they have heat-sensitive pits. They use them to detect warm-bodied prey.

Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes with movable front fangs with a heat-sensing pit on each side of the face. There are about 28 species of rattle snakes with 2 species in U.S. These pit organs allow them to strike in total darkness. Rattlesnakes range in size from sidewinders, pygmy rattlesnake, and the ridge-nosed rattlesnakes which are all usually less than 2 feet to 3-6 feet for the diamondback,known to be 8 ft. A diamondback rattler is most recognized by the end of its tail. When frightened it vibrates the rattles. This snake is really shy and will avoid confrontations. The fact is, more people will die during the year from dog bites or rabid animal attacks than from a rattlesnake. All rattlesnakes give birth to 8-15 live young at a time.

Copperhead-The copperhead is a venomous Pit Viper. It has a reddish brown head and copper-colored bands. It bears from two to eight living young during the fall. Copperheads are found in the eastern United States from Massachusetts to Illinois, south through the southern states, and to west Texas. Adults are usually less than 3ft long.

Sea snakes are venomous snakes. They are found in warm tropical oceans of Australia and New Guinea. Sea snakes have long bodies, oarlike tails, and salt glands. They eat fish and eels. The Japanese smoke the sea snake and eat it with soy sauce.

The Coral snake's venom is highly toxic, but the snakes are not aggressive and have very short fangs. They are pretty with bright rings of red, yellow, and black that most species possess. Forty species of coral snakes are tropical, but two species occur in the United States. It actually reaches an adult length 30 inches. All coral snakes lay eggs and prey mostly on reptiles, especially other snakes. They are not often seen, but they may be active day or night .

Mambas are venomous African snakes in the same family as the cobras. The black mamba is the largest poisonous snake in Africa reaching 14 feet. They may be found on low-lying branches and can move rapidly. They have an extremely potent venom.

Non Poisonous Snakes

Python Pythons are nonvenomous snakes which includes the boas and other large snakes. The best member of the subfamily is the boa. Some Pythons have reached lengths of more than 33 ft. and weights of approximately 300 lbs. Pythons differ from most other snakes because they have well-developed lungs. All pythons lay eggs,the eggs usually hatch in 60 to 80 days. Pythons feed primarily on mammals, which they kill by constriction. Death by constriction is due to suffocation rather than crushing.

Boa is the common name for about 50-species of Snakes . They are closely related to pythons. The typical boa are ground or tree dwellers of tropical America. The sand boas are burrowing snakes in the deserts of northern Africa and south Asia. All boas are nonpoisonous and kill their prey by constriction. They are active at night. The average length of the adult boa is 10 to 11 feet long. The longest one found is 14 feet. Stories may confuse this snake with the Anaconda or the Pythons of Asia. The boa is reddish gray with long pointed head,curved front teeth, and dark stripes.

The Anaconda is a very large South American snake that crushes its prey. (Anacondas can eat an alligator). It is known as the water boa. The young are born alive. Anacondas are not venomous, but defend themselves with severe bites and constrict their prey. Anacondas live in tropical forests and rivers. The anaconda is the largest boa in the Western Hemisphere. They grow to 25 feet, but sometimes can grow to 40 feet. They belong to the same family as the boa.

Home