Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If this is a bull snake, how does one tell the difference?

Here is the picture. I was posting the wrong thing:

By the rattle. I'm not being a wise ass or anything -- seriously, if there's no rattle it's not a rattle snake (except in one weird case on some island there is a kind of rattler without a rattle, but I think that's the only one). Also, generally speaking, snakes with round pupils are non-venomous, and snakes with vertical pupils are. Oh, and the heads look different. Rattle snake heads look like arrow heads, or at least they have that same general shape. But the pic you posted is not a rattle snake, it's definitely something pituophis. Where'd you find it?

In my area is is quite common to find pigmy rattlesnakes with undeveloped rattles or without rattles at all. Had to prove it to my father once by milking the fangs in front of him....after that he did not question me again

The biggest sign for me is the shape of the head (very triangular) and the hooded eyes. Most pit vipers have that lovely tell-tell feature.
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Jenea

1:3 Eastern Hognose
0:0:1 Florida Redbelly Snake
0:1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle
1:1 Red-eared Slider
2:0 Cats
1:1 Kids
1:0 Spouse

is that if you have to ask this question, leave the snake alone.

I heard Whit Gibbons paraphrase this idea once about the old "red against yellow" rhyme. He said if you are trying to use this rhyme to differentiate milksnakes from coralsnakes, you have no business messing with the snakes at all.

I am not trying to be condescending in any way. Just read down this forum and see all the posts where partially informed people used these sorts of criteria (head shape, rattle presence, pupil shape) to identify venomous versus non-venomous. They frequently misidentify snakes based on these "rules". There are two consequences of these misidentifications - harmless snakes get killed and people get bitten by venomous snakes.

There are dozens of ways to tell gophersnakes from rattlesnakes, but as soon as you try to choose one single characteristic you are destined to fail.

I can tell a gophersnake from a rattlesnake in the dark, in silhouette, or even by the way they crawl. Why? Because I know how to identify snakes. But I can't tell the difference between edible mushrooms and lethally toxic species. So I don't mess with wild mushrooms!
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

n/p....

Yes, and that is a rule I always follow. However, when a snake enters my house, where I have small children, it would be nice to know what kinda of measures I have to take. Thankfully this is a rare occurance and may never happen again, but it happened once and I have a duty to protect my family. So, even if I am wrong in identification, possibly I will have enough information to know what to do. It doesn't hurt to have some kind of information, though.

It doesn't hurt to have some kind of information, though.

I guess my point is that sometimes a little information is worse than nothing.

Suppose you get a few ideas from here and decide you can now tell the difference. How sure are you? Maybe the characters you are using only work for adults or vary sometimes?

For example, a fool proof way is to look for the loreal pit in the rattlesnakes. It is absent in all the harmless snakes. But the problem is that it is hard to see, particularly on a small snake or one that is moving. You have to get close sometimes to see it. So this single character could have you misidentifying snakes (you might not see it). The same is true of rattles, patterns, head shapes, etc.

The safest way to learn to ID rattlesnakes is to have a suite of characters that allow you to identify most of the common snakes of your area and all the venomous ones.

Unless you can properly ID snakes, I think a parent of small childred should treat all snakes as potentially dangerous.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

Ok, thanks! Always good to use common sense!

good point indeed by chris h....still here's a little help,foolproof as possible....a)treat it with the respect you would give a venomous snake....b)unless it's a coral snake-bright red bands touching yellow bands-all other north american venomous ones will have vertical pupils(easier to see than the heat sensitive pits,which they also have),and yes the triangular head much wider than the neck,(not just slightly wider)....c)rattlesnakes yes usually have a rattle-exceptions being that pygmy rattlers sometimes have rattles so tiny you litterally can't see them or hear them occasionally;also on all other rattlers,even if the rattle broke off at it's base,you can easily see the base rattle segment....and that one species someone mentioned without a rattle is the santa catalina island rattlesnake,isolated to a pacific island....again,remember this-i know of more non-venomous snakes that do rattle their tails than ones that do not....so just because you hear what sounds like a rattle does'nt mean it is a rattler....d)get a book,and of course study/learn the photos,and teach your kids too!hope all this helps,peace