Snakes in Your Backyard?

By Mary Alice Hartsock

Open through September 10 in the Academy’s Special Exhibits Gallery, Backyard Adventures invites you to experience the magic of a special backyard world! You can  ride the bee bike, collect nectar, check out a food web pond, copy critter calls, and even dress up like living creatures. You’ll uncover surprising details about how organisms live and interact in their environments and discover more science in your backyard than you’ll ever imagine!

After you explore the special exhibit at the Academy, we encourage you to explore nature in your own backyard, urban neighborhood, or local park. Below, Special Exhibits Educator Mary Bailey helps us answer some common questions about what to do if you happen to meet a snake while you’re exploring.

Q: What do I do if I find a snake in the wild?

A: The best thing you can do is leave it alone. Most snakes will be scared and quickly slither away. If they are unable to escape, they will notify you of their presence by wiggling their tails, making fake “strikes” in your direction, or another method. Most snakes do not view humans as food, so it is unlikely that a snake will bite you if you do not try to pick up or handle it.

Q: What are some common snake species we might see around the Philadelphia area?

A: The Northern brown snake (Storeria dekayi), pictured above, is thin like a pencil and ranges from 3 to 10 inches long. It has two rows of small dark spots down its back. Believe it or not, it loves to hang out in cities like Philadelphia! The Northern brown snake likes to hide under rocks, logs, or other items that get warm and cozy in the sun. If you’re a gardener in Philadelphia, you’ve probably spotted one from time to time. The snake can bite, but it is not venomous. It may puff up if it feels threatened. It likes to eat slugs, so it may be beneficial to your garden!

In Philadelphia, you may spot a garter snake hiding in leaf litter or even in your basement. This snake tends to be black and tan or yellowish with a light stripe or checkerboard pattern running down its back. Unlike the Northern brown snake, the garter snake is active during the day as it hunts for worms and slugs. You might see it slither across a forest path, especially near the external limits of Philadelphia where there are fewer busy streets. Do not pick one up, or you may risk a bite.

Q: Are there venomous snakes nearby?

A: There are just two species of venomous snakes in the areas around Philadelphia: the Northern copperhead and the timber rattlesnake. The Northern copperhead has a thick, heavy body, a large and triangular head, and reddish-brown “saddles” shaped like hourglasses on its back.

The timber rattlesnake, which reaches about 3 to 5 feet when full grown, has a large head and dark, zig-zag bands across its body on a yellowish, grayish, or dark background. Some are almost completely black, and all have a distinctive rattle on the ends of their tails.

Like other venomous snakes, the Northern copperhead and timber rattlesnake have indentations on the side of the head between the eye and nostril and pupils that look like vertical slits (like those of a cat). These vertical slits can help you distinguish the Northern copperhead from two snakes commonly confused with it, the Eastern milk snake and the Northern water snake, both of which have round pupils.

Q: Do snakes carry rabies?

A: Rabies only affects mammals. Reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and insects do not get or carry rabies.

This article originally appeared in the Academy’s member magazine, Academy Frontiers.