Assistance With Identification of Snakes

How We Can Help You

It is hoped that this write up, in conjunction with the sources of information provided under the “General Information” section above, will help you identify snakes that you encounter in the upstate area. However, since the descriptions we have provided reflect the “typical conditions and colors” of snakes, we realize there can still be confusion. Therefore if you cannot identify your snake, and if you can get a digital photo of it, we will be glad to try to identify it for you from your photo. E-mail your photo to Greg Lucas at the Clemson DNR office at LucasG@dnr.sc.gov. Please include in your e-mail the name of the county in South Carolina where the snake was found and photographed. We will respond to you. Be advised that unless your photo shows some good detail we will be limited in our ability to identify the snake. 

And How You Might Help Us

The 21 species of snakes addressed above are ones which are well documented to presently occur in upstate of South Carolina. However, not all snakes read the book, and there are occasional records of other species. These are species for which there may only be one or two records over several decades, species for which more records are needed. Thus, it’s possible that photos received through this process may provide us with important records about snake species living in the upstate, species that we thought were not present, or that we consider very rare. This could help us with protection and proper management of an important upstate natural resource.  

Table 1. Snake Species in Upstate South Carolina

Species are listed in alphabetical order by scientific name. The species hyperlinks below are courtesy of University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL). Many of these species have web sites dedicated to them, and are best searched by scientific name.

Note: there are a couple of additional species for which there are only a very few records in upstate South Carolina. These have not been included at this time. New records of these species would be a notable benefit of people responding to this site. Contents of the site would then be amended.

Table 2.  Upstate Snakes that kill Their Prey by Constriction

Note: even though the scientific name for the Black Racer is Coluber constrictor, this species is not a constrictor.

Table 3. Upstate Snakes That Bear Live Young (others are egg layers)