These Venomous Snakes Are In YOUR Backyard! (Backyard Snakes of North Carolina Ep. 3)

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-06

[00:00:00]Encountering a snake in your yard or at a local park often comes as a surprise, [music] and learning about the species that you've just discovered is one of the first things you'll want to do. [music] While 37 species of snakes are native to North Carolina, only a few are commonly found in disturbed landscapes. And today, [music] we'll uncover the survival strategies and identifying features of three frequently encountered [music] backyard snakes. My name is Ben Zino, and it's my mission is to inspire you to get outside and discover the amazing [music] wildlife that's all around us. And the first species I'm searching for today can literally be found all around us. And it isn't too long until a movement in the leaf litter catches my eye. Check it out. Oh, it's beautiful. Yeah. Now, this is a gorgeous Eastern Garter Snake. These are are really special because Oh, and look, there's a food bump, too.

[00:00:51]Right there in the middle. Now, garter snakes are amazing because this is actually the widest-ranging snake in all of North America. All the way down from the very bottom of Florida up into New England and even Canada. And it's also one of the most common backyard snakes that you can find here in North Carolina because they're extremely adaptable. So, garter snakes, they'll eat everything from bugs and worms to fish and frogs and even other small reptiles. And the reason that they're able to eat such a diverse range of prey items is because garter snakes are actually a rear-fanged venomous species. So, they're not medically significant. They're not dangerous to humans whatsoever, but they do produce a very mild neurotoxic venom in a special gland that they have called the Duvernoy's gland. They have enlarged maxillary teeth in the back with grooves. So, as they chew, that venom flows into their prey item and kind of slows it down. And garter snakes also, they can eat poisonous amphibians. So, in some parts of their range, they eat poisonous Eastern Newts, and they also eat poisonous toads that could kill other predators. Now, they also have a very wide variance in color and pattern, but almost always there are two easy signs to look for to identify a garter snake. One thing is this dorsal stripe that you can see running all the way down the backbone there. Almost all garter snakes are going to have that consistent dorsal stripe. And the second identifying feature that you can use is this checkering pattern. And that's where they get their name. It's actually a garter pattern. That's why they're called garter snakes, not garden snakes, not gardener snakes, but garter snakes because of that garter pattern. These are one of my favorite backyard snakes, and I [music] love the huge diversity of color that we see in this species. Next up is a species which can do quite well in moderately disturbed landscapes, but is rarely seen above the surface [music] unless conditions are just perfect. On a cool and cloudy spring afternoon, the weather feels just right. And as I inspect some trailside rock piles for basking [music] reptiles, I strike gold.

[00:02:50]That is amazing.

[00:02:52]Oh, what a beautiful eastern king snake.

[00:02:56]This is an amazing backyard snake right here. Probably the coolest that we have here in North Carolina other than maybe copperheads.

[00:03:05]Let me get out of this ditch. Now, of course, the common name eastern king snake comes from the fact that these are an ophidiophagous species, a species which feeds on other snakes. Now, that's not exclusive. King snakes will eat other things as well, but their natural resistance to pit viper venom, coupled with their ridiculous constricting power, actually, pound for pound, the strongest constricting power in the world, makes them more than capable of taking on other snakes, including venomous species. So, if you're someone watching this video right now because you do not want snakes in your backyard, this species right here is probably going to be your best friend. Because in my experience, there is no better snake deterrent than a king snake. Since these will eat all the other species of snakes that you can find in North Carolina backyards. And thankfully, identifying Eastern king snakes is also made really easy thanks to their unique patterning.

[00:04:02]So, throughout their entire life, they will have this really glossy kind of iridescent dark black base coloration and then they will have these yellow or white stripes that go across the top.

[00:04:14]This is just an amazing snake and a species I was really hoping to get into a backyard snakes video, but I just wasn't sure if I was going to find one or not. What a beautiful animal. We will get this awesome backyard snake right back in its rock pile. That is so cool.

[00:04:31]Finally, I'm searching for what might be the most feared backyard [music] snake in the entire Eastern US. Thankfully, I won't have to work very hard to find one of these snakes because Thomas just [music] uncovered one in his own backyard. Now, this beautiful snake right here is probably the most infamous backyard snake that is commonly found in Mosquito flew exactly in my left eye.

[00:04:52]That is commonly found here in the Piedmont of North Carolina.

[00:04:57]This is, of course, one of my favorite snakes of all time, the copperhead snake. Now, the primary reason that copperhead snakes are so infamous is because copperheads make up the vast vast majority of venomous snake bites.

[00:05:12]Over 90% of venomous snake bites here in the southeastern US come from copperheads. So, a lot of times people hear those kinds of statistics or you see the news articles of people who have been envenomated by copperheads and they get this false notion that copperheads are these really aggressive or dangerous snakes, when that is simply not the case. Just like all the other backyard snakes we've met so far in the series, copperheads just happen to have a suite of adaptations that make them especially well suited for surviving in systems that have been heavily modified by human activity. For instance, neonate copperheads, the babies, they are known to feed up in the treetops on cicadas and other large insects because they're so small that that is actually providing enough nutrition to keep baby copperheads alive. And a lot of the prey that is favored by copperheads, like that smaller sized prey, is also favored by human landscape disturbance.

[00:06:07]Especially, think about those small rodents that are using our human structures both as safety from non-snake predators and as a way food resources, all of those small rodents are bringing in these copperheads. But, the point I really want to emphasize about copperheads living here in our backyards and local parks is that it's not an accident. These are places that we have modified to the habitat and prey specifications that this species has.

[00:06:31]We've created the habitat that copperheads thrive in, and so it should not be surprising at all when we find copperheads in these places. Now, I think I've done copperhead ID videos so many times that you are probably beyond bored of them by now. You know that copperheads and copperheads only have these Hershey kisses on the side, which make them completely distinctive from all of the other snakes that can be found here in North Carolina backyards.

[00:06:58]And if you do find a copperhead in your yard and you're worried about it because you have small kids or pets and they might not know better than to go and mess with it, there are free removal services available. You can find those kinds of groups on social media, and usually within a few hours you can have someone for free come remove that copperhead from your yard. You don't have to kill it. You can just let that animal go about its business, you go about your business. This is a snake that does not want to bite you. It does not want to waste its venom on a human that it can't eat. That venom is energetically expensive to produce and it wants to use it for finding prey, not for defending itself from a potential threat. This has been a super chill individual to work with, so we'll go ahead and set this copperhead right back down in the yard and let it go about its day. Whether through secretive venom, powerful constriction, or extreme camouflage, each of the species covered in this video utilizes a different strategy to survive in landscapes that have been heavily modified by human beings. And all of these reptiles provide important ecosystem [music] services to you and I. Whether for free pest control, food for higher level consumers, [music] or just their aesthetic beauty, I hope that this video has equipped you to appreciate these snakes for the amazing reptiles [music] that they truly are. If you enjoyed learning about these backyard snakes, make sure you check out part one [music] and two of this series to learn more about your scaly neighbors. Here's your sneak peek at the species that will be featured [music] in the next episode of the Wild Report. I'll see you next time, but until then, stay curious and keep adventuring [music] everywhere. This has been Zeno of the Wild Report signing out.