God has made us different, he made us so unique. We slither on the ground, we have no hands and feet. Though you find us scary, or maybe just plain weird, our intentions are not to hurt you or cause you such great fear. Our venom's not meant for humans but to help us when we eat. So, please stop the senseless killing before we're all extinct. We're not saying you have to love us or tell us we're the best. God's the one who created us. So, treat us with respect.
written by Sarah Clark for Southeastern Reptile Rescue
Fears are educated into us and can, if we wish, be educated out. -Karl A. Merringer
The snake is an animal. It has a backbone and a heart. It has red blood. It drinks water and eats food. It breathes air and feels fear just like every other animal in the world. And, it's in a body that's the hardest thing for the average person to understand. (author-unknown)
Georgia is home to 41 different snakes. Of these 41, only 6 are venomous.
All of the snakes pictured below except for the coral snake are pit vipers. Some common characteristics of Georgia's pit vipers is that they all have pits on each side of their head located in between each eye and nostril. These pit vipers also have eliptical pupils as a cat does. Pit vipers are heavy bodied snakes meaning that they are thicker than most non-venomous snakes of the same length. The pit vipers also have triangular shaped heads as do many of Georgia's non-venomous snakes. On the under side of the tail of a non-venomous snake, the scales are divided into two rows. A venomous snake has one row of scales underneath the tail. So, many factors have to be met in order to determine venomous from non-venomous. The easiest way that I have found is by knowing the above information and also memorizing the skin pattern for the venomous snakes.
Click on a photograph below for more information on that particular snake.
