How To Identify Non-Venomous Snakes Native To Oklahoma

As the cold weather starts to turn warmer, Oklahoma's native creatures are sure to start stirring first around SWOK. This includes our legendary venomous snakes. Sometimes caught in the crossfire, we have far more non-venomous snakes in our neck of the plains. Before you reach for the hoe or shovel, you might double check to make sure you're not about to destroy an ally in your personal worry against dangerous snakes.

I live in West Lawton, in the middle of a large neighborhood, and even I run across snakes every year. Mostly of the lined variety, but I've seen bull snakes close to the local park before. While your first instinct might be to start chopping off heads, it'd probably be better to just let it be. Especially if you're lucky enough to have a King snake slithering around your hood. They eat rats, mice, and other snakes including cotton mouths and rattlers. Not a bad bro to have around the house.

As always, you don't want to be handling these danger-noodles. Not only do they strike, they also wallow around in their own feces. That's just nasty.