ICYMI: Do You Know Your Snakes? Here’s A Guide To Common Snakes In Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Thanks to a warm winter, snakes are out and about earlier than normal. Snake sightings -- and bites -- are on the rise in the Charlotte and Lake Norman region, prompting one Mecklenburg County agency to put out a guide to identifying which are poisonous and non-venemous.

Snakebites have quadrupled this year, according to the Carolinas Poison Center, the Charlotte Observer recently reported. North Carolina has 37 native snake species, of which only about six are venomous. The center received 71 calls in April, most for Copperheads, which account for 10 times more calls than any other species, the newspaper reported.

The Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Nature Centers released a handy visual guide to area snakes Monday. “All of these snakes will eat rodents like mice, voles, and chipmunks,” the agency said on its Facebook page. “[t]he Watersnake of course, adds fish and frogs to their diet. Kingsnakes will eat other snakes, including Copperheads.”

Have you seen any snakes so far this spring? If so, tell us about it in the comment section.

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