‹ Compare two snakes
Pygmy Rattlesnake vs DeKay's Brownsnake
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(c) Jolieokefenokee, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Pygmy Rattlesnake
Sistrurus miliarius
Venomous(c) Michael J. Papay, some rights reserved (CC BY)
DeKay's Brownsnake
Storeria dekayi
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Compare the spots along the back. The Pygmy Rattlesnake has one row of large dark blotches, often with a rusty stripe, and a tiny rattle. DeKay's has a pale stripe edged by two rows of small dots.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Round dark spots down the back, often with a rusty stripe between them.
Pale stripe down a brown back between two rows of small dark spots.
Head
Small head, only a little wider than the neck, with a dark stripe through the eye.
Small head, often with a dark mark behind the jaw.
Eyes
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Round pupil, small dark eye; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Very slender with a tiny rattle that sounds like an insect.
Short; no rattle.
What it does
Stays hidden under leaves; rattle often too faint to hear.
Slow and inoffensive; hides under boards and bricks.
Where it lives
Southeast from eastern North Carolina through Florida and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma, north into western Tennessee, far western Kentucky, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Eastern and central US: southern Maine and southern Canada south through Florida, west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas.