‹ Compare two snakes
Timber Rattlesnake vs Eastern Milksnake
Tap a part to see it on both. Tap it again to turn it off.
(c) Evan M. Raskin, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Timber Rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
Venomous(c) Daniel J. Layton, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Eastern Milksnake
Lampropeltis triangulum
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Check the tail. The Timber Rattlesnake's tail is usually solid black and ends in a rattle. The Eastern Milksnake's tail is patterned and tapers to a point. It may buzz the tip in dry leaves, but there is no rattle.
Tail ★ This settles it
Solid black ahead of the rattle.
Tapers evenly; no rattle - but it vibrates the tip.
Head
Heavy triangular head, much wider than the neck, usually with no bold cheek stripe.
Small head, often with a pale Y or V mark on the back of it.
Pattern
Dark chevrons - V shapes pointing forward - and often a rusty spine stripe.
Reddish-brown saddles edged in black on gray; checkerboard belly.
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.
What it does
Very reluctant; usually lies still or rattles long before striking.
Vibrates its tail and musks; often found in basements and walls.
Where it lives
Eastern US from New Hampshire and New York south to northern Florida, west to Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and east Texas.
Northeast and Midwest: Maine and Ontario west to Minnesota and Iowa, south through the Appalachians to northern Georgia and Alabama, and down the Mississippi valley to Missouri, northern Arkansas and eastern Kansas.