# Miscellaneous Herp Interests > Venomous Animals >  Stupid "How to tell if a Snake is Venomous" Trick

## Sterling

You know the "if the snake's pupil is vertical its venomous" trick? Well its crap. All of my snakes, none of them venomous by the way, have vertical pupils. I dont know who invented this "trick", but they sure were stupid. My BP's, Boa's, and Carpets ALL HAVE VERTICAL PUPILS!!!!!!!
 :Bowdown:  :Snake:  :Wag of the finger:

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## DJ_Bizarre

I saw that on the show billy the exterminator lol, i mean it is a great show cuz he is funny but I was like wtf my BPs have vertical slit eyes and they arent venomout.

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## Sterling

Haha, thats where I say it too; Stupid but funny Billy the Exterminator.
 :Bowdown:  :Snake:  :Wag of the finger:

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## mommanessy247

i havent heard that one. ive heard that if they have an arrow shaped head...but ive seen pics of non venomous snakes with arrow like shaped heads....what gives?
i know rattlers at least stand out from the rest, but how DO you tell if a snake is venomous?

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## AkHerps

It's extremely difficult to tell if a snake is venomous or not, unless you know a ton of the different kinds and whether or not they are.  A lot of the so called, "certanties" about how to tell if a snake is or not, have holes, like the eye slits, or the diamond head, or a rattling tail.  Some snakes rattle their tales against leaves, etc...just to mimic venomous snakes. Some snakes also use bright colors to look like they are venomous, like the ringneck snakes, while Coral snakes are really bright, and venomous.

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## alittleFREE

Every timeI have ever heard this, it has been used regarding NATIVE snakes, in which case, it's actually mostly true , at least where I live. 

Corn snakes, rat snakes, garter snakes, water snakes, king snakes... those are some of the nonvenomous snakes you come across around down here, and they all have round pupils. Rattlers, mocassins, copperheads, etc. don't. 

There are a couple of exceptions (I don't believe coral snakes have vertical pupils) but I mostly hear this trick at wildlife seminars and stuff at local nature centers, where they are specifically talking about snakes you're gonna find in your back yard, not at the pet shop.

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_Lupe_ (10-08-2010),_SK_Exotics_ (09-14-2010)

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## bloodpython_MA

If those people REALLY wanna know if the snake they found is venomous or not, they should let it bite them...

...Or leave it the heck alone and don't antagonize it...

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## kitedemon

Oh that trick works... 



Green Mamba that isn't venomous is it? No not at all.... 

LOL!!

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## redpython

buy a field guide and learn the species.

in my state of kentucky there are four species of venomous snakes.  two occur in the western part of the state.  so it shouldn't be to hard to learn what the few venomous snakes we have are...but it must be as every snake that is found is either a cottonmouth, rattlesnake or copperhead.

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## BPelizabeth

> Oh that trick works... 
> 
> 
> 
> Green Mamba that isn't venomous is it? No not at all.... 
> 
> LOL!!


wow not to hyjack....but that is an amazing picture of a green mamba!!

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_kitedemon_ (06-28-2010)

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## Oxylepy

There is a pretty simple way to know if a snake is venomous or not.

Be capable of identifying which family of snakes any snake is part of by memorizing the uniting characteristics of any family.

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bamagecko76 (07-31-2010)

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## deminon

i think the whole verticle pupils thing is pretty stupid in itself. i mean seriuously, anyone who isnt a snake fan (and even some that are) arnt going to try to get close enough to look a snake in the eye.

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## dr del

Hi,

Does it make a difference if the snake in question rides a bus of less than regular length?




dr del

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_Anatopism_ (05-11-2011),_lk_holla_ (02-05-2011)

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## piranhaking

> You know the "if the snake's pupil is vertical its venomous" trick? Well its crap. All of my snakes, none of them venomous by the way, have vertical pupils. I dont know who invented this "trick", but they sure were stupid. My BP's, Boa's, and Carpets ALL HAVE VERTICAL PUPILS!!!!!!!


Before you call someone stupid, you should atleast try to get your facts straight.

That "trick" is specifically for native species here.  I dont know if it applies to coral snakes, my guess is that it doesn't, but where I'm from in Tennessee, we don't have coral snakes, so as far as I know it holds true for all NATIVE species here.  Copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlers all have the slit eyes, and I dont know of any native nonvenomous snakes that don't.

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bamagecko76 (07-31-2010),_Raptor_ (07-21-2010)

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## Raptor

The saying is in regard is NATIVE united states snakes. For the most part, it's true. There's only two exceptions to the rule. The coral snake (which has it's own little saying "Red on yellow kills a fellow, red on black, you're ok Jack) and the Texas Nightsnake which has verticle pupils (course, there may be more non-venomous USA snakes with slit pupils, this is just what I'm aware of).

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_piranhaking_ (07-21-2010)

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## mommanessy247

im gonna have to research the snakes that are found in my state/area. i rarely let my son out to play for fear that he'll see and pick up a snake...he's got absolutely NO concept of danger as do most "special needs" children...he likes snakes and makes their "sound" every time he sees one here. he knows we're getting a snake because i have a cage set up for the one im getting this year and ive told him im getting a snake. he always wants to look into the cage to "see" the snake...
anyways my bf's parents are planning to have a fence put up around our back yard so that my son will have a safe place to go out to play. but again,
i rarely let him out for fear he'll pick up a snake.

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## kellysballs

We did a year of weekends at the Daytona Flea Market selling reptile supplies, feeders and balls, and we heard this saying a lot. I just reminded people that while that is mostly true here in central Florida, if you go to other parts of the world it will not be true. (the exception here would be coral snakes they have round pupils and not "arrow shaped" heads)

 I would then show them the head shape and eyes of our balls and explain that the elliptical pupil is mostly for night time vison. You then get into nocturnal animals vs diurnal animals and it ends up being a pretty in depth educational session. 

While that saying may seem "stupid" to you it may be the sole piece of information that a common person has on venomous reptiles. So if you hear it in the future it can be a good ice breaker for a little education in snakes. No matter how many times we hear some thing if we take the time to educate and are good ambassadors for our pets it should help us as herp keepers in the long run.

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## Bellabob

Yea that is NOT a good way to tell if a snake is venomous. here are plenty of non venomous snakes with vertical pupils, like boas and pythons. And there are venomous snakes with round pupils, like boobslangs, black and green mambas, cobras, etc.

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## Russ Lawson

Yeah, that definitely arose as a rule for native snakes in the states. I tell people that for telling watersnakes from cottonmouths because people tend to be horrible about that (even though they look nothing alike imo). For coral snakes, I just tell them to see if the nose is black because that's less confusing than the red touching yellow vs red touching black rule if you have sight of the full snake. The only other venomous snakes we have here are a couple different types of rattlers, which are typically easy to pick out for most of the uninformed individuals I've encountered.

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## Hilltop

Yep north american trick only. LOL. the rest of you lot better get your own "trick" ours will get ya killed

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## Tim Mead

The term for vertical pupils is "Elliptical" it is common of nocturnal creatures, Those that stay out late,lol, your cat should have elliptical pupils..The round pupils are of Diurnial animals or the day timers..Pupils as you've seen have nothing to do with venomous..

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## Teclis

Get bit and see if you live?

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## Dragoon

> Get bit and see if you live?


even if this trick works for North America, i dare anyone to get close enough to a viper to check its pupils and not get bit.

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## Snakes Incorporated

Here in South Africa its no trick. Either you know or you dont. If you are unsure then leave it well alone.

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## ahunt037

i agree with the people on here who said simply check some sort of website or field guide that lists the snake species in your State Arizona is real easy only venomous snakes i know of have Rattles or have a color pattern that has a lil rhyme to go with it so u know if its poisonous or not... if only i could remember how the rhyme goes...hmmm something bout red on yellow ur dead or something and red on black friend of jack hahaha

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## JLC

Yeah...I'm thinking if you're close enough to clearly see the shape of a snake's pupils, it's probably too late to care.  :Razz: 

Best bet is to KNOW your snakes...or just leave them alone. 

BTW: 
"Red and yellow, kill a fellow.
Red and black, a friend to Jack." 

But that rhyme, while true for most common species, is still not true for all of them.  Again...best to know all the native snakes wherever you are.

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## ahunt037

ya thats how it goes but ya this thread got me thinking so i went and looked at the website i use for identifying snakes and i looked at them all to see wat was Venomous, Non-Venomous, Mildly Venomous, and Toxic Salivia and i came up with a pretty good list that i didnt even think half of these snakes were venomous like the Mexican Hognose or the Brown Vinesnake i realize these snakes wont waste their venom on an item too large and i think most of these snakes have the same issue that Daddy Long Leg Spiders have their bite isnt enough to deliver the venom to our blood stream or something idk maybe someone else knows

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## tylersweeney22

ok so i should put my face right in front of the snake and look very close to see if his eyes are a certain way sounds interesting lol .is this coming from the same billy the exterminator that picked up a corn or king snake up with tongs and called it a copper head i cant remember wich one it was but not even close to copper head. lol that guys a hehaw.

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## dembonez

the best trick to see if the snake is venomous would be, Get bit by it....wait by it, if you die it was venomous!

LOL im kidding tho but uhm im not sure other than just reading up on snakes and trying to remember key signs on the snakes body

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## 1stpalindrone

The saying is true when your talking about native snakes in the US.. That does not include any imports. There are hundreds of snakes that could go either way as far as the eyes go but NOT in the US..

It is a good general rule of thumb, but IT DOES NOT APPLY TO EXOTICS~
  Hope this helps :Cool:

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