How to Identify Black & White Colored Snakes
- 1). Determine the snake group according to characteristics you have observed. According to Michigan State University's Critter Guide, Michigan groups include striped snakes, water snakes, rattlesnakes, large solid-colored snakes, small snakes with shiny scales, large-bodied bluffing snakes and blotchy snakes without stripes. Some snakes can fit into more than one group, but choosing a group can help you narrow down your options.
- 2). Notice the size and body shape of the snake. Burrowing snakes are usually compact in size while tree dwellers are long and thin. Water snakes tend to have flattened bodies. Eastern garter snakes average 1 to 2 feet while rat snakes may reach 4 to 6 feet. Cottonmouths have heavy bodies with long, thin tails while black racers are slender with smooth scales. Eastern garter snakes and eastern ribbon snakes are similar in size and appearance but ribbon snakes are slimmer than garter snakes.
- 3). Look at the colors and patterns on the snake. Garter snakes and ribbon snakes both have pale stripes on dark bodies, but garter snakes have lips with black scales while ribbon snakes have white. Some garter snakes have spots between stripes that make them appear checkered. Black rat snakes are shiny and black with white chins. Banded sand snakes are white with thin, black bands around the body. Some rattlesnakes have a band of black and white stripes just before the rattle.
- 4). Determine the preferred habitat and food of the black and white snake you're trying to identify. Water snakes that eat fish and amphibians are found near or in water such as rivers, swamps, ponds and lakes. Water snakes are social and can be found in groups. Cottonmouths often live near water, feeding on fish, frogs and other snakes, but these loners aren't found in groups. Common kingsnakes prefer forests, farms, mountains or desert regions, where they eat lizards, birds, mammals, frogs, bird eggs, and snakes, including venomous ones. The climbing abilities of the black rat snake enable it to live in a variety of locations, including forests, swamps, parks, suburban yards and fields, where they eat rodents, frogs, lizards, birds and bird eggs.
- 5). Determine the shape of the snake's head. All but one of North America's poisonous snakes have elliptical eye pupils like a cat, set in a heavy, triangular-shaped head. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake has a wide head, heavy body and contrasting thin neck. The cottonmouth has a broad, triangular-shaped head that is distinct from the neck, and a white stripe along the side that gives it a raccoon-mask feature.
