The South of the United States is the home of many kinds of snakes and lizards that pose very little threat to human health. A high percent of Texas snakes are non-poisonous or very slightly poisonous for their prey, but in case of a human injury very few problems have been signaled so far. There are two exceptions: the groups and subgroups known as coral snakes and pit vipers. Over the last few years the number of bites has decreased not only in Texas but everywhere in the United States because of a superior awareness of the fact that snakes have the same rights to living in the habitat as we do. Thus, people have to understand that a snake will only bite when it feels threatened and the resulting envenomation is the result of a pure defensive act.
The most widely spread Texas snakes are pit vipers: they have further sub-groups like the cottonmouths, rattlesnakes and copperheads. Each group shows individual traits that render the specimens easy to recognize and thus to avoid. One will recognize Texas snakes like the copperheads by the red-brown cross lines in their body patterns, while cottonmouths will stand out by the shades of green, solid black and olive. When threatened cottonmouths will open their mouths and hiss menacingly. The name of this species comes from the white tissue in their mouth that gets visible when they threaten possible aggressors.
Last but not least, the rattlesnake is the noisiest of Texas snakes; as the name suggests, this snake rattles its tail telling aggressors to keep the distance. If you mind your business and avoid them, rattlesnakes will never strike you out of the blue. The only pit viper that sends threatening signal before biting is the copperhead that reacts violently whenever it senses danger. This is the reason why from all the Texas snakes, the copperhead gets its reputation as the trickiest and most unpredictable. Then, we should mention coral snakes as one other group living in the arid parts of the American south.
Corals are part of the same group as African and Asian cobras, and though most venomous snakes have elliptical pupils, corals distinguish themselves by their roundness. These Texas snakes are thin and small usually less than two feet long with an intricate back design that includes a combination of yellow, red and black rings. Even if there are other risk-free Texas snakes with similar color patterns, they have almost never red in the marking. In case you are traveling in the south Texas woodlands, on coastal plains or in canyons, you can often come across.
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