Snakes in Williamson County
Every snake here has been photographed and verified inside Williamson County. They are ranked by how often that actually happens, not by how dangerous they are, because eighteen of the twenty cannot hurt you. The other two are the two people are worst at recognizing.
The order below comes from 638 research-grade iNaturalist observations inside the county. That counts photographs, not snakes. A species that sits still under a leaf and waits for a mouse gets photographed far less than one that climbs a downspout in daylight, which is why the copperhead, the snake most likely to bite someone here, sits fourteenth. Read the ranking as what you are likely to see. Read the venom pill as what you need to know.
The two venomous snakes in this county are the eastern copperhead and the timber rattlesnake. Everything else on this page is harmless, and most of what gets killed as a copperhead is a juvenile ratsnake, a milksnake or a brownsnake. If you have a photograph and a question, the Identify page has the four tells that actually work.
Gray Ratsnake
Northern Watersnake
Common Gartersnake
Eastern Black Kingsnake
Rough Greensnake
Queensnake
Milksnake
Timber Rattlesnake
Smooth Earthsnake
North American Racer
Ring-necked Snake
Eastern Wormsnake
DeKay's Brownsnake
Eastern Copperhead
Common Ribbonsnake
Red-bellied Snake
Plain-bellied Watersnake
Prairie Kingsnake
Eastern Hog-nosed Snake
Northern Cottonmouth
Where this came from.
Next
Keep reading.
Tornadoes and severe weather in Williamson County
Every tornado confirmed here since 1960, why eighteen of the twenty-six came between six at night and six in the morning, and the storms that have killed people in this county.
Day trips from Franklin
Eight Saturdays from the Public Square and back, four of four hours and four of eight, each timed against its stops' Saturday hours and the sunset.
Pumpkinfest's first two-day run drew 172,000 to Main Street
The Heritage Foundation added a Sunday to thin out a crowd that hit 135,000 in a single day last year. It got 172,000 over two days instead, the most any of its festivals has ever drawn, and a street that was still less crowded by the hour.
Pack it. Print it. Pass it on.
Most snakes killed in Williamson County are killed by someone who could not name them. Send this to anyone who gardens, hikes, keeps a woodpile, walks a dog off the greenway, or has a teenager who reaches into things. That is most of the county.
Sources
Medical disclaimer. This field guide is general educational information, not medical advice, and is no substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment. Any bite from a copperhead or a timber rattlesnake is a medical emergency: go to an emergency department, and call the Tennessee Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222 on the way. In an emergency, call 911. Identification disclaimer. No photograph identifies a snake with certainty, and this guide will not make anyone a herpetologist. When the answer matters, keep your distance and send a photograph to someone who does this for a living.