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The Goats of Kingsport
Fun Fest was created to offer Kingsport residents a variety of arts and entertainment events with the goal of bringing people of all ages together to have a great time, and it’s certainly been a success. Today, Fun Fest hosts more than 100,000 residents and visitors each year!
Contrary to what some people believe, snakes are not out to get us. In fact, snakes in the wild typically have zero interest in being around people.
Tyler Wicks, a park ranger at Bays Mountain Park, said that while it’s not uncommon to come across snakes in the woods, they normally go in the opposite direction when they sense humans coming their way. Marty Silver, a park ranger at Warriors’ Path State Park, agreed: “Usually if you see a snake, it’s the tail end as it tries to get away from you,” he said.
Wicks added that especially during the summer, you might see the occasional snake soaking up the sun. If they’re not keeping to themselves by hiding under leaves or in wood piles, snakes are usually looking for food, sun, or both. And it’s very rare to see a venomous snake in our area.
Here in Kingsport, we’re lucky to have a variety of fascinating snakes living among us – and they’re almost all completely harmless to humans.
Silver said the most common snakes found in the Kingsport area are rat snakes (often called black snakes) and garter snakes. Adult black snakes are black with a white or yellow chin and throat. They can be 5-8 feet long when fully grown. Garter snakes typically have three lightly colored white, yellow, blue, or green stripes on a brown or olive background. They are usually 30 inches or so long.
Occasionally a milk snake or corn snake will be spotted in our part of the state as well. Both can be black, brown, or red. Milk snakes grow up to 60 inches long, and corn snakes can grow up to 6 feet long.
Rat Snake
Garter Snake
Other nonvenomous snakes living in East Tennessee but less commonly spotted in the Kingsport area include:
• Black racer snake
• Dekay’s brown snake
• Eastern hognose snake
• Eastern ribbon snake
• Eastern worm snake
• Northern pine snake
• Northern water snake
• Queen snake
• Red-bellied snake
• Ring-neck snake
• Rough green snake
• Scarlet snake
• Smooth earth snake
• Southeastern crowned snake
The only two venomous snake species living in the Tri-Cities region are timber rattlesnakes and eastern copperheads. Both are pit vipers, named for the heat-sensing pits located behind their nostrils, which help them detect prey. The venom they inject into their prey breaks down red blood cells.
Eastern Copperhead
Timber Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes and copperheads both tend to frequent forested terrain, especially rocky, rugged areas where people rarely find themselves. They have similar identifying characteristics, such as stocky bodies, shield-shaped heads, and slit-shaped pupils, in addition to the heat-sensing pits between their eyes and nostrils.
All species of snakes are carnivorous, meaning that they survive by eating small creatures like mice, rats, and other rodents; birds; frogs and toads; fish; earthworms and slugs; bats; lizards; other snakes; and sometimes the eggs of birds and reptiles. Queen snakes particularly enjoy crawdads that have just shed their shells – quite the delicacy!
“Live and let live” is a good rule of thumb for snake encounters. Like both Silver and Wicks said, snakes will almost always slither away from humans in a hurry.
The nonvenomous eastern hognose snake, however, occasionally seen in East Tennessee, has a unique reaction to perceived threats. It may put on a dramatic show of being aggressive, mimicking rattlesnake behavior. It may vomit or defecate on itself to make it seem less appealing to predators. Or, it may just roll over and play dead.
If you see a snake in the water in East Tennessee, it’s most likely a nonvenomous northern water snake – often misidentified as a venomous cottonmouth (aka water moccasin) – a species that may be found in the western part of the state, but not around here.
For those interested in seeing some of our native snakes up close, Wicks recommends visiting the Bays Mountain Herpetarium, which is open 7 days a week. The Herpetarium features eight native snake species, including rattlesnakes and copperheads, in their natural habitats. You can also enjoy the park’s Snakes Alive! Program, where you learn about all the different snake species that call Bays Mountain home.
While most of the snakes in our region are harmless to humans, it’s a good idea to take basic safety precautions:
- Leave snakes alone – most bites occur when someone tries to touch or kill a snake
- Never touch a snake, even if you think it’s dead – a snake’s reflexes can cause it to strike up to an hour after it has died
- Stay on established hiking trails as much as possible
- Wear boots and long pants when hiking
- Avoid tall grass, weeds, and heavy underbrush
- Don’t step or put your hands where you can’t see
- If you must move a rock or log, wear gloves and roll it toward you, giving anything beneath it the opportunity to escape in the opposite direction
- When possible, step on logs and rocks, never over them, as you may surprise a sheltering snake
“If you get bitten by anything, it’s good to get medical attention just to be on the safe side,” Silver said.
Snakes do a very important service for us – they’re the largest predator of rodents. “If you don’t like mice in your kitchen, you should like snakes in your yard,” Wicks said. “Every snake that’s killed is one snake that’s not out there eating the rats and mice that can make people sick.”
Learn more about the snakes of Tennessee – visit the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s website.