Our article will discuss the different types of snakes in Nebraska. Nebraska has non-poisonous and venomous snakes.
This should quickly indicate whether you’re dealing with a deadly snake.
Follow up as we learn about the types of snakes in Nebraska.
1. Hognose Snake
Nebraska has two of the four North American hognose snakes. A stout body, keeled scales, and a charming, tip-turning snout characterize these 12–45-inch snakes.
Rattlesnakes don’t play dead when cornered, although hognose snakes tend to look like them.
YouTubers love hognose snakes’ dramatic defenses. All four species imitate rotting snakes well!
They’ll coil up, stink, or dung on themselves, flop onto their backs, and stick their tongue out their mouths after spreading their baby-sized hood and trying to grow.
When these types of snakes in Nebraska play dead, they gaze about before stopping.
These snakes specialize in toads. They devour various animals but prefer toads and amphibians. Starting newborn hognoses in captivity is challenging.
Rear-fanged hognose snakes contain minor venom but are safe for humans and most pets. Their prey-specific venom only affects their major meals.
Their toad-eating tendencies may possibly make them toxic, although additional study is needed.
2. Western Hognose Snake
Western hognose snakes are more abundant in Nebraska. The western two-thirds of Nebraska is their range.
These harmless snakes in Nebraska dig in soft sandy soil seeking food and have dark to light base colors with darker patches on top.
The 12–45-inch western hognose is active from April until early October.
3. Eastern Hognose Snake
Nebraska has these snakes in a tiny southwestern enclave near the northeastern and eastern border.
Even though their snouts are darker and less upturned than the western hognose, they are more striking.
Eastern hognose snakes are 15–39 inches and active April–October. This species performs the “dead snake” charade longer than others.
4. Bullsnake
Bullsnake is also one of the types of snakes in Nebraska. When hiking, camping, or enjoying the outdoors, breathe if you spot a snake. It may be a skilled bluffer, not a rattlesnake.
Many farms prefer bullsnakes because they eat mice, rats, and other pests that harm crops and structures.
Colors and patterns resemble prairie rattlesnakes, so many confuse them. Though longer than rattlesnakes, bullsnakes lack venom, fangs, and rattles.
Bullsnakes are one of the longest North American snakes at over eight feet. They strive to seem large and dangerous for their “please don’t eat me” performance.
They’ll huff, hiss, coil, rattle their tail, and headbutt you. After being taken up, they settle down.
These types of snakes in Nebraska are common in Nebraska and active from May through October.
5. Western Ratsnake
Have you seen a snake in your garage rafters or porch light? Maybe a ratsnake.
These snakes always arrive in style. They climb lamp posts, lurk in ceiling fans, and peer through windows, but they’re harmless.
Some of these types of snakes in Nebraska are over eight feet long.
They climb well and explore everywhere for food. Western rat snakes devour rodents, nestling birds, and other small animals.
Western rat snakes only live in eastern Nebraska. Thus, sighting one is rare. Their season runs from early April until mid-October.
6. Western Fox Snake
This species’ names have changed many times in the previous century. These rat snake relatives are now western fox snakes.
Although superb climbers, they’re not as interested in climbing as rat snakes.
These snakes in Nebraska have the same patterns but a shorter, flattened snout and a golden brown base.
Fox snakes are three to six feet long and smell like foxes, thus its popular name.
Western fox snakes love woods, meadows, and freshwater marshes, yet they are brave and don’t mind people.
These snakes eat mice and rodents, juvenile rabbits, frogs, and eggs.
Only western fox snakes live in eastern Nebraska, searching for food from early April to early October.
7. Speckled King Snake
One of North America’s most gorgeous snakes dwells in southeast Nebraska.
Speckled kingsnakes feature a yellow dot in the majority of their jet-black scales. Nebraska‘s six-foot types of snakes consume birds, bird eggs, small rodents, and other snakes.
Speckled kingsnakes are peaceful and avoid humans but will defend themselves! Move gently and anticipate them to bite if you need to remove one from your garden or across the road.
This nonvenomous species lives solely in southern Nebraska and is active from mid-April to early October.
8. Western Milksnake
Kingsnakes, like the western milkshake, are common and lovely. They’re safe unless you’re a mouse, tiny reptile, or bird, and their brilliant colors make great helping finds.
Western milksnakes have redheads and black snouts to distinguish them from coral snakes. And thin black stripes. Alternating with larger white, red, or orange bands.
Western milksnakes are nocturnal and grow 35 to 54 inches. They are active from early April until late October.
9. Plains Garter Snake
Plains garter snakes are long, slender, and semi-aquatic like other garters, usually near permanent water sources with plenty of worms, snails, fish, and amphibians to eat.
These snakes in Nebraska have one light-colored stripe on each side and an orange or yellow dorsal stripe from head to tail.
They feature alternating black specks above and below the side stripe and a dark base color.
Nebraska has several prairie garter snakes in moist areas. They’re active and 15–43 inches long from March through October.
10. Western Worm Snake
This fossorial snake lives in southeastern Nebraska and is active from spring to mid-fall.
Western worm snakes reside mostly beneath rocks, leaf litter, logs, and other wet locations.
Hence, they are seldom seen. Smooth, shiny scales, tiny heads, eyes, and a pointed tail.
These types of snakes in Nebraska consume earthworms, tiny snakes, and soft-bodied insect larvae.
Western worm snakes immobilize victims with their sharp tails while feeding. Small enough to look like worms, these snakes are harmless and grow seven to 15 inches long.
11. Green Snake Smooth
Smooth green snakes are beautiful, with a bright green back and yellow or white belly if you can locate them. These 11–32-inch snakes fit their damp, grassy environment nicely.
The species is most widespread in central and eastern Nebraska and active from mid-April to late September.
Smooth green snakes eat insects, invertebrates, and tiny salamanders. They seldom bite and are harmless.
The fact that some hatchlings are blue and some adult snakes are blue after death is intriguing. The yellow pigment disappears, leaving the blue pigment.
12. Red-bellied Snake
The red-bellied snake is next on our list of types of snakes in Nebraska. They are 8 to 16-inch snakes and are innocuous and tiny.
They have brilliant orange or red bellies and dark brown, crimson, or grey backs.
Occasionally, their dorsal stripe is lighter. This species exclusively lives in south-central Nebraska and is active from March to October.
Food comes from slugs, snails, worms, and insects for red-bellied snakes. Mostly active from March to October, they reside beneath damp leaf litter, decaying logs, and rocks, where their favorite meals hide.
13. North American Racer
Several North American Racer subspecies live throughout the US.
The eastern yellow-bellied racer, olive green to greenish blue on the back and yellow to white on the belly, is one of Nebraska’s most common snakes.
They are ubiquitous throughout Nebraska and active from early April until September. Large-eyed, long, slender snakes may exceed six feet.
Young snakes exhibit prominent prairie kingsnake-like patterns but fade into their mature pattern by two years.
North American racers like hunting small rodents, birds, eggs, amphibians, and snakes in open forests, grasslands, and agricultural areas.
One of the quickest snakes in North America, they move at four mph. Perhaps you might move quicker, but legless snakes do it.
14. Eastern Copperhead Snake
The deadly eastern copperhead snake only lives in far southeastern Nebraska. They are most active from April to October in mild weather, then brumate during winter.
These types of snakes in Nebraska prefer deciduous woods with plenty of leaf litter but also dwell and hunt on rocky outcroppings, agricultural fields, and other places, with or without people.
Copperheads are tiny, around three feet long. These snakes consume lizards, insects, and small rodents; juvenile ones climb trees to catch cicadas.
Despite their color and striking “chocolate kiss” patterns, these snakes are hard to see! They freeze because their patterns disguise them well on the ground.
Copperheads aren’t aggressive and have less poison than rattlesnakes. However, they still cause approximately half of U.S. poisonous snake bites.
15. Prairie or Western Massasauga
Massasauga rattlesnake center frame on white isolation. On its silver-grey body, the snake has organized dark spots. A semi-coiled snake with its tail in the foreground circles to the right.
Venomous massasaugas have enormous scales on their skulls, so don’t go close. Massasauga snakes are small.
They may be as short as 14 inches and as long as 36 inches. They feature dark green, olive-gray, or dark brown patterns along their bodies and are light grey to brown.
These rattlesnakes are smaller than others. Massasaugas’ heads have varying scalation. Their front heads feature many big scales instead of tonnes of small scales.
They have smaller, less developed, and quieter rattles. These rattlers sound like high-pitched buzzes instead of rattles.
Nebraska has just a short strip of these snakes at the southern border with Kansas.
Even if you reside in their range, you may never see one.
These types of snakes in Nebraska avoid humans and hide in moist plains and marshes from mid-March to mid-November, eating tiny rodents and occasionally lizards or snakes.
16. Prairie Rattlesnake
Nebraska’s most prevalent poisonous snake is prairie rattlesnake. Second-largest and largely found in the western two-thirds of the state.
Grassland dog villages, grass grassland, and rocky outcrops attract these snakes. Three- to five-foot prairie rattlesnakes are typical.
Prairie rattlesnakes have brown, green, and gray-green colors with darker back patches. Like other western U.S. rattlesnakes, they show black and light tail bands before rattling.
They consume small animals and sometimes birds or lizards from late March to early November.
17. Timber Rattlesnake
Timber rattlesnakes, the Gadsden Flag snake, are ending our list of types of snakes in Nebraska and among the calmest rattlers.
Its brighter backdrop and black M or V-shaped crossbands distinguish this species.
Some have a reddish-orange dorsal stripe between markings.
Timber rattlesnakes, Nebraska’s largest rattler, sometimes exceeding six feet long, only attack when provoked. They usually need to be trodden on or seized hard.
Only a tiny region in the state’s southeast has these unusual snakes. Early April through late autumn are timber rattlesnake peak seasons.
Conclusion
Nebraska has four poisonous snakes. All other poisonous snakes are scarce and limited to the southeast.
All types of snakes in Nebraska are pit vipers with one heat-sensing pit on each side of their head between their nostrils and eyes.
