How many snakes in Georgia are venomous?

Six native species: the copperhead, cottonmouth, timber rattlesnake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, pigmy rattlesnake and eastern coral snake. Everything else you are likely to encounter in Georgia is non-venomous.

What are the odds the snake in my yard is dangerous?

Low. Around ninety percent of snake calls turn out to be harmless rat snakes, and roughly one in a hundred involves a genuinely venomous animal. Rattlesnakes are removed in Georgia every year, so venomous snakes do exist here — but the proportion is heavily weighted toward harmless species.

Is it illegal to kill a snake in Georgia?

It is illegal to kill non-venomous native snakes, which Georgia protects. A legitimate operator will not harm one — they remove and relocate it. A company that agrees to kill a snake sight unseen is either breaking the law or intending to claim afterward that it was venomous.

Should I call someone about a snake in my yard?

Usually not. A snake outside will typically be gone within a few minutes to an hour and should simply be left alone. Most outdoor calls result in a technician arriving after the snake has moved on, with a call-out fee still payable. Keep pets and children back, do not handle it, and let it go.

What should I do if a snake gets inside my house?

Call immediately — the longer you wait, the less likely it is to be found. A snake indoors moves to somewhere dark and enclosed, such as behind an appliance, under cabinetry or into a wall void, and the search area only gets harder. Keep people out of the room, contain it behind closed doors if you safely can, and keep it in sight if it is in the open.

What attracts snakes to a property?

Overgrowth and a food source. Tall grass, brush piles, dense plantings and material stacked against the foundation give snakes cover to move under. The food source is usually rodents. Addressing both together makes a property far less attractive; addressing only one does little.

How much does snake removal cost in Georgia?

Typically $150 to $300, with the higher end applying to venomous snakes because of the additional risk and handling involved.

Georgia Snakes: Which Are Venomous and What the Law Allows

About nine in ten are harmless rat snakes

Snakes are the most misidentified animal in this trade, and it is not close.

Most people assume anything in the yard is venomous. In practice, around ninety percent of snake calls turn out to be harmless rat snakes. Roughly one call in a hundred involves a genuinely venomous animal.

Rattlesnakes do get removed in Georgia every year, so this is not a claim that venomous snakes are imaginary. It is a claim about proportion. The overwhelming likelihood, standing in a Georgia yard looking at a snake, is that you are looking at something that eats rodents and is no threat to you.

Rat snakes in particular are worth knowing on sight, because they are the ones you will actually meet — and because a rat snake on your property is doing free work on the rodent problem you would otherwise be paying someone to solve.

Georgia has six venomous species

Out of Georgia's native snakes, six carry venom:

Copperhead
Cottonmouth (water moccasin)
Timber rattlesnake
Eastern diamondback rattlesnake
Pigmy rattlesnake
Eastern coral snake

Everything else you are likely to encounter here is non-venomous.

Identification from a photograph or a description is genuinely unreliable, and the folk rules people repeat — head shape, pupil shape, banding patterns — fail often enough to be dangerous in both directions. They talk people into killing harmless snakes and out of respecting dangerous ones.

If there is real doubt, treat the animal with distance and let someone who does this professionally make the call.

Killing a non-venomous native snake is illegal

Georgia protects its non-venomous native snakes. Killing one is against the law.

This is the point where a certain number of homeowners want a different answer, and it is worth being straight rather than diplomatic: a legitimate operator will not harm a non-venomous snake. They will remove it and relocate it, and that is the service on offer.

If a company agrees to kill a snake for you sight unseen, they are either breaking the law or planning to tell you it was venomous after the fact. Neither is a company you want in your crawlspace.

The snake in your yard: usually leave it alone

Here is advice that costs the industry money, which is the best reason to trust it.

A snake outside will usually be gone within a few minutes to an hour, and should just be left alone.

The common sequence is this. Somebody sees a snake in the yard, thinks about it for a while, and calls. By the time a technician arrives the snake has long since moved on — because it was moving through in the first place. But the company still had to send a vehicle and a person, so there is still a charge.

You paid a call-out fee for an animal that was leaving anyway.

Outdoors, on the move, not cornered, not in a doorway: watch it go. Keep pets and children back, do not try to handle it, and let it continue.

A snake inside is the opposite: call immediately

Indoors, the calculation flips completely.

Call immediately. The longer you wait, the less likely it is to be found.

A snake in a house does not stay in the open. It moves to somewhere dark, tight and enclosed — behind an appliance, under cabinetry, into a wall void, beneath stored boxes. Every minute it has to itself is another place it could be.

Waiting to see if it leaves on its own is the mistake. Unlike the yard, there is nowhere for it to go, and the search area only gets harder.

Keep everyone out of the room, close interior doors to contain it if you can do so safely, keep it in sight if it is in the open, and call.

What draws snakes to a house

Two things, and they are related: overgrowth and a food source.

Overgrowth is cover — tall grass, brush piles, dense ground plantings, stacked material against the foundation. It gives a snake somewhere to move without being exposed.

The food source is usually rodents. Snakes go where the prey is, which means a yard with a rodent population is a yard with a reason for snakes to visit.

The two combine badly. Clear the cover near the house and address what the snakes are eating, and you have made the property less interesting. Neither alone does much.

What removal costs

Snake removal typically runs $150 to $300, with the higher end applying to venomous snakes given the additional risk and handling involved.

It is worth noting that this is a call-out for a specific animal at a specific moment, not a program. See the Georgia cost guide for how it sits against other work.

Georgia snakes: which are venomous, and what is legal