Snakes on Hilton Head Island

Snakes on Hilton Head Island are mostly harmless and mostly out of sight. South Carolina has 38 species of snake, and only six are venomous. The state’s Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) says all snakes are nonaggressive when left alone. Most visitors never see one, and the ones who do usually see a rat snake or a water snake.

Common Harmless Snakes

The snakes people most often see in South Carolina, according to SCDNR, are black racers, brown snakes, corn snakes, eastern garter snakes, eastern kingsnakes, rough green snakes, non-venomous water snakes and rat snakes. They eat rodents and other pests. Rat snakes climb, and they slip through the Spanish moss in the island’s live oaks.

The Six Venomous Snakes in South Carolina

• Copperhead: the most numerous venomous snake in the Lowcountry, according to SCDNR, and the one most likely to turn up near a house.

• Eastern diamondback rattlesnake: the largest rattlesnake. It swims, including in salt water, and one was caught crossing a Hilton Head beach.

• Cottonmouth (water moccasin): a snake of water and wet ground.

• Timber rattlesnake and pigmy rattlesnake.

• Eastern coral snake: the one venomous snake that is not a pit viper.

Three of the six have local records we could source: a copperhead bit a woman on a South Forest Beach sidewalk (news reports), an eastern diamondback was caught crossing a Hilton Head beach, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the cottonmouth among the more common snakes at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge, just off the island. Treat any snake you can’t identify as venomous. The other five are pit vipers, with a triangular head and a vertical, cat-like pupil. Many harmless snakes are mistaken for the dangerous ones: a scarlet kingsnake looks like a coral snake, a hognose snake like a rattlesnake, and a harmless water snake like a cottonmouth.

Where You Might See Hilton Head Snakes

Hilton Head island snakes live where there is cover and food: woods, marsh edges, lagoon banks, garden beds and woodpiles. On a trail such as those in the Sea Pines Forest Preserve or on Pinckney Island, stay on the path and watch where you step and put your hands. Snakes are most active in spring and fall, when they are looking for mates.

What to Do if You See a Snake

• Stop, step back and give it room to leave on its own. Don’t pick it up, poke it or try to kill it. SCDNR and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory note that many bites come after the snake has been seen, from handling it or getting too close.

• If you are not sure what it is, treat it as venomous and leave it alone.

• Wear closed shoes on trails and don’t reach into brush, under logs or into places you can’t see.

If Someone Is Bitten

Call 911 and get the person to a hospital. SCDNR’s snakebite fact sheet says every bite should get medical attention, and it advises against ice packs, which concentrate the venom. Keep the person calm and still, and don’t try to catch the snake. If you can safely take a photo of it, do.