06/06/2026
From The Herpetology Collective
Since so many people have a fear of snakes due to a lack of understanding, it's no surprise that we get a lot of questions about snake bites.
As this Gray rat snake is illustrating with our friend Yona over at Snake Facts Saturday, a bite from most snakes is no cause for alarm. It's really more along the lines of, "Oh, cute! Look how ferocious you are!"
It hurts far worse to get bitten by a toddler than a harmless snake like the one in this photo.
A bite from a nonvenomous wild snake in the US is medically akin to a papercut. Many snakes couldn't even break your skin, and the response to the ones that can is to simply wash with soap and water, like any other scratch. (Of course, those with compromised immune systems may need additional consideration.)
While some parts of the world have snakes, such as the Mozambique Spitting Cobra, that are notorious for causing infections, in the US, infection is rare even with venomous snakebite.
We are not trying to downplay the seriousness of envenomations. If you or your pets are bitten by one of the small percentage of snakes that are actually dangerous, please seek treatment right away. And by that, we mean actual treatment, not Benadryl or a snakebite kit or burying a chicken under an oak tree during the full moon.
We just want to counteract some of the hysteria we see all the time when it comes to snakes. People fear what they don't understand. We hope that by explaining that these are small animals with small teeth and very little bite force, you can breathe easier and appreciate the opportunity to see these fascinating animals in the wild.
Want to learn more about snakes? Join our educational group at LIVE Snake Identification and Discussion or visit our online publication at medium.com/natural-world.
