I found a black snake with a bright yellow strip down its back in my backyard by my pool. Is it poisonous?

Question

I found a black snake with a bright yellow strip down its back in my backyard by my pool. Is it poisonous?

Answer 1

It's either a garter snake or a ribbon snake. Both are black with one or more yellow stripes running down the back.

Neither are poisonous

garter snake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Garte...

Ribbon snake: http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/index.htm?http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/acco...

Answer 2

Nah that's a garter snake

Answer 3

I think it is just a garden snake. They are not poisonous, but if you provoke it enough it will leave a sore bite. They are great to have around, they will take care of all those other pesky animals.

If it looks anything like these you have nothing to work about.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1bluecanoe/...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sphilp1225/...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sphilp1225/...

Answer 4

As stated, most likely a garter or ribbon snake as long as you're in North America. None of our venomous snakes (not poisonous) meet this description. You should probably do a search on "<your state> snake identification" or "<your state> venomous snakes>" and become familiar with your local potentially dangerous reptiles and know how to identify them on sight.

Answer 5

Sounds like a garter snake. Did it look like this?

http://faculty.uca.edu/~mcdonaldv/photog...

If so- no it's not poisonous.

Always err on the safe side if you're not sure.  

Some info on garter snakes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gart...