Around Kentucky
Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.
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Local snake information
Snake control in Kentucky
Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.
Snakes in Kentucky: what to know
What to note
Where you see snakes, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.
A useful next step
Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.
Local research
Snakes in Kentucky: what the public record shows
Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which snakes actually live in Kentucky, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.
Four of Kentucky's snakes are venomous: eastern copperhead, timber rattlesnake, northern cottonmouth and western pigmy rattlesnake.
Venomous species
All four are pit vipers; Kentucky has no coral snake.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife ResourcesKentucky's smallest and rarest venomous snake, with a range limited to the Land Between the Lakes area.
Pigmy rattlesnake range
Outside far western Kentucky, a small rattling snake is almost certainly not a pigmy rattlesnake.
University of Kentucky Forestry and Natural Resources ExtensionThe cottonmouth has a limited distribution in Kentucky and is usually found in or around water.
Cottonmouth range
Most dark snakes seen near water elsewhere in the state are harmless water snakes.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife ResourcesSnake species recorded in Kentucky
- Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) — State endangered in Virginia (canebrake population in the southeast); northern Florida only as far south as Gainesville.
Total species count omitted: KDFWR says 32 types of snakes while University of Kentucky Extension says 33 species.
Rules that apply in Kentucky
For context, nationally
Sources: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources; University of Kentucky Forestry and Natural Resources Extension; CDC/NIOSH; Nuisance wildlife: Snakes. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources
Explore Kentucky cities
Bowling Green
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Covington
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Elizabethtown
Humid Subtropical · rural setting
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Florence
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Frankfort
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Georgetown
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Henderson
Humid Subtropical · rural setting
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Hopkinsville
Humid Subtropical · rural setting
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Lexington
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Louisville
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Nicholasville
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Owensboro
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Paducah
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Richmond
Humid Subtropical · rural setting
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