Have You Seen A Snake? Let’s Solve The Middletown Snake Mystery

We do have a lot of snakes that creep and crawl and around Monmouth & Ocean   Counties. It shouldn't be surprising to see a snake, but it is almost always unnerving.

We often see area residents sharing photos of snakes they've seen and hoping to get an answer on identifying the creatures on social media, basically so they can feel comfortable being near the area of the sighting, and who could blame them.

We have been seeing a number of sightings of one particular type of snake in the area, so as a public service, we reached out to some people in the know, and the general consensus is that this snake is a garter snake and that it's non-venomous. But we wanted some specifics for you to have handy, so we checked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

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And according to them, here's the deal. New Jersey is home to 22 different types of snakes. Yes 22. And of those 22, 2 of them are venomous.  The poisonous ones are the northern copperhead and the timber rattlesnake.

Here's some good news for Jersey Shore residents. The northern copperhead is more of a North Jersey thing, and the timber rattler is......

So what about the sightings we've been hearing about recently in our area. It turns out the pictures we've been seeing on social are most likely that of a .........., and the good news is those snakes are harmless.

If you do spot a snake and are smart enough not to try be an amateur herpetologist (and there are a lot on social media) then you should take a look at the very comprehensive list of the 22 New Jersey snakes provided by the NJDEP.

And remember, the vast majority of New Jersey snakes, especially in our area, are harmless, so please don't harm them. Read about them at the DEP website. You may learn to respect, and even love them.