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What Kinds of Black Snakes Live in Texas?

The variable physical face of Texas --- from bayous, piney woods and salt marshes to high blowing prairie, arid basins and rugged mountains --- supports an impressive diversity of snakes. Few are entirely black in color, though a number are essentially so. Keep in mind that many Texas snakes, from cottonmouths to hognose snakes, are the kind of dark, earthy brown that may appear black in the shadow of vegetation or at night --- so don't rely on color alone to identify a glimpsed serpent.

Texas Indigo Snake
- This magnificent serpent is Texas' longest: Exceptional specimens may exceed 8 feet. A representative of a mostly tropical genus, the Texas indigo snake is a glossy black in color and often has a rust-hued neck and throat. These snakes, inhabitants of river breaks in the coastal scrub of the state's southeast, dispatch prey with sheer muscular force --- they aren't constrictors nor are they venomous. Among their favored targets are other snakes, including rattlers.
Eastern Coachwhip
- This lithe, swift snake is one of two coachwhips in the Lone Star State: The other, the western coachwhip, has the broader range from east-central Texas to the New Mexico line. The eastern coachwhip, which is often brown with a black head and neck, occasionally displays an all-black color phase. Such dark individuals often show a reddish hue, however, along the tail. Usually 3.5 to 5.5 feet long, these fast-moving, pugnacious hunters of pinewoods, swamps and other terrain may occasionally grow much longer.
Central Texas Whipsnake
- This relative of the coachwhips has big eyes and a glossy black body broken by white dashes along the sides, most prominent near the front of the serpent and increasingly faint down the body. Similar in length to the coachwhip but more slender, the aptly named whipsnake hunts the high grassland and savannas of the Edwards Plateau as well as the desert basins and mountains of southwest Texas. Other monikers for it, according to Conant and Collins' "Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America," are ornate whipsnake and cedar racer.
Speckled King Snake
- This robust, muscular snake of East Texas is mostly black but pinpricked with small white or yellow dots, hence the common name. Often intergrading with the closely related desert king snake of central and western Texas, the speckled king snake is a generalist when it comes to habitat, roaming equally Gulf Coast marshes, deep bottomland forests and stream-side thickets. Sometimes over 5 feet long, it is a formidable constricting serpent and, like the indigo, often hunts other snakes, including venomous species.

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