“They’re five or six feet long and look like a yellow rattlesnake with black spots. They’re about three inches in diameter in the thickest part. They make a blowin’ racket a y’. They just kind’a blow like a bull when they get mad.”
Attributed to a Mr. Lawton Brooks in The Foxfire Book, edited by B.E. Wiggington, 1972, Anchor Books
Attributed to a Mr. Lawton Brooks in The Foxfire Book, edited by B.E. Wiggington, 1972, Anchor Books
Welcome to Project Pine Snake’s home page. We are glad that you found us. Project Pine Snake is a collaborative push to gather and share information about the northern pine snake in north Georgia. Another subspecies, the Florida pine snake lives in southern Georgia (link to figure showing pine snake distribution in GA), but we will leave this group to someone else. The northern pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) is a subspecies of the pine snake that ranges from New Jersey to northern Georgia and Alabama, Tennessee and up to Kentucky with very scattered populations throughout this area. This is a large and beautiful snake subspecies that we consider an emblem of the rural southern landscape where folks have lived and worked for 200 years. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this species was once much more plentiful than it is now. Before we started our project there were only 19 records of the species’ existence throughout all of north Georgia. The species has not been seen in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia in 50 years (link to figure showing age of pine snake records). Is the species becoming rare in the region, or is nobody looking for them? We aim to eliminate the second hypothesis through a combination of field work and public outreach. Have you ever seen a northern pine snake? Please contact us! If you see a pine snake please take a picture and send it along. We also have lots of pictures and information here to help you identify pine snakes and distinguish them from other species. Project Pine Snake was featured on WABE Atlanta Public Radio Station.