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Summer snakes: Backyard snakes won't hurt you, but be careful in the mountains

There are 19 species of snakes that call East Tennessee home. Two of those are venomous.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It's snake season in East Tennessee, and for people like Paul Osborne, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

"Every day it's like Christmas for me," he said. "I love going out and going okay, what's the next call gonna be?"

For the rest of us who don't feel the same away about snakes, it's the most terrible time of the year.

"Hollywood does a great job in projecting the wrong image of snakes," said Osborne.

He owns All Creatures Wildlife Services.

"We get a snake call almost every day," said Osborne.

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But they're not the kind of snakes you have to really worry about.

Osborne said there are 19 kinds of snakes in East Tennessee. Only two are venomous.

"The Copperhead and the Timber Rattlesnake," said Osborne. "Both of them are very rare in the Knoxville area. In 37 years of doing this, I've never found a rattlesnake in Knox County."

Timber rattlers like to hang out in the mountains, particularly in rocky and wooded areas.

If you see a snake in your yard or house, though, it's most likely a harmless black rat snake.

"These snakes can be found just everywhere and they are fantastic climbers," said Osborne.

That means they can climb sides of houses, and they'll do it if it means finding a food source of small rodents.

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Osborne said that's the only reason they'll come inside your home.

"A lot of times around the garage doors, sometimes where pipe penetrations have been made," he said.

Black rat snakes aren't out to get you. 

"They're a good thing to have around," said Osborne. "They can't hurt anything. They're not gonna hurt your pets, they're not gonna hurt you."

But if you don't want to see these snakes ever, get rid of their food source. Just don't kill them.

All native snakes are protected under state law.

If you don't want to shoo it away on your own, any wildlife control service in town will relocate it for you.

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Snakes are all over, and if you see a snake in your yard and want to know what it is, there's an app for that.

"SnakeSnap" lets you submit a picture and location of where you found your snake.

They'll then send you a text of what it is.

It's still in beta testing, but you can download it in your phone's app store.

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