Identification Key to Texas Snakes
Is it a snake?

To use the identification key below, just answer the questions and follow the trail until you get to a statement that tells you the animal you are asking about  is  or  is not  a snake.

1. Is the animal's body covered with small, dry scales?

          YES: Go to 2...                                       NO: It's NOT a snake.

2. Does it have legs?

          YES: It's NOT a snake...                       NO: Go to 3. 

3. Does the animal have moveable eyelids?

          YES: It's NOT a snake...                       NO: Go to 4.

4. Does it have external ear openings?

          YES: It's NOT a snake...                       NO: Go to 5.

5. Does the animal have fins? 

          YES: It's NOT a snake...                       NO: Go to 6.

6. Is the lower jaw separated into a right and left jawbone joined--at the chin--by a flexible ligament, rather than a single, rigid, lower jaw that does not allow movement between the right and left halves? And, does the animal have numerous ribs, rather than only a few pairs of ribs?

          YES: The animal IS a snake...       NO: It's NOT a snake.

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