I think it’s beach snake (rantakäärme, snok) and they are harmless.
Natrix natrix , common grass snake / water snake. Non-venomous, hangs around shores and bodies of water. They usually have two yellow spots on the neck, but completely black specimens also exist.
They are pretty, aren’t they with the little ring around the head? Easy to recognize.
There are basically just two snakes and one legless lizard in Finland. They all look very different and are easy to spot.
Look up pics of rantakäärme, kyykäärme and vaskitsa
He is called Antti, very friendly chap.
That’s clearly a Black Wall Piercing Human Hunter Certain Death Snake.
Nothing to worry about. They are harmless.
Did it have yellow, white or orange dots on top of the head, near the “neck”? If not its a black adder, venomous but not life threating unless you happen to be allergic
It is a black python. (Ok sry but I had to)
Black Adder! Black Adder! He rides a pitch black steed!
Black Adder! Black Adder! He’s very bad indeed!
Rowan Atkinson?
Its just chilling in the sun
Beach void noodle
It could be a black adder. I’ve seen one in Finland, but is was much smaller. Given the size of that snake, a darkly coloured grass snake is more likely.
There is basically only 2 snakes here, the one you need to watch out for has a saw like pattern along its back and even then it’s only dangerous for children.
There are 3 snakes in Finland: kyy (vipera berus), rantakäärme (natrix natrix) and kangaskäärme (coronella austriaca) [only in Åland]. Its rantakäärme.
Natrix. Non poisonous, but basically the cowboy among the snakes: they first bite, then ask questions…
Does it have spots on the back head? Then it’s definitely a grass snake. But I wouldn’t bet my money on anything until I see the spots.
Danger noodle that’s not very dangerous as it is not venomous.
Its kyy eller pyy
I’d cut The head off and ask a specialist.
Yep its definitely a snake
Thats Larry!
Thats Larry!
Only two species of snakes? Wow.
Australia is happy to send you a few our ours!
Finland has 3 snake breeds, though I think one of them is only seen in Ahvenanmaa and not in the mainland. This looks like a water snake, non poisonous and also peotected by law if im remembering right. The other 2 are Kyy/Viper and Kangaskäärme/Garden snake
So cool! I didn’t know we have snakes. I see lots of small frogs (or toads perhaps) but I haven’t seen any snakes
I don’t see spots on the head, and the proportions of the head vs body make me think it’s a viper. We had a black viper living in some rocks at the cottage last summer, luckily managed to “rehome” him after a long project of trying to trap him. He was maybe 50cm long.
… then one of our cats brought a black rantakäärme/snok indoors and we almost had a heart attack haha! Luckily he survived too.
Is “kyy” called “viper” in English or is it an “adder” as in the translation of the British comedy series “Black adder”? Or is this a classic British vs American difference? And here I would assume that black “kyys” would be called “black adder” and brown “kyys” would be “brown adder”. Although it is my belief that black and brown “kyys” don’t have any differences, except for the colouration. Am I wrong here?
Black mamba, I know this cause its black black
Snakes you spot in Finland are easy to identify. Does it have a zigzag pattern on it’s back? If yes, it’s a venomous Kyy, watch out. If not, it’s your buddy rantakäärme or in rare cases vaskitsa, that are not venomous and just chill. Other snakes you see here are the common trouser snake with various sizes and some stray pet snakes sometimes. The former can be seen in public parks around summer, the latter is found in apartment buildings usually. Both will most often surprise you.
Rubber novelty snaek
Thats a Natrix Natrix
If I see them again I’ll try and get a better photo, it’s just I had my dog with me and was a bit worried about any altercation between them, and also the snake took off after a few seconds.
I think they are marvelous creatures and have no intention of doing it any harm, I’d just never seen an all black individual before and couldn’t figure out if it was a beach snake or viper
36 comments
Rantakäärme, sorry don’t know name in english
I think it’s beach snake (rantakäärme, snok) and they are harmless.
Natrix natrix , common grass snake / water snake. Non-venomous, hangs around shores and bodies of water. They usually have two yellow spots on the neck, but completely black specimens also exist.
Natrix natrix.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_snake
Harmless useful and mgnificent critters.
I used to have those in my yard.
Kangaskäärme
They are pretty, aren’t they with the little ring around the head? Easy to recognize.
There are basically just two snakes and one legless lizard in Finland. They all look very different and are easy to spot.
Look up pics of rantakäärme, kyykäärme and vaskitsa
He is called Antti, very friendly chap.
That’s clearly a Black Wall Piercing Human Hunter Certain Death Snake.
Nothing to worry about. They are harmless.
Did it have yellow, white or orange dots on top of the head, near the “neck”? If not its a black adder, venomous but not life threating unless you happen to be allergic
It is a black python. (Ok sry but I had to)
Black Adder! Black Adder! He rides a pitch black steed!
Black Adder! Black Adder! He’s very bad indeed!
Rowan Atkinson?
Its just chilling in the sun
Beach void noodle
It could be a black adder. I’ve seen one in Finland, but is was much smaller. Given the size of that snake, a darkly coloured grass snake is more likely.
There is basically only 2 snakes here, the one you need to watch out for has a saw like pattern along its back and even then it’s only dangerous for children.
There are 3 snakes in Finland: kyy (vipera berus), rantakäärme (natrix natrix) and kangaskäärme (coronella austriaca) [only in Åland]. Its rantakäärme.
Natrix. Non poisonous, but basically the cowboy among the snakes: they first bite, then ask questions…
Is it a beach snake
You can’t really tell from this film. It’s most likely a harmless grass snake, as some have pointed out, but it could still be a [black viper](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Vipera_berus%28Zmija_zygzakowata%29.jpg/200px-Vipera_berus%28Zmija_zygzakowata%29.jpg).
Does it have spots on the back head? Then it’s definitely a grass snake. But I wouldn’t bet my money on anything until I see the spots.
Danger noodle that’s not very dangerous as it is not venomous.
Its kyy eller pyy
I’d cut The head off and ask a specialist.
Yep its definitely a snake
Thats Larry!
Thats Larry!
Only two species of snakes? Wow.
Australia is happy to send you a few our ours!
Finland has 3 snake breeds, though I think one of them is only seen in Ahvenanmaa and not in the mainland. This looks like a water snake, non poisonous and also peotected by law if im remembering right. The other 2 are Kyy/Viper and Kangaskäärme/Garden snake
So cool! I didn’t know we have snakes. I see lots of small frogs (or toads perhaps) but I haven’t seen any snakes
I don’t see spots on the head, and the proportions of the head vs body make me think it’s a viper. We had a black viper living in some rocks at the cottage last summer, luckily managed to “rehome” him after a long project of trying to trap him. He was maybe 50cm long.
… then one of our cats brought a black rantakäärme/snok indoors and we almost had a heart attack haha! Luckily he survived too.
Is “kyy” called “viper” in English or is it an “adder” as in the translation of the British comedy series “Black adder”? Or is this a classic British vs American difference? And here I would assume that black “kyys” would be called “black adder” and brown “kyys” would be “brown adder”. Although it is my belief that black and brown “kyys” don’t have any differences, except for the colouration. Am I wrong here?
Black mamba, I know this cause its black black
Snakes you spot in Finland are easy to identify. Does it have a zigzag pattern on it’s back? If yes, it’s a venomous Kyy, watch out. If not, it’s your buddy rantakäärme or in rare cases vaskitsa, that are not venomous and just chill. Other snakes you see here are the common trouser snake with various sizes and some stray pet snakes sometimes. The former can be seen in public parks around summer, the latter is found in apartment buildings usually. Both will most often surprise you.
Rubber novelty snaek
Thats a Natrix Natrix
If I see them again I’ll try and get a better photo, it’s just I had my dog with me and was a bit worried about any altercation between them, and also the snake took off after a few seconds.
I think they are marvelous creatures and have no intention of doing it any harm, I’d just never seen an all black individual before and couldn’t figure out if it was a beach snake or viper