Coral Snake

[red-beard]

More precisely, a dead coral snake. We found this on the side of the road as we were biking this morning.

Yes, more from the Tour de Taco and Wildlife adventure.



So, now we have Bob and Correy out there...

(Bob is the Bobcat)

[Tobra]

How big is that thing?

[azasadny]

"red next to yellow, kill a fellow, red next to black, venom lack". I'm color-blind, so that little bit of memorization does nothing for me...

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Tobra

How big is that thing?

The picture is about one foot square. Uncoiled, the thing would have been 2-3 feet long. He (it) was dead before we came across him. The only thing, if there is one, there are more.

[krichard]

My dog killed this one earlier this year. It was about 3 feet long.

[BeyGon]

Little bitty mouths and no fangs, I think they need to bite and hold on for a while, something small.

[Jim Bremner]

That's a good (dead) snake!

[futuresoptions]

Holy crap! I didn't think those things were supposed to get over 10-11"s long... if I came across one in my yard at that length I think I would faint... btw I've always heard " Red to yellow kill a fellow, red to black a friend of Jack " Either way in the heat of the moment I am sure I would not remember if it was red to black or yellow to black a friend of Jack and I would have to just kill it and figure out the details later....

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by futuresoptions

Holy crap! I didn't think those things were supposed to get over 10-11"s long... if I came across one in my yard at that length I think I would faint... btw I've always heard " Red to yellow kill a fellow, red to black a friend of Jack " Either way in the heat of the moment I am sure I would not remember if it was red to black or yellow to black a friend of Jack and I would have to just kill it and figure out the details later....

Yes, many a poor King snake has died for that reason.

It was reading up on the Texas Coral Snake and it has fangs that are 1/8" and they are not under pressure. The venom is deadly, BUT they usually need to "hang on" and chew to get enough venom into a human to kill.

That bad news...King snakes are nocturnal, Coral snakes forage during daylight hours. If you see one in the daylight, it is probably a Coral Snake. This means that when we went past the snake, it was probably dead only 20-30 minutes.

For those of you in the Houston area, I took the picture at the corner of Highway 6 and Patterson. This is Bear Creek Park.

[RWebb]

it's a neurotoxin, not a protease like the other 3 venomous snakes in N. Amer.

[ZLP]

Coral snakes are not aggressive like rattlers so no worries.

[Hugh R]

Too bad it was road kill, you could have made something like this.

[murphyjp]

I hate snakes.

[Heel n Toe]

murph, if it wasn't for snakes, the rodent population would be almost uncontrollable... they'd probably be chewing their way into your home every night.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by RWebb

it's a neurotoxin, not a protease like the other 3 venomous snakes in N. Amer.

There are more than 3 other species of venomous snakes in N. America...

[RWebb]

I guess I don't count Mexico.

nor did I say "species"

there are:
1. Crotalus spp. (rattlesnakes; about 27 spp.)
2. Agkistrodon piscivorus (Cottonmouth) - rather aquatic, esp. brackish waters
3. Agkistrodon contortrix (Copperhead) - rel. terrestrial
4. Micrurus spp.(Coral snake) - 3 spp. IIRC

a herpetologist will want to know about species and subspecies, rasenkries and etc.

those who want to know what to avoid will work off of 4 types

I'm also not counting sea snakes...

[Hugh R]

Cottonmouth are an interesting breed (don't know species, etc.) they will chase you. When filming Deja Vu' in the Louisiana swamps the guides on the pontoon boats cautioned us to not antagonize them, they'll apparently come over to the low slung boat and actually get in and go after you. Then you have a cottonmouth (water moccasin, I believe is the other term) in the boat and a bunch of them in the water around the boat.

Crotalus oreganus helleri I believe is what I made into the belt above. It was about 3' long and about 5 feet from my back door. 12 gauge was the instrument of choice. My wife really didn't like me skinning it with the kitchen shears on the kitchen counter. Tanned it with a kit from Tandy leather, then stretched it out on a board and liberal rubbing with Lexol hyde food. Then glued it to a cloth belt with leather contact cement (flexible) and took it to a local shoe repair guy to run some stitching up and down the length for good measure. Belt $20, stitching $7. I kill about one every year or two. I promised my brother the next one.

I HATE snakes. But they're good for rodent control. I only kill the ones near the house (I have dogs).

[murphyjp]

Regardless of their use as rodent control agents, I still hate snakes.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by id10t

There are more than 3 other species of venomous snakes in N. America...

There are 5 in Texas. Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Western Diamondback and Timber Rattler, and of course the Coral Snake.

Coral snake is neurotoxin very nasty. The others are more aggressive, wife got bit by copperhead. Took her two years to get over it, got complex regional pain syndrome(formerly know as RSD, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, aka Sudek's atrophy) Cotton mouth is VERY aggressive.

Timber Rattler is like the old joke where the guy goes to pee when camping, gets bit on the end of the penis by a snake. His buddy tells him to be still, runs down the hill to the doctor to find out what to do. Doctor tells him he would have to suck the poison out. Guy goes back, snake bit guy asks, "What did the doctor say?"



Doctor says you are going to die.

That is a pretty GD big coral snake. If it looks like a coral snake, leave it the hell alone, forget that feakin' "friend of Jack" crap, my name ain't Jack and that thing ain't my friend.

[RWebb]

7 or 8 spp. just of venomous rattlesnakes in TX - plus the others


"friend of Jack"??