Saw my first coral snake in the wild yesterday

J

JOhnH

Touchdown! Greaser!
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We were hiking and came across a beautiful king snake sunning himself on the trail. Except he wasn’t a king snake. He slithered under some bushes before I got my camera put but I managed to catch a glimpse of part of him.
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Whoa!! That’s a serious snake!!! Wonder how many you walked by that you didn’t see
 
I thought they were nocturnal? Where were you at....? I'm going to call in an air strike!
 
Unit74 said:
I thought they were nocturnal? Where were you at....? I'm going to call in an air strike!
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Washington Oaks State Park in Palm Coast, Florida. It was high noon on a cool but sunny day.
 
Enroute.....

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I’ve seen several here in central Florida over the years, including one in my garage and one in a neighbor’s pool.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
It amazes me how many he-man pilots are afraid of spiders and snakes, and think that killing them is the best thing to do.
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Leslie want to take the little guy home. I was content with trying to take his picture.
 
JOhnH said:
Leslie want to take the little guy home. I was content with trying to take his picture.
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As a teenager, I came across a copperhead, and my friends killed it. I wouldn't have taken it home, but certainly it would have lived on! At least coral snakes are about the least aggressive venomous snake out there.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
At least coral snakes are about the least aggressive venomous snake out there.
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And the most potent venom. ...... I'll be honest, snakes don't bother me. I let them go. Even the copper head and cotton mouths that I'v had on my door steps. The kill it with fire mantra is obligatory in any snake/spider thread though....
 
Cap'n Jack said:
I was in the San Diego area a couple of weeks ago and saw a little baby rattle snake. It showed me its baby rattle and we went our own ways. It was only a few inches long.



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I've been chased by Mojave Greens. More than a few have received acute lead poisoning when I was in the Corps out at 29 Stumps
 
Kenny Phillips said:
As a teenager, I came across a copperhead, and my friends killed it. I wouldn't have taken it home, but certainly it would have lived on! At least coral snakes are about the least aggressive venomous snake out there.
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Well, except for Massassauga rattlers... ;)
 
Snakes terrify me. I have a recurring nightmare about a snake in the bedroom. Really annoys my wife when I jump out of bed and turn all the lights on to make sure it’s really a nightmare.
 
Unit74 said:
I've been chased by Mojave Greens
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Were they also 10 feet long.??

Mojave Rattlesnakes, sometimes called Mojave Greens, while having a pretty dangerous bite with venom about 10 times more toxic than any other rattle snake in the US, are not necessarily aggressive. They will defend themselves if they feel threatened, and can be highly irritable and unpredictable. Several people around my area claim to have seen one up to 10 feet long, but the average length is between 3 and 4 feet. The largest confirmed Mojave Rattlesnake ever recorded is 48″ long, (Schuett, Feldner, Smith, Reiserer, Rattlesnakes of Arizona, pg 568). An Indian friend tells me a story told to him by his grandmother of how his grandfather was chased by a 15 foot Mojave green, and when he jumped into his truck, the snake bit through the tire, then circled the truck looking for a way to get inside. Seems in this area, the more alcohol one partakes in, the bigger the snake becomes.

Other snakes that have a green marking are commonly mistaken for Mojave greens. Mojave Rattlesnakes can certainly be green, and even the brown ones look kind of green compared to the dull grey of their Western Diamondback counterparts. But it is just a color of some Mojave Rattlesnakes, not a separate species. This can lead to confusion, where people misidentify any rattlesnake they see with a green coloration as a Mojave. A good example are the Blacktailed Rattlesnakes, found in mountains and regions where Mojaves either do not range, or do not use. Another are the reports of Mojave green rattlesnakes being found in parts of Eastern New Mexico where they do not live. One was reported in eastern New Mexico last summer but as far as I know it has not been verified.

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Not green.

Another misidentified snake is the Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake. Who appear red or pink in much of their range, yet people still call them Mojave red rattlesnakes, a species which does not exist.

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Not a Mojave Red rattlesnake.


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This is defensive behavior, not aggression. (still scares my wife, even in a picture)

I have no doubt you saw Mojave Rattlesnakes, but how far was the chase.??

I am by no means a snake expert. I got interested in snakes at age 13 when I was bit on the ankle by a snake. I had watched all the old westerns, so I was convinced I was going to die. Only thing was, it was discovered I was bit by a hognose snake, which is non-poisonous. That is when I learned some snakes are poisonous and some aren't.

When I moved to NM, I was interested in seeing some Western Diamondbacks. A friend took me out to search for snakes, and suddenly he jumped back, ''Look out, that's a Mojave green, the most dangerous rattler there is..." I had never heard of a Mojave green, so I studied up on snakes of the southwest. Now that I have learned a little, I am not convinced what we saw that day was a Mojave Rattlesnake.

The above pictures are not mine. I usually hunt rattlesnakes by myself and I need to keep my situational awareness up, so I don't want to focus on one snake because where there is one, there may be more. I do carry security, because there may be an alien spaceship, or a mountain lion or even bigfoot stalking me....

My wife is from the Philippines, where 99 44/100% of the indigenous snakes are venomous, is a kill them all person. She does not like to watch me catch a snake, look at it, then let it go.
 
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azure said:
Well, except for Massassauga rattlers... ;)
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Interesting. I just learned there is a Desert Massasauga in central and southern New Mexico. I will have to learn more so I can add it to the list of snakes I would like to see in the wild.

I am sort of like a bird watcher, except with snakes. I like to record what I have seen and where I saw it.
 
Zeldman said:
Interesting. I just learned there is a Desert Massasauga in central and southern New Mexico. I will have to learn more so I can add it to the list of snakes I would like to see in the wild.

I am sort of like a bird watcher, except with snakes. I like to record what I have seen and where I saw it.
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Interesting, I had never heard of the desert massasauga and assumed it was just another name for the sidewinder. But according to Wikipedia they are indeed massasaugas. The only massasaugas I knew of live in the Great Lakes area and they're so shy, I've never seen one in the wild in over 40 years of hiking through their prime habitat. The ones in Michigan live in and around wetlands so it's surprising that a subspecies is adapted to living in the desert.
 
Zeldman said:
I am by no means a snake expert. I got interested in snakes at age 13 when I was bit on the ankle by a snake. I had watched all the old westerns, so I was convinced I was going to die. Only thing was, it was discovered I was bit by a hognose snake, which is non-poisonous. That is when I learned some snakes are poisonous and some aren't.
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I’m pretty sure that snakes aren’t poisonous at all, unless you ingest the venom sac. Some snakes are venomous though.
 
Zeldman said:
My wife is from the Philippines, where 99 44/100% of the indigenous snakes are poisonous, is a kill them all person. She does not like to watch me catch a snake, look at it, then let it go.
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My wife is from Nigeria and utterly convinced that every snake there is will kill you dead if you just get too close to it. I have a hard time convincing her that the friendly rat-snake that lives in the rocks around our pool is only a threat to the voles and mice in the yard.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I’m pretty sure that snakes aren’t poisonous at all, unless you ingest the venom sac. Some snakes are venomous though.
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No danger for me, I am not eating a snake.!! I am sure someone in my wife's family will try to feed me one next time we go back to the PI...:lol::lol:

azure said:
I've never seen one in the wild in over 40 years of hiking through their prime habitat.
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For some folks that is not a bad thing...:lol::lol: I actually get a little disappointed if I am out in the summer and do not see a snake.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Venomous snakes around my house get the shovel. Non venomous are welcome to stay.
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There's a difference between snakes in the wild and snakes on our property. A venomous snake on our property, where we have horses and dogs and cats that could be bitten, will be dispatched. In the wild I leave them alone as long as they're leaving me alone.
 
Zeldman said:
For some folks that is not a bad thing...:lol::lol: I actually get a little disappointed if I am out in the summer and do not see a snake.
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Not for me... I enjoy seeing the critters on the trail. Last year a fellow hiker claimed to have seen a garter snake on the summit of Mt. Hunger here in VT... I was one of the folks gathering around hoping for a glimpse of the thing, but no joy. If it was really there it was a rarity in that climate. It's not technically above timberline, but very exposed and most of the vegetation up there is of the alpine variety.

Now venomous snakes I don't really care to encounter when hiking alone, but as long as they leave me alone I will leave them alone...
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Venomous snakes around my house get the shovel. Non venomous are welcome to stay.
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The two I have found on my property in the last 12 years were caught and relocated to a better location. Not my nearest neighbors property...:lol::lol:
 
In the west part of the state of Washington I'm told we have no venomous snakes. Could be true, I haven't seen one living here for over 20 years. Now, in the eastern part of the state there are rattlesnakes. Interestingly enough, we were warned when we moved to Pullman in 1961 to watch for them when down along the Snake River. I didn't see one down there for over 10 years. Then there were two within a minute of each other, each emerging from under the rear tire of my (then) girlfriend's motorcycle (she's now my wife, and has been for nearly 46 years). Gravel road, early evening. Clearly soaking up the warmth from the road. I have no idea what her motorcycle, or mine, did to them, we didn't stick around to find out.
 
I saw one of these on my floor when I woke up this morning. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a constrictor instead of a biter! :eek:

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Ewwww! I used to have to put up with those things. I forget what they are called, but I'd rather have a snake around my neck.

overdrive148 said:
I saw one of these on my floor when I woke up this morning. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a constrictor instead of a biter! :eek:

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Haven't worn one of those neck nooses for the last 12 years since I retired. Miss them like a fart in an oxygen tent.
 
I stepped on a copperhead on my door step a couple years ago. It got dispatched, otherwise I leave them alone. I actually bring home black snakes when I catch them at work. Probably does as much ad anything to prevent copperheads around the house.
 
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