What is the difference between a coral snake and a king snake

Coral snakes always have their yellow stripes touching and scarlet coral snakes yellow stripes never touch red. This is important because if you can see red and yellow touching you need to move away from the snake slowly and careful: if you see yellow only touching black you are safe to proceed. Another way to try to tell the difference between both of these snakes from far away is to look at their head colors. Scarlet king snakes generally have red heads while coral snakes have black heads.

While this is not always percent accurate it is a good general description that can help you differentiate between the two snakes before you get too close.

Well have no fear because there is a nifty rhyme that helps people remember how to tell if the snake they are looking at is a coral snake. Red touches black, friend of Jack Red touches yellow, kills a fellow.

This little rhyme was invented to help recognize coral snakes but also how to tell the difference between coral snakes and scarlet king snakes. There are a couple of variations on this rhyme that some find easier to remember though if you struggle to remember the original.

Despite the fact that coral snakes and scarlet king snakes look incredibly alike there are actually a few other reasons that these two snakes are mistaken for each other. The first being location. Scarlet king snakes and coral snakes are both located in the South Eastern United States specifically in states like Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Both of these twin snakes like habitats that are wooded, sandy, and marsh-like.

Another reason that these two snakes are hard to differentiate is that they both love to burrow and are exceptionally good at it. Walking down a path in the woods it is very unlikely to see a coral snake or scarlet king snakes slithering around in the trees, although it does happen sometimes, it is way more likely to see one of these little guys hiding in a pile of leaves or poking out of a burrow in the ground.

Another way that these snakes like to be confusing is their diets. Even though you hopefully wont be using food intake to try and tell the difference between coral snake and scarlet king snakes this information is really cool.

Both of these snake make lizards, frogs, and bird eggs a part of their normal diet. Because these snakes have so many similarities like colors, pattern, and even habitats it is hard to see or understand how they are different. There are some major differences that these two snakes have that keep them very seperate.

Coral snakes are considered one of the most venomous snakes in the world. If left untreated, the bite of an Eastern coral snake can cause cardiac arrest and muscular paralysis. Symptoms can be delayed in humans, but it will be dangerous if left alone. This is partly because of their shy behavior.

Coral snakes also have fixed fangs and a weak venom delivery system. Because of this, many bitten humans can knock the snake off before they get a dose of venom.

You should still seek treatment since symptoms can take up to 13 hours to appear. Symptoms include muscle weakness, drooping eyes, slurred speech, nausea, and vomiting. While there have been no recorded deaths since the development of antivenin, it is possible. If you or a pet have been bitten, seek help immediately. There are three species of coral snake native to the United States. There has never been a recorded fatality from them in humans. In the United Snakes, a few other snakes mimic the look of a coral snake.

The scarlet snake and the Pueblan milk snake both resemble coral snakes found in their areas. The Sonoran Mountain kingsnake and the Western shovel-nosed snake both mimic the Sonoran coral snake native to the same area. Remember, knowing the region can help you identify what snake you are looking at. Coral snakes and kingsnakes can easily be differentiated if you know what you are looking at.

Even if you are certain that you are looking at a kingsnake, you should still leave wild snakes alone. Since the results of envenomation tend to be delayed, you could become very ill without treatment.

If you have any questions or experiences with coral and kingsnakes, be sure to leave a comment below. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Thanks for Reading! The articles on ReptileHow. Skip to content. So what is the difference between a king snake and a coral snake? Similarities Between Coral and Kingsnakes Eastern Coral Snake Micrurus fulvius In areas where the two snakes are found, it can be hard to tell them apart.

They are both diurnal and prefer hiding under leaf litter or logs. Both coral snakes and scarlet king snakes like to spend their daytime hours under logs and leaf piles on the ground. They may also be found in caves and crevices in rocks. Be very careful when lifting a rock or log, or entering an underground space. Look for king snakes climbing trees. If you see a colorful snake with a ring pattern climbing a tree, it's probably a nonvenomous king snake.

Coral snakes very rarely climb trees. Check for defensive behavior. When coral snakes feel threatened, they move their tails and heads back and forth in order to try to confuse their predators. If you see a snake wagging its head and tail strangely, it's probably a coral, so stay back. Coral snakes are very reclusive, and it's extremely rare to see them in the wild. They only strike when they feel extremely threatened, so if you see one displaying this behavior, you'll probably have time to get away.

King snakes received their name because they eat other types of snakes, including venomous ones. They don't tend to display this sort of defensive behavior, although they have been known to hiss and shake their tails like rattlesnakes. Watch out for a coral snake's distinctive bite.

In order to inject its venom, a coral snake must clamp down and chew its prey. Since it's usually possible to fling the snake off before it has time to fully inject venom, people rarely die from coral snake bites. However, left untreated, a coral snake bite can lead to cardiac arrest and death. However, if venom has been injected, the victim will experience slurred speech, double vision, and paralysis so even if you don't feel anything after a coral snake bite still call emergency services.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. One of the only ways to know for sure is the venomous coral species although the color band patterns can be different between different species, you know you are in trouble if the banded snake has a very blunt head that is black to behind the eyes, usually two colors on head. Helpful Not Helpful The range of coral snakes and scarlet king snakes is in the southeastern United States, starting from North Carolina, all the way down to southern Florida.

Helpful 31 Not Helpful Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Use caution whenever working, walking, resting, etc. Scarlet King Snakes aren't venomous but they can still bite you which will hurt. This rule dos not always work for every breed of Coral Snakes, for example the "Micrurus frontali" [13] X Research source breed of coral snake color pattern is: red, black, yellow, black, yellow, black, red.

On this species, red touches black but it is very much poisonous. Typically five minutes after a bite you are paralyzed and in one hour you are deceased. Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 4. Co-authors: Updated: August 10, Categories: Featured Articles Snakes.

Article Summary X To tell if a snake is a king snake or a coral snake, look at its ring pattern. Nederlands: Het verschil kunnen zien tussen een Koningsslang en een Koraalslang. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 1,, times. I found it on this website. While watching a nature program on Central American rain forests, a segment of which was on their coral snake, I sought to learn the rhyme anew.

What I didn't know that I am grateful to now know is that the rhyme only applies to North American coral snakes!