Coral Snake (Micrurus fulvius)

Size: 22" to 4'

Distribution: Gulf States, Southern Ark., and East Coast to North Carolina.

Biology: Two Subspecies (M. f. fulvius & M. f. tenere) Annual clutch of eggs (3 to 12) June with a 10 to 12 week incubation period.

Bite Symptoms: Burning pain and mild swelling at the bite area, blurring of vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, drowsiness, sweating, increased salivation, difficulty in breathing and nausea, and death. Bites are rare since this snake doesn't strike like a Cottonmouth or Rattler. Most cases seem to be from handling them and appear on the skin as tiny punctures or scratch marks.

Venom: Coral snakes venom is very toxic affecting the brain and nervous system, the same as Cobra venom. It injects its venom through tiny fangs at the rear of his mouth with a chewing motion.

Besides a few snakes that mimic, the Coral Snake, this is one of the most colorful and venomous snakes found in Louisiana. The bright red and yellow bands warn of danger. Although it closely resembles the Louisiana Milk Snake, the best way to tell them apart is by that age-old rhyme " Red on Yellow, Kill a fellow, Red on black, venom it lacks." This pertains to the color bands, with the Coral Snake being the only one having the red bands adjacent to the yellow bands. Rarely seen, this snake is found in moist dense vegetation, in rotten stumps or thick leaf litter. Years ago I got a phone call from a lady who, it seems, her son had caught a coral snake in the Hackberry fields that line Lake Ponchartrain. He put it in a paper bag and when he got home he set the bag on the kitchen table, went upstairs and forgot about it. Later when she had returned from the store she couldn't figure what this empty bag was doing on the table. Anyway she called me because my mother had told her I fooled with snakes and they could not find theirs. Hehe, Glad I wasn't that kid because my mom would have killed me. I told her to dampen some towels and leave them in the kitchen with the light off hoping the snake would seek out the water. WELL, I KNOW IT WORKS WITH FROGS! Never found out what happened but as far as I know nobody got hurt but maybe the snake. Coral Snakes feed on other small snakes, frogs and lizards. I had a friend that walked in the swamp waste deep in muck, digging into old stumps looking for them. Nine out of ten times he only came up with young moccasins but every now and then he would find a Coral Snake. Just one more myth, The old people in the lumber camps called these snakes "Joint Snakes". I remember my grandmother telling me that if you would hit them with a broom they would break up into sections at each color band. Good thing they only fit back together one way or we would have coral snakes with milk snake patterns, hehe.

Pigmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius)

Size: 14" to 2.5'

Distribution: Southeastern United States.

Biology: Three subspecies in the US, Carolina, Dusky and the Western. Gives birth to 4 to 8 young in July to Sept.

Bite Symptoms: swelling, discoloration of bite area and becomes painful, shock, numbness, breathing difficulty, vomiting, gangrene, headache, unconsciousness, and sometimes death Very toxic bite from such a small snake.

Venom: hemotoxic venom that acts like an anticoagulant (thinning the blood).

Once again the rest of the U.S. call this snake one thing (Pigmy Rattlesnake) and here in Southeast Louisiana we call them something else (Ground Rattler). This small rattler can be found around swampy Cypress stands, and damp mixed pine-hardwood forest. Found one last spring in St. Tammany parish at the graveyard where my great-grandfather is buried. He was trucking down the edge of the road over the leaf litter made up of pine needles and oak leaves. His rattles are so small that the sound can't be detected until you walk right up on him. They feed on lizards, frogs, salamanders, small snakes and mice and when they are provoked, they defend themselves readily.