Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 21, 2013

King Snake vs Coral Snake. I jump back first, THEN recite the poem, just to be on the safe side.

King Snake vs Coral Snake. I always jump back first – THEN recite the poem. Just to be safe, y’know.

red on black is a king snake, red on yellow the deadly coral snake

The head of vipers (poisonous) are triangular and distinct from the neck. Most vipers also have keeled scales (a raised ridge down the middle of the scale). If a snake has a round head and smooth scales, most likely it’s not dangerous except to small rodents. Best to leave all snakes alone. The non vipers are beneficial to the environment by reducing the rodent population.

And the Coral snake is the beautiful exception to that rule. Hence the poem, I suppose.

I can never remember the poem right (well, it does rhyme and is easily mixed up to me), I don’t trust snakes to be harmless (they can always nip you even if they are not poisonous), and as I’ve gotten older I have developed a subconscious fear of snakes. Reading about them doesn’t bother me but then I will suddenly have nightmares. I’m so looking forward to this story arch being over!

Had a nest of coral snakes in a woodpile years ago. Once my wife stepped out the door right over a five foot.rat snake. She did a wonderful dance.

Coral snakes have a black nose, as opposed to the red nose of the king snake. The yellow bands are between the red and black ones. The king has the yellow bands between 2 black bands. True about the heads, not triangular like the pit vipers.

Honestly, I’m like Janis on this whole subject of snakes. Don’t care what color it is, I’ll do my darnest to avoid it unless I feel cornered…then it must die.

This rhyme is also found as “Red and yellow kill a fellow; red and black, venom lack.” That rhyme scheme may be a little harder to get mixed up. I agree with the above attitude to be cautious with all snakes; you can admire them quite nicely from a distance greater than twice their body length, which allows for a very nice healthy safety factor. In theory most snakes can only strike to about half their body length or so, but it can be a little tricky to judge, so I use the twice-the-length rule.

King, not coral

OK, related, but a bit off the snake subject: Where does Arlo & Janis supposedly live where they could have coral snakes? I know it must be somewhere coastal with Arlo’s consistent yearning for sailing….

SC? FL? AL?

True, the Coral Snake is the cobra of the Western Hemisphere. The fangs are so small, the snake has to find a small enough part to bite, then it chews for a while to inject a sufficient dose of venom. On the positive side, they are very timid around critters larger than themselves.

Yeah, real comforting

Our cat ate the head off of what we thought was a Coral snake, turned out it was a Sonoran Shovelhead. They look the same as the Coral but the red band is only on the top of the body. They disguise themselves as Coral snakes to ward off enemies. (the cat lived for another 17 years after that but didn’t eat any more snakes!)

:-) So, all us older types with a wrinkle or two are more at risk? :-)

I stay away from all snakes, they will NEVER be cute to me! I went crazy once when my son brought a garter snake into the house.

simpsonfan2: Don’t rely on it. A rattler sleeping on a ledge will bite first if surprised by a climber using it as a handhold.

…and that, boys and girls is why, if it slithers, it dies

Too funny! In that just when you think you’ve got something licked and you’re all chuffed up about it…not so much! And, the anxiety of realizing what a close call you may have just had in the process!

Nailed it Jimmy!

It’s not about the snakes people. They don’t get it Jimmy. Hit em again!

The easiest way to tell what kind of snake it is is to look at its head: If it’s attached to its body, it’s the BAD kind!