How to distinguish milk/rat/king/coral snakes?

[Hexadeci]

Question! How do you actually tell the difference between similar looking milk snakes, rat snakes, kings and corals? And aren't coral snakes an entirely different order of snakes (elapid iirc, vs colubrids)? I mean short of a close up encounter with their teeth... Because people keep posting pictures of things like Eastern milk snakes which look to me a lot like rat snakes, and I know the color pattern thing for coral/milk doesn't hold for a few species. And some red king snakes look ambiguous to me too...

 

[Nitelion94]

Well Im not sure about the rest but I know you can tell Milk or coral by the pattern. Red and Black safe to pack, Red and Yellow kill a Fellow

 

[ceduke]

Except that not all kings/milks/corals follow that pattern. It works most of the time.

 

[Hexadeci]

From what I've read, it's always true that if red touches yellow, then it's a coral snake. But the converse it's not always true, so if you see a snake that looks like a king/coral/milk and red touches black, it could be some South American species of coral snake that's out of place (slim chance, but then some guy got bitten by a green mamba in Florida).

 

[cornsnakeforsale_com]

You just need to familiarize yourself with them. No rule is going to be perfect (assuming you can even remember it).

 

[dave partington]

If you're not adept at reciting poetry when emotionally compromised with seeing a section of a snake while grubbing around in the garden, think of a stoplight, red and yellow together mean something. Go faster, I think.

 

[Nanci]

The first time I found a coral snake I couldn't remember the saying at all! All I could think of was black and yellow, black and yellow, which they both have...

 

[snakewispera snr]

Well Im not sure about the rest but I know you can tell Milk or coral by the pattern. Red and Black safe to pack, Red and Yellow kill a Fellow

You just need to familiarize yourself with them. No rule is going to be perfect (assuming you can even remember it).

Dude, if you can't remember that, there's no helpin' you. :grin01:

 

[cornsnakeforsale_com]

Well, there's a reason no one can remember the saying...

Red on yellow will kill a fellow, but red on black is a friend of Jack.
Red on yellow, deadly fellow; Red on black, venom lack.
Red and yellow will kill you fellow; Red and black is friend Jack.
Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, you're alright Jack.
Red next to black is a friend of Jack; red next to yellow will kill a fellow.
Red to yellow, kill a fellow. Red to black, venom lack.
If red touches black, you're okay Jack; if red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow.
Red next to black, you can pat him on the back; red next to yellow, he can kill a fellow.
Red next to black, venom I lack; red next to yellow, run away fellow.
Red and black, friend of Jack; red and yellow kill a fellow.
Red touches yellow, Not a nice fellow; if red touches black, good friend of jack.
Red touch yellow, kill a fellow; red touch black, you're okay Jack.
Red touch black, good for Jack; red touch yellow, kill a fellow.
Yellow and red, you are dead; black and white you're allright.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_snake

They're not that hard to distinguish them visually if you familiarize yourself a little.