Red Black Yellow Snakes
This page describes Florida and Georgia Snakes which have a red/black/yellow or red/black/white color pattern. These are
  • Eastern Coral Snake
  • Scarlet Kingsnake
  • Scarlet Snake
This website is a collection of my photos. It may be of some use to people who are trying to identify snakes, but it falls far short of a complete guide. Snakes can vary considerably in appearance within the same species. A field guide will tell you specifically what to look for.

All photos taken by me.
All snakes are alive.
Snakes are not captive or restrained.

Page written by Tom Spinker
See home page for e-mail address

Page released 22 March 2003
This page last updated 18 Aug 2007

Copyright © 2001 - 2007 All Rights Reserved
I make no warranties as to the accuracy of any of the information on this website.
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This is the subspecies found in the Florida panhandle, most of Georgia, and all the way from Arkansas to Delaware.
It does not look much different than the Florida Scarlet Snake which is found on the Florida peninsula about as far north as Ocala.
The snake was on the road when I drove up. I photographed it on the asphalt and chased it onto the shoulder, where it paused and allowed me to get some more attractive photographs.
Snake is about 20 inches in length.

Photo taken 9 July 2007 at 9:35pm in SE Georgia.

Northern Scarlet Snake
Cemophora coccinea copei
Nonvenomous
Florida Scarlet Snake
Cemophora coccinea coccinea
Nonvenomous
 In south Florida the bands which are suppose to be yellow are often white. Photo taken on Loop Road 11 March 2003 at 7:54pm with 135mm lens and extension tube. 		Red touch yellow, kill a fellow
Red touch black, venom lack.

This happy little ditty is to help you remember that the venomous Coral Snake has a color pattern in which the red bands touch the yellow bands. Non-venomous Scarlet Snakes and Scarlet Kingsnakes have a color pattern in which the red bands touch the black bands, but the red bands do not touch the yellow bands.

Maybe it is easier to remember that red and yellow are warning colors, so if they are touching, you should be warned.

This scheme works in the USA. However in Central America and in Africa there are venomous Coral Snakes on which the red and yellow bands do not touch. And it is possible, but rare, for the Coral Snake (or any other snake species) to be all black.
Areas of color which run around the snakes body are called bands. Areas of color which run along the snakes body are called stripes.
Both the Scarlet Kingsnake and the Scarlet Snake have a pattern in which every other band is black. Hence black touches both red and yellow, but red and yellow do not touch.

The Scarlet Kingsnake differs from the Scarlet Snake in that the bands run all the way around the body. The bands of a Florida Scarlet Snake end at the belly. The belly is white or beige.

Scarlet Snake, Scarlet Kingsnake
Coral Snakes have a pattern in which every other band is yellow. Hence yellow touches both black and red, but black and red never touch.

The bands of a Coral Snake run all the way around the body. But since the Coral Snake can be identified by the pattern, happily there is no need to pick it up to check its belly.

Coral
Eastern Coral
Micrurus fulvius fulvius
This is the venomous Coral Snake.

This is the only Coral Snake which I have ever seen in my life.

22 Oct 2001 at 8:20pm. Quiet road just outside Everglades National Park in south Florida. Snake found on road while driving.

Snake was about 24 inches in length. This snake would not stop moving. I shot nine photos of it while I was chasing it from one side of the road to the other. I tried tossing some dead grass in front of it, hoping that it might feel comfortable in the grass and settle down. This sometimes works for Steve Irwin, but it did not work for me.
Scarlet Kingsnake
Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides
 		Here is a photo of the only Scarlet Kingsnake which I have ever seen. The field guides say that this snake is common, but secretive and infrequently seen.

I found this snake on a quiet road at 10:00pm on 30 July 2007 in SE Georgia.

Scarlet Kingsnakes look similar to Scarlet Snakes, but the bands go all the way around the belly.
Florida Scarlet Snake
Cemophora coccinea coccinea

These are three photos of the same snake. Taken Monday, 22 April 2002, at 8:45pm in Big Cypress Swamp. It gets dark at about 8:10 this time of year.

This is a small snake, as you can see from the third photo, it measures less than 15". Snake stayed absolutely motionless on the road and let me take 8 photos. 













The nose of both the Florida Scarlet Snake and the Scarlet Kingsnake comes to a point.
The nose of a Coral Snake is round.
























Red touch yellow, kill a fellow

Red touch black, venom lack





I received an email saying that I should change the ditty because it might
be interpreted as meaning that when you see a "red touch yellow" snake, you
should kill it.


As if it said: Red touch yellow, kill that fellow !


That's not what it means.  The meaning is that if the red and yellow bands
touch, the snake can kill a fellow.
The emailer suggested Red touch yellow, stay away from the fellow


I did a Google search for variations of the ditty.
The first line often occurs as 
Red touch yellow can kill a fellow

or
Red touch yellow will kill a fellow


Which emphasize that it is the snake which does the killing.























Corn Snake


Elaphe guttata guttata







This baby Corn Snake appears to have a pattern of red, black and yellow
bands when viewed from the top.
The shape of the head is much different from the head of a Coral Snake, Florida
Scarlet Snake, or Scarlet Kingsnake.


The rule "not venomous because red does not touch yellow" works for this snake.




15 March 2002 --- 7:11 pm

Everglades













                      





Here is a Northern Scarlet Snake on the yellow "No Passing" line
in the center of a road in SE Georgia.  Maybe 12 inches long.


Photo taken 18 July 2007 at 10:30pm.






Northern Scarlet Snake


Cemophora coccinea copei


Nonvenomous



















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flickr Snake Group




This is a link to flickr, a website owned by Yahoo which allows everyone to post photos.
I'm inviting everyone who has photos of snakes taken in the wild in the eastern USA to
post them to a group on flickr.  Check our collection of snake photos.






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This covers snake species found in eastern USA and Canada.
From Texas to east coast.


                                     

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Snakes of North America
Eastern and Central Regions

by Alan Tennant and Dick Bartlett.



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