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Coral Snakes In Mexico
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by holmr on April 26, 2006
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I was recently on a mission trip in Mexico. The village was in the jungle/mountains of South East Mexico. About three hours South East of Pueblas. While digging in the dirt there I came across several black and orange banded snakes. Beautiful snakes! The locals said these were venomous Coral Snakes. I've been looking and haven't been able to locate and pictures that would confirm if these were indeed Coral Snakes. Or if they were even venomous. They had no yellow and the bands were Orange not Red. Can anyone give me some insight as to what this snake could be?
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RE: Coral Snakes In Mexico
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by Cro on April 26, 2006
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Richard: There are many snakes from that area of Mexico that could have been the ones you saw.
Some are venomous coral snakes, and some are harmless milk-snakes and ground snakes. Unfortunatly, many of the harmless snakes in that region look very much like the venomous ones.
Check your library and see if they have a copy of ``The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere,`` by Campbell and Lamar, and look at the color plates in Volume II. They show excellent color photos of the venomous and non-venomous snakes of that area.
Also look for the book ``Coral Snakes of the Americas,`` by Roze, and check out the photos in it.
If you are there again, try to take several sharp digital photos of the snakes and post them here in the ``Identification`` section of the Photo Album.
Sorry to not be of more help, but there are about 20 snakes from that area of Mexico that resemble coral snakes, and could be described as having orange and black bands.
JohnZ
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RE: Coral Snakes In Mexico
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by holmr on April 26, 2006
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Thanks John I'll see if I can find those books. I kick myself for not taking any photos. Unfortunately there wasn't much chance as the locals would kill them on site. I was able to save a few by tossing them into the jungle before anyone saw.
Sounds like you're saying there's a chance they could of been some type of Coral Snakes? I figured they were probably Milk Snakes or something since they didn't have any Yellow or Red. I've never heard of a Coral Snake that didn't have Yellow & Red. Then again I'm not an expert.
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RE: Coral Snakes In Mexico
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by Cro on April 26, 2006
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Richard: They could have been Milk Snakes, but there are also Coral Snakes that do not have Yellow and Red colors, that live in that area.
One that comes to mind from that area is Micrurus nigrocinctus, which some populations of can have orange and black bands. Also, snakes new to science turn up in Mexico and Central America every year. Without good photos or one of the snakes to look at, it is just speculation as to if it was a Coral Snake, a False Coral Snake , a Milk Snake, or one of the colorfull banded ground snakes like a Sonora.
The safest thing for you to do when you find one of these snakes is to assume it could be a Coral Snake, and use some caution. That area of Mexico would be a very bad place to get bitten by a venomous snake.
Best Regards JohnZ
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