So far this year i have only seen one pigmy rattler.

I remember once when we were camping and I talked a very not outdoorsy friend to join us one night, she was so afraid of snakes. I assured her they were more fearful of us and she would only see one scurrying away if she saw any at all. Not more than five minutes later one fell out of the tree right down into her coffee cup, she packed up her stuff and went home.

When I was a kid my dad managed a travel trailer park for 'snowbirds' in South Texas. It was a really nice private one, not like KOA or whatever. It had a beautiful clubhouse, a great pool, a hot tub, the campsites ranged from tent camping to full trailer hookups. It had a nice lake with trails to ride mini bikes around it, rented horses to ride, and had a lot of walking paths. I used to spend all summer out there, I had a special friend who was my age who came every summer and spent the whole summer, we had the run of the place.

One day my dad was in the clubhouse behind the desk and a guy trekked in from the tent camping site carrying a live snake. He warlike, "I found this in my tent, I've never seen one of these before, do you know what it is?"

It was a Coral Snake.

My next door neighbor many many years ago was fixing a hole in his house foundation and reached in to take out some chunks of cement before filling the hole in and pulled out about four baby coral snakes, luckily he was wearing leather work gloves.

Yeah they gotta gnaw on ya!

Yikes, well, corals are very pretty.

Sherri, that happened to me the first time we went camping with friends. I consider myself pretty outdoorsy but when it comes to snakes I prefer to keep my distance - at least until I can determine what kind of snake it is. We were camping with friends in a large tent on Edisto Island,. They had a 4 year old and our son was just 2. After an early evening walk on the beach we entered the tent to put the kids down and there was a good sized diamondback just coiled up there in the middle of the tent. I got the kids out and my friend and the spouses got the snake out (don't remember how) but I can tell you I did not have a good nights rest at all. Also, I have never camped in a tent since - and that was 50 years ago. LOL

ardesia said:Yikes, well, corals are very pretty.

Sherri, that happened to me the first time we went camping with friends. I consider myself pretty outdoorsy but when it comes to snakes I prefer to keep my distance - at least until I can determine what kind of snake it is. We were camping with friends in a large tent on Edisto Island,. They had a 4 year old and our son was just 2. After an early evening walk on the beach we entered the tent to put the kids down and there was a good sized diamondback just coiled up there in the middle of the tent. I got the kids out and my friend and the spouses got the snake out (don't remember how) but I can tell you I did not have a good nights rest at all. Also, I have never camped in a tent since - and that was 50 years ago. LOL

I really can't blame you. That one makes a lifetime impression.
I wonder what the odds are?

Coral snakes are very scary. Yes, they have to gnaw on you but if they break that skin at all, you're a goner and there is no longer any Coral snake anti venom.

I'm surprised how laid back I am about snakes anymore. Had a coral in the screen room once. Bill wanted me to shoot it until it went under a full propane tank..NOT. He picked the tank up, snake headed out, he slammed down the tank and it was over...came about 2 inches of stepping on a baby diamond back in my bare feet and had a small black snake climbing up my beer bottle on the patio. Not sure who was more startled me or the snake, but it did not get a sip that day as I sent it to the other side of the fence...sober. Still the non venomous are welcome in my yard. Also had a snapping alligator turtle looking in at me through the sliding glass door...that was fun to move. The Joy's of living in the woods of the Florida panhandle

A few years ago at our old house, I would see Banded Water Snakes every so often. We would see moccasins once in awhile and a neighbor swore this was a moccasin but I told her to check out at the shape of the head and the eyes; moccasins have a triangular shaped head and their eyes are more slit like rather than round. I leaned over my deck railing one day to take these photos of a Banded Water Snake, one of the largest I'd seen:


I'm not a big fan of snakes and don't want to touch one but I don't mind having the non-venomous types around even though they always startle me! We have a resident Black Racer that we frequently see in the yard. One day last week it was on the walkway. The second photo is a black racer that was in the leaves in the back yard awhile back:


When I went out the front door this morning, this is what I saw ... likely the molted skin of the resident black racer.

Cool! I have never seen the head so perfectly intact before. You can certainly see the round eyes.

flaflwrgrl said:Coral snakes are very scary. Yes, they have to gnaw on you but if they break that skin at all, you're a goner and there is no longer any Coral snake anti venom.

?? what happened to it??

Lin its sad how many people mistake the Banded Water Snake for a moccasin and kill it. They are very helpful guys

Regarding the Antivenin for Eastern Coral Snake bites; I found information on this page that was updated in 2018: http://www.poisoncentertampa.o...

Scary that when antivenin runs out there will be no help for someone bitten by an eastern coral snake!!

About 4 yr ago we had a black racer in the backyard. I didn't pay much attention to it until one day I stepped on it. It writhed and squirmed and when I stepped back it ran. Maybe a month later I was dragging the hose across the lawn to water some daylilies. Looked back and there he was, following me. Soon after that, I was tending daylilies in the first box we ever made and I stepped on something. Immediately moved my foot then moved my body. He just glided off as if nothing had happened. I called him " Must Go". Where ever I went in the back yard, he followed. That went on for 4 or 5 months.

One day a neighbor and I were trimming some palmettos on our property line. I looked up and saw Must Go watching us. He was about 6 ft up in the palmettos. Dottie saw where I was looking and she stepped back, scared to death. I told her about him. Then I called my husband. We went in for a drink of water and I never saw Must Go again. I am so sorry I caused that snake's death. Never again. His family still lives here, but no one acts like Must Go did. He was sweet!

Arlene, do you think your neighbor killed Must Go?? Black Racers are good snakes to have around.

plantladylin said:Regarding the Antivenin for Eastern Coral Snake bites; I found information on this page that was updated in 2018: http://www.poisoncentertampa.o...

Scary that when antivenin runs out there will be no help for someone bitten by an eastern coral snake!!

Interesting Lin. I last looked for info. in 2012. I do recall reading that the remaining antivenin was being renewed by the FDA each year b/c it was all past it's expiration date. I do recall reading that the pharmaceutical company quit making it b/c it just wasn't worth it for them as it costs so much to get FDA approval & when you take into account the small # of bites per year, the company was losing money. Also, it seems the TX coral snake is different enough from the eastern (ours) that the antivenin's don't work on both so everything has to be somewhat specialized.

plantladylin said:Arlene, do you think your neighbor killed Must Go?? Black Racers are good snakes to have around.

Indeed! I love all black snakes, indigo snakes, all non poisonous snakes are great. Yeah, sometimes we scare each other but no harm, no foul.

Did the neighbor kill it? Probably. I explained to her that they are good to have around, but her attitude is there is no such thing as a good snake.

I miss him!

florange said:Did the neighbor kill it? Probably. I explained to her that they are good to have around, but her attitude is there is no such thing as a good snake.

I miss him!

There are some people you can't convince. Their fear overrides all reason.