Colombian Snake ID Please (1 Viewer)

[Pitter]

My caretaker killed this snake today near my house. He says it's very dangerous but I'm not sure that's so. Location is Western Cordillera of Colombia at 2100 meters. The colors are red, black and white. Sorry for the gore. Can anyone identify it for me?

 

[Beany]

It's either one of the coral snakes (Micrurus) (which are very venomous) or the false coral snakes (Erythrolamprus) (which are harmless).

This website might help:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7ftch/snakes_of_colombia/

 

[Pitter]

Thank you for the site. I've written to Señor Maladonado whose address is included there.

 

[Ranger James]

Its a harmless milk snake, not sure which species. Teach your caretaker this little ditty:
"Red touhing black, poison lack. Red touching yellow, kills a fellow."

James

 

[Beany]

Its a harmless milk snake, not sure which species. Teach your caretaker this little ditty:
"Red touhing black, poison lack. Red touching yellow, kills a fellow."
James

Not in S. America! Several South American coral snakes (which are highly venomous) have black bands next to red ones. The website I mentioned before shows some of them:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7ftch/snakes_of_colombia/pages/Micrurus%20filiformis.htm
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7ftch/snakes_of_colombia/pages/Micrurus%20lemniscatus.htm
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7ftch/snakes_of_colombia/pages/Micrurus%20isozonus.htm

And some false coral snakes (harmless) have yellow bands next to red ones:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7ftch/snakes_of_colombia/pages/Erythrolamprus%20mimus.htm

The rhyme holds true in the USA, though, as far as I know.

 

[Pitter]

Another ditty is "if the nose is black it's bad for Jack" or something like that. The snake was burried right after I took the photo. It's hard to tell from it if the nose is black or if it's blood.

I've sorted through the Colombian snake site and can't find a good match. Haven't received a reply from the e-mail address given on the site. Sure would like to know what I had.

 

[Pitter]

Thanks Beany. I take it back. Atractus latifrons from the Colombian snake site appears to match but I can't find any other images of it on the web to confirm. Any ideas where I might find another image?

 

[Pitter]

According to Señor Maldonado of the Colombian snake site it is most likely: Lampropeltis triangulum , a milk snake so I guess Ranger James gets the cigar.

 

[LAF]

Okay, it looks like NO L. trianglum I've ever seen/kept but, if the annulations are split that then that's most likely. Weird assed snake!

 

[Bushbaby]

I would say it is defenitly a Milksnake of some sort. Almost looks like a Ruthveni, or Sinaloan. They are very similar, with very narrow bands. It is totally harmless. They are usually very shy and skittish snakes. I cannot handle my babies as they do not like it. The adults usually calm down alot (in captivity).
Wish he didn't kill it cause it's an awesome snake. All Milksnakes have a black nose. I think Coral snakes have red noses. I'm speaking under correction here.

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Just a brief note. The second you move south of the US border FORGET ALL RULES on pattern or colour of nose. They just don't work in the Neotropics. As some may be aware there has recently been a major revision of the taxonomy of the Coral Snakes and their mimics, in part fuelled by the publishing of Campbell & Lamar's "The Venemous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere". This major work may be expensive (but what would you expect from a two-volume publication with more a thousand pages?), but is well worth the money for anyone with a serious interest in this subject (and anyone with an interest in this subject know what prices the earlier "The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America", basically the predecessor of the new books, were being sold at when it became out of print). Anyway, using Campbell & Lamar's great books as a reference I don't believe it is possible to place this individual in either group for certain from this photo alone. In all but a few forms you really do need a good shot of the head (preferably from the side) to make an ID. BTW, while it is true that Coral Snakes are extremely poisonous, they are amazingly dosile creatures and you really have to squeeze it or something like that for it to bite you.