[QUOTE=Chronos]
Which isn’t really useful, given that king snakes instead have yellow bands next to red bands. In one of them, the bands go yellow-red-black-yellow-red-black-etc. from head to tail, and in the other, they go yellow-black-red-yellow-black-red-etc.
That said: Almost all of the venomous snakes in North America are pit vipers, and can be easily recognized by their heads. The head of a pit viper is wider and somewhat flatter than the rest of its body, as seen here (I don’t think that one is native to North America, but it’s a good picture of the head shape). The coral snake, found in the southwest, is the only non-pit viper venomous snake in North America, and it has bands going around its body, not stripes along the length of its body. It’s very difficult to tell the difference between a coral snake and a king snake, but really, who cares? Just leave either of them alone. A non-venomous snake is only as dangerous as any other animal its size, and probably less so, since snakes can’t carry rabies.
Your snake has a neck that smoothly tapers into its head, so it’s not a pit viper, and it doesn’t have bands around its body, so it’s not a coral snake, and so whatever it is, it’s not venomous, and it’s not nearly big enough to be dangerous without venom.
Also note that even the venomous snakes we have in North America aren’t particularly dangerous. 95% of rattlesnake bite victims survive even with no treatment at all, and of course a rattler will warn you before biting. Copperheads and cottonmouths are a little more dangerous, but they’ll still prefer to mind their own business, if you mind yours, and they’re small and stealthy enough that they’ll probably be able to.
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Chronos - Your information is mostly incorrect. As Labdad has illustrated, the tri-colored kingsnakes have red bands which generally do not touch the yellow bands. Coral snakes in the US have red bands which do touch the yellow bands. Coral snakes are found in the southwest and the southeast. There are venomous snakes in the US which are neither pit vipers nor coral snakes, an example being the lyre snake. Copperheads and cottonmouths are not generally more dangerous than rattlesnakes; the danger from pit vipers is most often a function of the size of the snake, and copperheads are usually small. Eastern and western diamondback rattlers often grow to a length of six feet. While only about .2 per cent of snake bites in the US results in death, I’d be curious to see the source of a 95% survival rate with no treatment. Coral snakes are actually very easy to distinguish from the tri-colored kingsnakes without the red-yellow-black mnemonic: coral snakes have wide black bands while the kingsnakes have very narrow ones. Rattlesnakes will bite without rattling. And last but not least, Long Time First Time gave the correct answer in two minutes yesterday.
