10/21/2013
Had an interesting Sunday off. My parents own some property close by and I got a call that woke me up yesterday morning with my Mom on the other end asking "What's the rhyme for Coral Snakes?" to which I replied groggily, "Red next to yellow, kill a fellow"(referring to a black red and yellow snake where the red is bordered on both sides by yellow without touching any black, not to be confused with the many types of King Snake which mimic the Coral in coloration but not order of color). She immediately let me know that they had an approximately 2 foot long Coral Snake on the back porch. This was funny as Randy and I had just been talking about the fact that neither of us has ever seen one of these generally shy and unassuming snakes in the wild as they tend to live under leaf litter and detritus and are more active in the night time. We happen to have some old acquaintances at the Reptile Discovery Center in Deland out on 92 and offered to come pick it up for my parents. Got some great pics of the Coral who happened to be a nice sized female who would be invaluable for venom production and the folks at Reptile Discovery Center gladly took her from us. Long and short of it is that no one got harmed including the snake, we got to see one of our fantastic species of venomous snake for the first time in the wild, and she was successfully relocated to a facility which will be able to keep her healthy for many long years and use her venom to continue to save lives. I call that a good day for the reptile world!! As an aside, if you ever see a coral snake in the wild please do not attempt to pick up, touch , or aggravate it, leave it be and enjoy from a respectful distance. If it is in an area where it will likely come afoul of humans or pets it is best to call animal control and let a professional handle the snake, its venom is no joke!
