Texas coral snake

Identification

The Texas coral snake is a slender snake ringed along its whole length with black, yellow and red bands². The red bands often carry black specks and always touch the narrow yellow bands, while the head and tail have only black and yellow bands and the snout is black². Unlike the region’s pit vipers, it has a rounded head, round pupils and no heat-sensing pit². Colour is not completely reliable, because albino, all-black and red-less individuals have been found in the wild².

The average adult is about 51–76 cm long, and the largest recorded measured about 122 cm; females are usually larger than males².

Distribution

The Texas coral snake lives west of the Mississippi River in south-western Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, and south into Mexico^1,2. In Texas it is found mainly in the eastern third of the state, from the Red River south and west through the Hill Country to the edge of the Trans-Pecos². In Mexico it ranges from Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas south through San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Hidalgo to Puebla and northern Veracruz¹.

It was once treated as part of the same species as the eastern coral snake². Records from Colima and Morelos in western Mexico are now thought to belong to a different species, Micrurus browni¹.

Habitat

This coral snake does not seem to need a particular habitat, but it prefers moist, wooded areas and places with high humidity². It is usually found where there is plenty of ground cover, such as leaf litter, rocks and fallen logs². In the southern United States, coral snakes are found in wooded, sandy or marshy areas³.

Behaviour

The Texas coral snake is mainly active at night, early morning and evening, and spends the day hidden under debris or in shallow burrows². Within its range it is fairly common, but it is shy and secretive and seldom seen².

It is not aggressive, and most will simply crawl away if disturbed². When provoked, it often tucks its head under its body and raises its tail as if the tail were about to strike².

Diet

The Texas coral snake feeds mainly on other small snakes². It also eats lizards, including skinks, and occasionally frogs when they are available². It often bites prey several times and may hold on to it for a long time².

Reproduction

Unlike many other venomous snakes, the Texas coral snake lays eggs rather than giving birth to live young². Breeding can take place from summer through to the following spring, and females lay 3–9 small eggs in summer².

The eggs hatch after about 60 days, and the hatchlings are 15–23 cm long and fully venomous². Captive Texas coral snakes have lived up to seven years².

Venom and medical significance

The Texas coral snake has neurotoxic venom, which can cause paralysis and breathing failure in severe cases². The World Health Organization lists it in Category 2, of secondary medical importance, in the United States and Mexico⁴. Its fangs are small, fixed and at the front of the mouth, and symptoms can be delayed for many hours².

Most bites are mild: of 501 confirmed bites reported to Texas poison centres from 2000 to 2023, 94% caused only pain and tingling or numbness, and 3.6% caused whole-body signs such as weakness, trouble swallowing or drooping eyelids⁵. In an earlier Texas series of 82 patients, no one died or needed a breathing machine⁶, and antivenom is now given to a minority of patients^5,7. Anyone bitten should go to hospital immediately.

Conservation

The Texas coral snake is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, based on an assessment published in 2007⁸. It is fairly common within its range². Many are killed by people and by traffic².

Similar species

In the United States, coral snakes are sometimes confused with harmless kingsnakes, which have similar coloured bands³. Among the similarly coloured snakes of Texas, only the coral snake has red bands touching yellow bands, but this rule is not foolproof because colour varies². In Mexico, several harmless snakes, including milk snakes, mimic its colours¹.

The eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius) looks almost the same, but it lives in the south-eastern United States, from the Carolinas to Florida².

These differences are not a safe basis for handling any snake. Keep your distance from every snake you cannot identify.

In captivity

The Texas coral snake is a venomous snake and is not suitable as a pet. Bites usually happen only when people handle the snake or try to kill it². It can bite any exposed skin, so it should never be picked up².