What you should know about Florida's 'deadliest' snake

Photo by Ashley Tubbs | Flickr

​From lightning to poisonous plants and everything in between, there is no doubt that many types of hazards lurk in Florida on any given day, however, a few Reddit users in the subreddit r/Tampa have recently brought up a specific concern: Eastern Coral Snakes.

"My back yard is infested with them, I ended up in the hospital due to one last year not from a bite but one slid past my ankle while doing yard work," said one Reddit user in part in response to a recently posted video of an apparent coral snake slithering through a local backyard.

While that commentor did clarify that their trip to the hospital was actually due to dropping a machete on their leg after being startled by the snake, according to information on the Florida Poison Control Center, an average of 47 coral snake bites to humans are reported in the state each year.

Eastern Coral Snakes are sometimes hailed as the United States' most deadly snake due to the exceptional potency of their venom, however, it should be noted that bites to humans are reportedly rare and almost never deadly with proper treatment.

"Coral snakes’ small, fixed fangs and small mouth mean that it is difficult for them to puncture human skin," a LiveScience article on coral snakes notes, furthering that most bites occur from improper handling.

What's more, though Florida's coral snake is a member of the Elapidae family, which also includes other highly venomous species such as cobras and sea snakes, according to the University of Florida, estimates show 50% of Coral Snake bites are dry bites.

"In the last 40 years, there has been one fatality reported when a person failed to seek medical treatment after a bite," says the same article by the Florida Poison Control Center linked above.

Unlike the state's several other venomous snakes, the Florida coral snake is generally reclusive and easily recognized by its distinctive red, yellow, and black bands. Its coloration is often used as a mnemonic device to distinguish it from nonvenomous lookalikes: "Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black, friend of Jack." This means that if the red bands touch the yellow bands, it is a venomous coral snake, but if the red bands touch the black bands, it is a harmless species such as a scarlet king snake.
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To learn more about Florida's different venomous snakes including the Eastern Coral Snake, you can click here.