Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, so Im about to qualify myself as an official dick head and post a hazy description of a snake with no picture and hope someone can ID it. here we go
Coral Snake
about 50cm long, head: typical rounded blunt coral head, nose black, yellowish cream around eyes and posterior to nape
triads arranged as such: large orangy red (very bright) bands (continual on stomach) separated by smaller (maybe 30-50% the size) yellow bands with very very very thin (maybe one scale) black bands posterior and anterior to every yellow band. Small black dot on posterior edge of red scales. Found on path in primary forest in heavy rain (thus didnt have cameras ready), when disturbed flattened and flipped over tail in defense posture as I have seen Micrurus suranemensis do before. There was almost no visable black on this snake at all, at a glance it looked nothing but yellow and red-orange. I cant find anything that looks like it in any of my resources so if it sounds familiar to anyone let me know.... otherwise i will be out walking that path in the rain every day for the next 6 months.

good luck and thanks
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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

I just looked through Roze's book & don't see anything with the black bands being the narrowest. I thought his book was pretty much complete, but I reckon not. This may turn out to be aan interesting thread.

~~Greg~~

i really wish i could have taken it as a specimen, because just looking at it i knew it was a little odd, but the organization im working for currently has a blanket policy of not working with venomous snakes around our volunteers (unbelievably frustrating). But if we cant find anything like it anywhere i may have to bend the rule for this one.
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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

Sounds to me like the volunteers and the powers that be both need a little venomous snake education. I understand your frustration.

~~Greg~~

Just did a thorough search of my library. No dice. "GET WALKING!!" we need pics!

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Frank: If it ain't in Roze or any of your books, what makes you think a pic will help? Like I said, this could prove interesting...& hopefully educational.

~~Greg~~

well, im not sure whether to be frustrated or really really excited. both i suppose. well, im on a two week vacation in quito, but then im back into our base camp for another 3 months so i guess ill be taking a lot of very rainy walks. fingers crossed
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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z