Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was in South America recently (colombia) and came across this snake during a 6 day hiking trip out in the jungle and was curious to know what type of snake it actually was... nobody I was with could agree exactly what type it was but thought someone here would probably know.

thanks!

Try posting that pic on the milksnake forum. They'll have an answer for you there.
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2.0 Pantherophis obsoletus obsoletus
0.2 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus

coral snake.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

Yeah, it some kind of Coral Snake (Micrurus sp.). Colombia has tons of Coral Snakes though, so I couldn't tell you what species it is. They are highly venomous, but generally do not pose much of a threat to humans due to their very secretive nature. That said, when you do find one, do not attempt to handle it!

You might want to try http://www.snakesofcolombia.com to see of you can narrow it down to a certain species.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

1.0.0 Banded California King
1.0.0 Mexican Black King
0.0.1 Goini Kingsnake
1.0.0 Bay of LA Rosy Boa
0.0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.2.0 Rubber Boas

I would have to look at Roze's Coralsnake book to be sure, but that double black/yellow band and the black head suggest Micrurus dissoleucus.

It is definitely a coralsnake of some sort, but there are a bunch in Colombia.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

>>I was in South America recently (colombia) and came across this snake during a 6 day hiking trip out in the jungle and was curious to know what type of snake it actually was... nobody I was with could agree exactly what type it was but thought someone here would probably know.

I am stumped on this one - nothing really matches in Campbell & Lamar... The nearest thing seems to be M. sangilensis, but there are still quite a few differences.

Where in Colombia was this snake found, and how big was it? That would help quite a bit in narrowing it down.

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

Thanks for all the input everyone, I came across this snake out in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_de_Santa_Marta)and its size was approx about 1ft in length (cant remember exactly)

Anyway, thanks again for the input.

One possibility may be a subspecies of M. tschudii. There are quite a few in Roze that match at first glance, but are found in Central America.

~~Greg~~

Except that looking through the Colombia site, I see no tschudii listed. If you could move that snake a few hundred miles, it sure would make i.d.a lot easier.

~~Greg~~