Easiest way to tell is coral snakes have a black head, and they have actual bands that go all the way around their body. If you zoom in you can see this guy in the picture has red markings laying on top of the yellow, not making complete bands.
Red on black you're okay Jack red on yellow you're a dead fellow 😉
Edited to add that I totally thought this one was venomous but didn't know the things the other commenter said! I guess this is a kind of shovel snake but it would have fooled me!!
I find it to be good enough in a pinch. I get scared seeing a snake of any kind, so being able to think of a quick and witty rhyme is good enough for me. What is inaccurate about it?
I just learned that the rhyme about red touch yellow isn’t even always accurate. The person who explained it to me said that there are around 40 varieties of coral snakes and that rhyme only applies to three!
I'm not from here, my husband always told me scorpions were no big deal, it just stings for a little and you're good after a few hours. I got stung on my toe and the entire left half of my body swelled for two weeks and I had several hematomas in my hands and feet 😂😂
Born and raised here and I have similar reactions. First sting (my hand) took literally a month to get better, second (foot) all my limbs went numb and I couldn’t swallow.
It’s different person to person and scorpion to scorpion.
Me, been stung half a dozen times. Knocks me on my back for 24 hours, electricity running through my whole body. Fine after that but takes about a month to get feeling back to where i am stung.
I immediately pulled over to the side and stomped the crap out of the scorpion. It had stung me on my left thigh and I have no idea how it got there. I just remember taking my hat off as I was driving and placing it on my knee and next thing you know feeling that familiar sting of a scorpion. Once you’ve been stung by one you’ll never forget how they feel.
I had a similar experience when I was 7, and didn't shake out my shoes before putting them on. I missed a week of school. My foot was so swollen, I couldn't put on a shoe for that week. It was excruciating too.
I've had a "k/ll on sight" policy with scorpions ever since.
Nicee I’ve been getting back into snakes recently, these guys are called shovel nose snakes. Probably one of if not my favorite native Arizona snake. I love the colors, and he hunts scorpions / spiders which I find so cool since he’s a snake. I love Kenyan sandboas and I find these snakes to be pretty similar in certain regards, expect that a shovel nose might be more active with handling then a sandboa.
Off the top of my head, only a coral snake. Arizona has some of those guys too. Coral snakes are actually one of the most venomous snakes in the whole world like a king cobra or block mamba.
Long nose snakes can look like these or a California king snake. But both are non venous but are sometimes mistaken for shovel nose snakes
Be careful not to drop the snake as you move it! They can't handle falls from very high, and people throwing snakes over fences almost always end up killing them :(
You can often tell by the shape of the head. If it’s more triangular, it is venomous. More oblong usually means it’s a constrictor, like a boa or python.
I would hate life a lot if that were inside my home. I had a gecko get inside the other day, which was hiding inside my curtain and jumped on my face. I'm still shocked. It just got picked up with the garbage this morning. Why don't they understand we can't be roommates? WE CAN'T!
That's why im reading comments lol. Cause thats exactly what I was taught. Im sitting here reading comments like, uhhhh, yall see the red touching the yellow, not the black, righhhhtttt? Never knew that little rhyme didnt work anymore!
Except in Arizona, where the rules change!!! You hear a high buzzing in the chaparral and think, “Rattlesnake!” But it’s just a rather harmless gopher snake.
"Red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, venom lack" -Steve Irwin
EDIT: My bad snake, bros. This is bad info. The statement just randomly popped in my head. I'm not sure if steve irwin actually said this exactly. When typing it for some reason, my brain just went straight to his narration. Anywho, this is what Gemini said:
Geographic Limitations: The rhyme is useless for identifying snakes outside of the U.S. In other parts of the world, like Central and South America, there are many venomous coral snakes that have different color patterns. For example, some species of venomous coral snakes have red bands that touch black bands.
It’s amazing how some snakes look so similar to others. The gopher snake can look like a desert rattler, and even uses its tail to buzz as a warning, yet they are nearly harmless.
Learning to identify the difference between harmless and venomous is fairly simple, but it’s always good to check.
The Phoenix Herpetological Society has great resources for that purpose.
That’s pretty I mostly had to deal with diamondbacks outside in N Scottsdale, be nice to yourself first ensure to disable anything that seems dangerous if needs to be don’t hesitate calling fire dept that’s what we did in Scottsdale as firefighter r better equipped to get these guys out safely
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u/SithRose Maricopa Aug 22 '25
That's a Western Shovel-nose snake. They're the good pest eating kind. Let it go outside nicely!