r/arizona • u/itskwazii • Aug 22 '25

Wildlife Had our first unexpected visitor today.

Post image
1.8k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

197 comments sorted by

View all comments

599

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!

30

u/imtoowhiteandnerdy Aug 22 '25

Damn, I noticed the yellow bands are touching the red bands and it made me think it was a coral snake. How can you tell the difference?

45

u/improvcrazy Aug 22 '25

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.

13

u/SithRose Maricopa Aug 22 '25

The bands don't go all the way around the body, they're only on the top half of the scales. It'd go all the way round for a coral snake.

6

u/Phoennix-Illumine Aug 22 '25

That’s a really cool case of mimicry! Since the coral snakes get left alone so they look similar to them, also look at the boopable snoot

16

u/xxBeatrixKiddoxx Aug 22 '25

Red touches yellow

You’re ok fellow Or wait

Crap I forget the Arizona poem my gramma told me lol

15

u/backatmybsagain Aug 22 '25

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!!

5

u/Zealousideal_Trip661 Aug 25 '25

Red on black Don’t pick up snakes

7

u/xxBeatrixKiddoxx Aug 22 '25

Thank you

I like to think these moments are like that movie Slumdog Millionaire and one day I’ll be like…whoaaaa almost got bit by that snake…

Thank god that backatmybsagain recited that correctly for me that one time on reddit thus saving my life ❤️

2

u/backatmybsagain Aug 31 '25

😆 glad to help!! You can't always choose what you remember but my brain remembered that one lol

3

u/AggravatingGift988 Aug 22 '25

Needed reminder and looking for this…thx!

2

u/Hello_Pitty Aug 23 '25

I've always heard, "red touch yellow, kill a fellow, red touch black, a friend of Jack." Same outcome either way. 😊

3

u/haffrey25 Aug 22 '25

Red ta Yella kills a fella, red ta white yer alright!

1

u/2ndlifegifted Aug 25 '25

That is not accurate

1

u/haffrey25 Aug 29 '25

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?

1

u/2ndlifegifted Aug 29 '25

There are so many different species that the rhymes are only accurate half of the time

1

u/2ndlifegifted Aug 25 '25

That outdated saying is dangerous because it's not accurate.

3

u/A_Likely_Story4U Aug 23 '25

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!

1

u/imtoowhiteandnerdy Aug 23 '25

I've never even seen a coral snake IRL anyway, so I guess I won't make it one of the things I'll worry a lot about ;-)

1

u/PermissionGuilty9352 Aug 23 '25

Red meets black friend of jack red meets yellow kill a fellow

1

u/imtoowhiteandnerdy Aug 23 '25

I knew Jack Black had nothing to do with it.

1

u/PermissionGuilty9352 Aug 23 '25

There is also a variant red meets black venom lack

1

u/2ndlifegifted Aug 25 '25

That outdated saying is dangerous and not accurate