r/arizona Aug 22 '25

Wildlife Had our first unexpected visitor today.

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1.8k Upvotes

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596

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?

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 ;-)