re: Snake ID - mimic edition

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Thats gonna have a white belly and be a scarlet snake, Cemophora coccinea

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Husband just got home, saw pic, and agrees that it's a Scarlet snake. Something about the first neckband being a bit yellower than the rest, and having a pointier snout. Also agreed on the patternless white belly.

Somewhat rarer find than the Louisiana Milk, so I hope your friend let it live.

Yeah the nose is a pretty big difference between Lampropeltis and Cemophora. After a while you don't need to flip them over anymore to tell. The one in the OP screams Cemophora. I am surprised to hear that scarlet snakes (Cemophora) are more rare than Louisiana milks (Lampropeltis). In GA, scarlet snakes are very common, though seldom seen (except on roads at night), in comparison to our Lampropeltis representative, the scarlet King snake, that can be uncommon.

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hope your friend let it live

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Almost positive he did.

Looks like a La. Milk - that's the holy grail right there. When we were kids, my brother caught one in da parish. Saw one other dead one once. Only two I've come across in our area.

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King snake and Milk Snake same thing

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Not really. Our King(Lampropeltis elapsoides) only lives in the Fl. Parishes. Lampropeltis triangulum(Milk) has a much wider distribution.

From La DWF website:

Scarlet Kingsnake:



Scarlet Snake:



Milk Snake:

Same area? Probably a LA Milk. Pretty sure Scarlet kings aren't found west of the MS River.

He's a cutie. We once had baby Scarlet Kingsnakes hatch--they looked like little striped worms. Where did you find it--in leaf litter or a dead tree?

Scarlet snake. Another indicator is that the bands don't go all the way through the belly they are not really bands