Today’s list of jobs included a somewhat rare treat, the eastern coral snake.  A customer in Orlando had one of these beautiful, yet dangerous snakes lying by his pool.  As I’ve said in other posts, the majority of snake calls we get are for non-venomous snakes.  Most of our snake calls seem to be for black snakes, king snakes, and rat snakes.  We do occasionally go out to remove a cottonmouth or rattlesnake.  Much less frequently, we run into the coral snake, North America’s most venomous native snake.

Coral Snake Facts

Astoundingly, as dangerous as the coral snake’s venom is, less than one percent of all venomous snakebites in the United States come from a coral snake.  This is due to their very illusive nature and the ineffectiveness of their bite.  Coral snakes don’t strike like a rattlesnake or water moccasin does.  They kind of latch on and actually have to grind their small teeth down into their prey to inject their venom, making them easy to shake off quickly and prevent the venom from getting into the prey’s system.  This, along with their skittish nature, is why there are so few snake bite cases involving coral snakes.

In fact, only one person has died since 1967, when the coral snake anti-venom was first produced, from a coral snake bite.  This infrequency of bites by coral snakes has even led to yearly talks of doing away with the supply of anti-venom.  The current stock of antivenin was set to expire in October 31 of 2008.  The FDA has so far extended the expiration date each year as tests have shown that the stock is still good.  No company currently produces FDA approved antivenin for coral snake bites so when it finally does expire, it’s possible that it will not be replaced.

 Always Call A Professional To Remove Snakes

Coral snake or not, do not take chances of being bitten by a poisonous snake. Call the Nuisance Wildlife Trapper for this and any type of wild animal control job.

 

CALL 866-263-WILD (9453)