‹ Compare two snakes
Sonoran Coralsnake vs California Kingsnake
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(c) Matthew Lumsden, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Sonoran Coralsnake
Micruroides euryxanthus
Venomous(c) gretchenparadis, some rights reserved (CC BY)
California Kingsnake
Lampropeltis californiae
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Look for red. The Sonoran Coralsnake has red rings touching wide white or pale yellow rings. A California Kingsnake is banded only in black or brown and white or pale yellow, with no red at all.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Complete rings of red, black and wide white or pale yellow, with the red touching the pale rings.
Crisp black-and-cream bands right around the body; some are striped instead.
Head
Small head with a black snout; a pale ring follows, then red.
Small head barely wider than the neck; smooth and glossy.
Eyes
Small dark eyes; no heat-sensing pit.
Round pupil, small dark eye; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Ringed black and pale, usually with no red bands; the scale covering the vent is red in Arizona snakes.
Tapers evenly, banded to the tip; no rattle.
What it does
Hides its head under its coils, curls and shows its tail, and may make a popping sound from its vent.
Hisses, shakes its tail and may roll into a ball.
Where it lives
Southern Arizona below about 6,000 ft and southwestern New Mexico, south into western Mexico.
California, southern Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, just reaching extreme southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, and south into Baja California and Sonora.