Do you know your snakes? A primer for Sanibel Sightings!

With all its verdant topicality and abundant nature Sanibel is home to hundreds of creatures.

Our little barrier island is only 12 miles long, but every inch is packed with flora and fauna.

And yes, we do have snakes, several varieties of snakes.

Most are totally benign and other than the harmless black racer, it is unlikely you will encounter many, if any at all, of our fine slithering friends.

But you should know what each  looks like, especially so for those that can be harmful to humans and domestic pets.

There are 4 venomous snakes found in Southwest Florida. They consist of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake , dusky pygmy rattlesnake, Florida cottonmouth and the eastern coral snake.

Historically, only two of these snake species have been documented on Sanibel and Captiva Islands (eastern diamondback rattlesnake, eastern coral snake).

Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are large snakes and can reach over 5' in length.  They are a diamond pattern of grey, beige and white and occur on the mainland as well as barrier islands throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. They have been documented from Sanibel, Captiva, North Captiva, Cayo Costa and Gasparilla Island as well as the Keys. They are in the family Viperidae, which makes them pit vipers. The word pit viper refers to the loreal pits on the side of head that enable them to sense heat from their prey (small mammals and birds). They are hide and ambush predators which means that they hide themselves and wait for small mammals such as rats, rabbits and birds to pass by. They strike (bite) the animal with lightning speed and wait for the animal to die from envenomation. They are able to to follow the path of the dying animal with their loreal pits and finally swallow the animal after it is found.

The eastern coral snake is a very obvious snake. It has black, red and yellow (or white) bands that run 360 degrees around the snake. It is rarely over three feet long. There are two mimic snakes in Lee county that could be misidentified as coral snakes, but neither of them are extant on Sanibel. They are the scarlet kingsnake  and the scarlet snake .  The old  rhyme for identifying coral snakes in the United States is as follows: Red on black, friend of Jack, red on yellow, kill a fellow". Basically, if the yellow/white bands separate all of the red and black bands, then it is a coral snake. If  any of the red bands touch any of the black bands, then it is nonvenomous. This formula is only true for coral snakes in the United States. In Central and South America, coral snake coloration is inconsistent with this rhyme.

But while we feel knowledge is the best defense in avoiding a snake bite, the truth is that avoiding their habitats will be a safer bet.  Walking through dense brush and wet lands is best left to the special Fish and Wild life people, and with 24 miles of paths that are paved, it is easy to avoid the wild habitats.  In addition, both the diamond back and coral snakes are non aggressive and would just as soon avoid you!