It finally happened this weekend. I was mowing my backyard when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. I knew right away it was a snake. I have had several encounters with the MANY ribbon snakes living in my backyard. I even found the skin of one who is rather large. But this time I came face to face with my first coral snake. There was no mistaking the markings - red on yellow kill a fellow! This was no red on black venom lack or friend of Jack or however you learned it. This was a real dangerous snake. Now I have encountered dangerous snakes in the wild before -- rattlesnakes, copperheads, even a cottonmouth or two - so I am no snake newbie. But did you know that the Texas Coral Snake has the second most deadly venom of all North American snakes, right behind a very nasty rattlesnake? It just so happened that I knew this, and that little tidbit of info flooded my mind as I watched the killer slide along the ground. He was about a yard long, maybe less, and was pa
The personal blog of Dr. Scott Jones