● Venomous · Native to the United States

Eastern coral snake

Micrurus fulvius (Linnaeus, 1766)

Also called harlequin coral snake
Data updated October 2026

Eastern coral snake on sandy ground, showing wide red and black rings separated by narrow yellow rings
Fig. 1 — Adult on sand, showing the red, yellow and black rings that circle the whole body.
Close view of an eastern coral snake's black snout and broad yellow head band
Fig. 2 — The snout is black, followed by a broad yellow band across the back of the head.

At a glance

A slender, brightly ringed relative of cobras that lives in sandy pinelands and woods of the Southeast. It spends most of its life hidden underground or in leaf litter and is rarely seen. Bites are rare, but every bite is a medical emergency.

01

Identification

The eastern coral snake is slender and smooth, with glossy scales and a small, rounded head that is barely wider than the neck. Wide red and wide black rings alternate down the body, each pair separated by a narrow yellow ring, and the rings run all the way around the belly. The red rings are often flecked with black. The tail has only black and yellow rings. Young look like small adults. It is the only member of the cobra family in the eastern United States and the only venomous snake in the country that lays eggs.

  1. 01Red touches yellow. On the eastern coral snake the red and yellow rings touch. On the harmless scarlet kingsnake and scarlet snake, black separates red from yellow.
  2. 02Black snout. The nose is black, with a wide yellow band behind the eyes. Its harmless lookalikes nearly always have a red snout.
  3. 03Complete rings. The bands circle the body, so the belly pattern matches the back. The scarlet snake, by contrast, has a plain white belly.

A popular rhyme about which colors touch is often used to sort coral snakes from their mimics. Treat it with caution: it is easily misremembered, colors vary between individuals, and it is unreliable outside the United States, where many harmless and venomous snakes share red, yellow and black bands. The safest rule is to leave any brightly banded snake alone.

02

Size

01 ft2 ft3 ft4 ft Typical adult · about 27 in (69 cm)

Most adults are about 2 to 2.5 feet long (61–76 cm). Females grow longer than males and can reach nearly 3 feet, while males have proportionally longer tails. The largest on record measured about 4 feet (just over 47 inches). Hatchlings are 7 to 9 inches (18–23 cm) long.

03

Range & habitat

Eastern coral snake crossing pine needles on sandy soil
Fig. 3 — Dry, sandy pinelands with deep, loose soil are typical habitat.

Eastern coral snakes range from southeastern North Carolina south through all of Florida and west to southeastern Louisiana, mostly on the Coastal Plain. They are most common in Florida. They favor well-drained, sandy ground: longleaf pine sandhills, scrub, pine flatwoods, dry oak woods, hammocks and mixed pine-hardwood forest. They avoid low, wet ground and shelter in rotting logs, stumps, leaf litter and animal burrows, including gopher tortoise burrows. Some turn up in suburbs next to natural habitat.

State guides: Florida

04

Diet & predators

Eastern coral snakes eat mostly other reptiles. They hunt by scent, poking through leaf litter, loose soil and burrows for small, secretive snakes such as worm snakes and crowned snakes, along with skinks and legless lizards. Unlike pit vipers, they grab prey and hold on rather than striking and letting go. Frogs and the odd rodent are taken now and then, and coral snakes sometimes eat each other.

Feeds on

  • Small burrowing snakes
  • Skinks
  • Legless lizards
  • Occasional frogs and rodents

Preyed on by

  • Kingsnakes
  • Indigo snakes
  • Racers and coachwhips
  • Hawks and shrikes
Small skink on leaf litter
Prey — skinks.
Eastern kingsnake with black and white chain-like pattern
Predator — eastern kingsnake.

05

Behavior & seasons

This is a highly secretive, burrowing snake that is seldom seen above ground. It is not aggressive and does not strike like a pit viper; bites are rare and usually happen when someone picks one up or steps on it. Its fangs are short and fixed at the front of the mouth, and the old idea that it can only bite between fingers or toes is false.

Coral snakes can be active at any time of year when it is warm enough, with peaks around dawn and dusk and more night activity in hot weather. Most surface sightings come in spring and fall, often after heavy rain soaks the soil. Males are seen more in spring and females more in fall. In cold spells they retreat underground.

06

Reproduction

Courtship and mating take place mainly in late spring, with some in fall. In early to midsummer the female lays about 3 to 12 eggs in a rotting log, stump, burrow or other hidden, moist spot. The eggs take roughly 60 to 80 days to hatch, and the young emerge in late summer or early fall and disperse right away. Males can breed at about 11 to 21 months old and females at about 21 to 27 months.

07

Conservation

The eastern coral snake is not federally listed and remains fairly common in Florida and parts of the Coastal Plain, though it has declined where pine and scrub habitat has been lost to development. At the edges of its range it is rare: it is listed as endangered in North Carolina, where it may not be captured, harmed or kept without a permit, and it is considered imperiled in Louisiana, with no confirmed records there since the 1980s. Habitat loss, road deaths and killing out of fear are the main threats.

08 — Bite safety

If someone is bitten

Eastern coral snake bites are a medical emergency. Every bite needs medical care. Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. For guidance, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. If a pet is bitten, take it to a veterinarian right away.

This page does not give first-aid or treatment instructions. Read our safety disclaimer.

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages