Coral Snake Vs Milk Snake: Difference Between Venomous Snakes Revealed

Coral snakes and milk snakes belong to the scarlet species of snakes.

These snakes may look alike, but apart from their strikingly mirroring appearances, they are not similar. They can both be found in forests and share similar habitats.

Snakes are terrifyingly aesthetic creatures. The body of this animal, limbless and slick, is like adorned canvases at the mercy of the world's most artistically messy minds. Snakes exist in so many species, your fingers and toes together couldn't possibly count them.

If you've ever wanted to study even one, do not take your eyes off this article, for it speaks of two contrastingly mirroring creatures, coral snakes and milksnakes. These belong to the same species but come from different subspecies. To uneducated eyes, these snakes will look the same.

Coral snakes, found largely in the Southeastern regions of the US, are venomous reptiles that, surprisingly enough, do not like to attack victims, unless they're hungry and in real need of food, in which case they will grab their prey without much sympathy.

Yep, they're shy and are likely to crawl away from whatever hasn't harmed them before they can do so.

Milk snakes, though, are not poisonous, but they are provenly more aggressive than their twin and will attack if they sense even a little bit of threat from someone or something.

While coral snakes have the advantage of paralyzing someone with their venom, milk snakes have the strength to wrap their bodies around their victims, even humans, till they have satisfactorily strangled them to death - if they so wish.

Milk snakes also have a much larger geographical imprint, for they range from the north to down south, and are most greatly spotted in North America.

Afterward, you can also read about seal vs sea lion and mongoose vs cobra.

What is the difference between coral snake vs milk snake?

Coral snakes and milk snakes look a lot alike. It is not too hard to mistake them for the other. But, there are some factors, physical and behavioral, as well as bodily traits, that distinguish these crawling species.

A key distinction between milk snakes and coral snakes is that only the latter is venomous, while the other remains non-poisonous and thereby poses less of a threat.

The bodies of milk snakes and venomous coral snakes are mainly red in color, an easy way to make the common mistake of interchanging the two. The alternating bands on these snakes have a different color sequence despite the same colors.

More accurately, these are two different canvas paintings sketched using the same colored paints.

In the case of milk snakes, there are uncoordinated splashes of blotchy red touch, bordered just as unevenly with black, and these thin black portions are what keep the red from touching the remaining pale yellow patches on this animal.

To summarise it simply, a milk snake is red, black, and yellow in color, and the black acts a separation that never lets the red touch the yellow. A coral snake, on the other hand, is not so much of an artistically messed sketch.

Though chalked in the same colors of red bands and black bands, the yellow bands on this snake are a lot darker, and the divisions of this tricolored snake are a lot neater. Most importantly, the band of red touches the yellow band, and this red touches black as well, unlike on a coral snake.

Thus, the red, black, and yellow on a coral snake do touch.

Milk snakes are a couple of feet or so longer than coral snakes, which makes the kingsnake more dominant in length and easier to tell apart.

In fact, there's a small poem that always helps differentiate these species, 'Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, friendly jack.' The first part refers to a coral snake, while the latter half speaks about milk snakes.

How can I tell if it's a coral snake?

A very common mistake humans could make is being unaware of how to distinguish a venomous coral snake from a non-venomous kingsnake. It is vital to know how to tell apart these red, black, and yellow-shaded wild snakes when exploring wildlife.

Firstly, a milk snake is not venomous, just like all other kingsnakes. A coral snake, on the other hand, is very venomous and therefore, could be very dangerous.

A coral snake has a black face, it is as dark as a starless night, so it's nearly impossible to even be able to see its eyes. A milk snake has patches of yellow running across its body, and unlike a coral's darker and vivid bands, this shade is so light that it almost appears white.

Second, you can also sometimes tell these snakes apart not just based on their coloration, but also how they deal with their prey. A venomous coral snake will bite its prey and inject in them the poison from their fangs. A milk snake will constrict its prey rather than using the venom that a coral snake would use.

Thirdly, a milk snake's length is longer than a coral snake's length, another physical characteristic used for contrast.

Lastly, recognizing a king from the toxic and dangerous coral is also possible by studying their habitat and choice of diet. However, this is a little harder to do considering how both subspecies can be found residing in forests, and even their preys are similar. Their diet consists of a range of lizards, frogs, other snakes, and more.

Are coral snakes more aggressive than milk snakes?

Coral snakes are not more aggressive than milk snakes. There is no definite answer devised after a dedicated comparison of the two in this sense.

Corals are poisonous, they are toxic, they do bite. Milk snakes are not poisonous, but they do strangle their victims to death.

So, who is more aggressive - the milk snake, or the coral?

As contrasting as it may sound in relation to its venomous nature, it has been discovered that coral snakes do not especially crawl up around you to attack you they do just the opposite by keeping away, for they are some kind of shy.

Unless, of course, you bother them, because then they are forced to defend themselves by attacking you.

Milk snakes, though, tend to be a bit more aggressive than coral snakes. They do not shy away, they will get angry if even threatened to be bothered, so it is best to keep away unless one wishes to be choked to a slow death.

Is coral snake more venomous than milk snake?

Yes, a coral snake is more venomous than a milk snake. Now, why is that? Milk snakes are not venomous!

Kingsnakes are all non-venomous snakes. So, naturally, a coral snake is way more lethal when it comes to venom.

It is very useful to know just what a coral bite can do to you. A coral snake's venom is not toxic enough to kill a human completely, this is proved by studied reports of these cases. But, one must not underestimate a bite from coral snakes.

Next time you're out exploring in the wild and come across a coral snake, you'll know what to do - avoid it, don't bother it, and if it bites you, seek urgent medical attention.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions forcoral snake vs milk snake,then why not take a look atdo birds fart, orinteresting facts about diamonds.