Read “Gardening: The science of sssnakes! » Marco Eagle”

Great post if you fear or are interested in snakes–for those new to the tropics.

The majority of snakes, including the constrictors, are not poisonous yet people fear most of them as if they were. In actuality there is less than one death a year from snakebite in Florida. More people are killed by lightening. The pythons are unlikely to attack a person unless provoked or protecting young. Florida has 37 species of non poisonous snakes and only 6 species which are poisonous. These are the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Pigmy Rattlesnake, Canebrake Rattlesnake, Copperhead, Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin and the Coral Snake. One way to tell venomous vipers from non-poisonous snakes are the eyes. Vipers have vertical slits while non poisonous snakes have round eyes. The poisonous coral snake is an exception. An old jingle which helps differentiate the coral snake from the non poisonous scarlet snake is “red and yellow kill a fellow”. If the red rings touch the yellow, beware!

via Gardening: The science of sssnakes! » Marco Eagle.