Scarlet Snake

(Cemophora coccinea)

"Northern Scarlet Snake"

Color Photograph: Jeff Boundy, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Scarlet Snake (Cemophora coccinea)

Identification: Length 14 to 32 inches. An eastern, banded snake. Widest bands are red interspersed with gray-white bands margined with black. Bands do not completely circle the body, but are terminated by a completely gray-white ventral surface. Head red with a yellow band at the base of the neck. Anal plate single and scales smooth.

Geographical Variation:

Florida Scarlet Snake (C. c. coccinea): Black bands extend downward to first or second scale rows; 7 upper lip scales; first black band does not reach the parietal scales. Range: Florida peninsula.

Northern Scarlet Snake (C. c. copei): Black bands extend downward to first or second scale rows; 6 upper lip scales; first black band reached parietals. Range: New Jersey southward to northern Florida and westward to eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas.

Texas Scarlet Snake (C. c. lineri): The black bands do not extend downward further than the third scale row; the red bands are not margined with black below. Range: Southeastern Texas.

Range (see map on left): The Scarlet Snake occurs throughout the southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states from southern New Jersey in the north to Florida in the south. The range extends westward to eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Texas.

Habitat: This species occurs in a variety of forested lands including hardwood, mixed, and pine forests. It prefers well drained sandy or loamy soils.

Food: The Scarlet Snake seems to prefer the eggs of other snake and lizard species.

Behavior: This species burrows and is primarily nocturnal, although it is occasionally found below rotting logs or rocks.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 3 to 8 elongate eggs. The young snakes appear in middle summer.

Scarlet Snake (Cemophora coccinea)

Similar Species:

Eastern Coral Snake (Micrurus fulvius)

Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum)