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View Full Version : Possibly albino Eastern Coral Snake.

maxxum25
09-30-12, 04:57 PM
Before anyone flames me. I did not kill this snake. I am a Deputy Sheriff that responded to a call and found a 12-13 year old carrying it down the road. he thought it was a King snake and argued with me for several minutes. The coloration was unlike any other Coral snake I have seen. Living in Central Florida for most of my life I have seen lots of Corals. Anyway, any ideas , is this an albino ?
Hannibalcanibal
09-30-12, 05:04 PM
Amelanistic, possibly. haven't seen anything like that either. deff not a king. the kid should really be talked to, if a eight year old is playing with coral snakes, only bad things can happen. you probably already did this, but talking to the parents is probably a good idea.
maxxum25
09-30-12, 05:12 PM
I spent more than an hour chastising both the kid and his ignorant father. The Father argued with me, in front of his kid that it was a Kingsnake. I finally pulled up a picture on my Iphone and he conceded. The area they live in has more Corals than anywhere I know of. I hate to see people kill snakes. Anyway I was curious as to whether anyone had ever seen one like this.
etc
09-30-12, 05:24 PM
Definitely a coral snake.
millertime89
09-30-12, 05:44 PM
definitley a coral snake, possibly amelanistic like hannibalcanibal said above, however I think its far more likely (and a google search seems to agree with me) that its just in shed. This means that the snake is potentially even more likely to bite because it can't see very well with its skin all cloudy. That said I've read that coral snakes are generally pretty reluctant to bite, not that that makes a difference.
Aanayab1
09-30-12, 05:52 PM
It is beautiful. I lived in Florida until I was 23 and have seen many corals but none like this specimen. Snake killers make me sad, unless safety or dinner is involved.
jhinton6932
09-30-12, 06:12 PM
pretty sure its in mid-shed
maxxum25
09-30-12, 07:47 PM
Mid shed was my first thought, but it has no black pigment anywhere on it. It is definitely lacking pigment. I have reached out to some local herpetologists from The University of Florida, they are only 15 mins from here. I'm gonna get them the snake so we know for sure.
StudentoReptile
09-30-12, 11:25 PM
Could be hypomelanistic, if not amelanistic.

Certainly a loss. :(
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I'm confused though...at the risk of launching another long-winded discussion about the general layman killing snakes out of ignorance.....maybe I'm missing something here: they thought it was a kingsnake and killed it anyway? or was that just an excuse?
BarelyBreathing
09-30-12, 11:47 PM
Definitely a coral. If that's not shed, it's amazing.
RobsCornField
10-01-12, 01:10 AM
Definitely a coral. I agree with what StudentoReptile said above in that it's more likely hypomelanistic. Even in shed, I've never seen a coral with the black that light.
Jlassiter
10-01-12, 01:16 AM
It could be hypomelanistic or Tyrosinase positive (T+) or Lavender.

Very cool...I've seen pictures of amel Corals and this is not amelanistic and does not have the absence of melanin.
RossCA
10-01-12, 12:14 PM
Either hypo or T positive, its first one I know of. Here's a T positive Nelson's milksnake.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2v9u4ow.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/attachments/general-venomous-forum/20972d1349045840-possibly-albino-eastern-coral-snake-coral-snake.jpg
Jlassiter
10-01-12, 02:46 PM
I agree Ross!
a153fish
10-01-12, 04:56 PM
I agree with Ross and John, definitely T+ or hypo, but I'm leaning toward T+. What a beautiful animal it was!
maxxum25
10-02-12, 05:37 AM
The kid killed it just because it was a snake. When I pulled up he said "check out this Kingsnake" . He thought it was a Kingsnake but killed it anyway. The Florida museum of natural history wants the snake. I am making arrangements to get it to them. The gentleman I talked to believes it is amelanistic based on the photos. They will take tissue samples for DNA.
RossCA
10-02-12, 10:56 AM
Wow, they believe its amelanistic based on that photo? LOL Who ever made that comment has obviously never seen an amelanistic Coral snake. This snake is better, because its probably the only T positiv/hypo ever found. I'm sure many people will appreciate you turning the snake in to be documented. Just a photo or video of the snake would have still left questions. Kind of like the Patterson footage of bigfoot. lol
RossCA
10-02-12, 11:07 AM
Is there any way you can get a bigger picture of this snake?
maxxum25
10-02-12, 06:26 PM
I still have the snake in my freezer. I can take more pics of it before I meet the Herp. guy from UF. I will meet him later this week I guess. I have some others I took when I took it from the kid in question.
maxxum25
10-02-12, 06:36 PM
here are some more pics I took.
Ivanator
10-02-12, 07:49 PM
Such a horrible loss. That's an insanely beautiful snake and even more insane that it was found in the wild.

I agree that it does not look amelanistic though. It doesn't look like the melanin is completely gone, just greatly diminished. Could just be my computer monitor though.
RossCA
10-02-12, 08:51 PM
I still have the snake in my freezer. I can take more pics of it before I meet the Herp. guy from UF. I will meet him later this week I guess. I have some others I took when I took it from the kid in question.

That would be great. Thanks for these additional pictures. Once the Florida museum gets this snake, they will place it in a liquid (forgot what its called) to preserve it and with time the true colors will fade out. Once its at the museum, I doubt we'll see any more pictures of it.