Black on yellow kill a fellow? I always forget how that goes. . .

Pretty sure this is the Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake(non-venomous); they supposedly have this distinctive white snout. The Coral snake seems to have a much more distinct striping pattern.

That's a beauty!

It's a mountain king. Arizona Coral Snakes are a pretty rare species, and you'd be really lucky to see one when out, and about.

FYI: I've heard that although the Arizona Coral Snakes venmon is twice as powerful as a rattlesnake, their venom is much less dangerous due to their very small size; small mouth, small fangs.

Check out the following-
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/tony_bubb/105840962

If the red touches the yellow it's a coral snake. The black between means it is not.

The red touches yellow rhyme doesn't really apply much in the west; We have non-venomous snakes with that coloration pattern.

Although the coral snake has a high toxicity, they are a rear fanged snake, unlike rattlers whos fangs are right up front.

Not to call you out Andrew as we're buddy I just want to make sure people have correct information when dealing with snakes that can be this deadly. That is an AZ Mountain King in the picture and a very cool siting! I call those 40 hour snakes, meaning if you could out looking it's going to take you 40 hours to find one compared to maybe 1 hour when it comes to a diamondback.

As for the Coral, it's a fixed front fang snake in the same family (Elapidae) as the cobra, sea snakes, adder and so on. From what I know the only deaths that have ever come from a Micruroides are the larger Easterns as the ones we would see in the SW are very small, normally under a foot and a half.

Whit that said, these snakes are VERY rare to see in the wild, very secretive and normally only found at night. I have spend 1,000s of hours on the roads, hiking and looking for snakes and have never seen one. I have seen Banded sand snakes, Gilas, and a huge list of other uncommon reptiles but never a Coral. SO while you would have to really try to get bitten I also wouldn't play with them.

PS They also make a very odd popping sound though I've never heard it.

Really Gigette?
I thought "Red to Yellow, Kill a Fellow.
Red to Black, Venom Lack" was rock solid.

"when red touches yellow, he's a dangerous fellow, when red touches black, he won't attack"

Kind of funny how everyone learned it differently. For me it was: "Red on yellow, kills a fellow, red on black is a friend of jack."