Baby Coral Snake on Nose

09.11.2006 - This is a juvenile hatchling Eastern Coral Snake. It's probably a month old at most. Whereas some snakes will constantly slither all over the place, corals will often hold still in one position. I was in a good mood, so I decided to drape it over my nose. I sent this photo to a friend, who claimed that I must be crazy, as he had heard that the venom of juvenile snakes is more potent than that of adults. I replied that I do not think this is true. The composition of the venom does not change over the lifetime of the reptile. Although it is true that the neurotoxic venom of the Coral Snake is the most potent venom in North America by volume, a baby snake like this simply has less venom than an adult. I do not know if a full envenomation from a juvenile like this one could result in the fatality of a careless human adult. Regardless, I felt safe, because it's the delivery mechanism that really counts. For example, a pit viper like a cottonmouth or rattlesnake, even a hatchling, is capable of easily injecting venom - they have fangs like hypodermic needles, the ability to actively inject venom, lightning speed and an aggressive nature. Coral snakes, on the other mouth, have small fixed fangs, no ability to actively inject venom (it must "drip" down grooves in the fangs to the bite area), less speed, and a non-aggressive nature. After handling this snake for a while, it appeared very docile and nose-hangworthy. And after all, look at the mouth on that thing (the snake, not my cocksure smirk). It's too tiny to bite a fly. How is a mouth like that going to get around and through any of my gruff and tuff human skin? No way. So while a self-proclaimed responsible bloke might go about saying "don't try this at home", I actively encourage all of my readers to go out and find deadly Coral Snakes and drape them across the face. It's the reasonable thing to do.