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Scarlet snake

Cemophora coccinea · Snakes · Reptiles

Scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea): Slender, small to medium snake, 14-20 in (rarely to 32 in), with wide red bands bordered in black, separated by cream, white or light-yellow bands from head to tail. Red, pointed snout and head; plain white or cream belly; smooth glossy scales. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Cemophora coccinea
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
NatureServe lists it in the southeastern and south-central US, from New Jersey and Indiana south to Florida and west to Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas; Texas populations in SREL's account are a separate species (C. lineri). Not recorded for Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Slender, small to medium snake, 14-20 in (rarely to 32 in), with wide red bands bordered in black, separated by cream, white or light-yellow bands from head to tail. [1][2][3][4]

Red, pointed snout and head; plain white or cream belly; smooth glossy scales. [1][2][3][4]

Black bands separate the red bands from the yellow ones, which tells it from a coral snake; the plain white or cream belly separates it from scarlet kingsnakes and milksnakes, whose pattern extends onto the belly. [1][2][3][4]

Compared with the scarlet kingsnake: Its bands encircle the whole body including the belly; scarlet snake has a plain white belly. [1][2][3][4]

Compared with the eastern coral snake: North Carolina WRC: scarlet snakes have black bands separating the wide red bands from the yellow bands, unlike coral snakes. [1][2][3][4]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a scarlet snake before you act. Compared with the scarlet kingsnake: Its bands encircle the whole body including the belly; scarlet snake has a plain white belly.[1][2][3][4]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Pine or hardwood forest and woodland and adjacent open areas with sandy or loamy well-drained soil; also fields, grassy edges and roadsides near woods; found under logs, rocks, leaf litter or boards. [1][2][3][4]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Nocturnal and secretive; spends most time underground or under cover and is seen mostly crossing roads on warm summer nights, especially after rain; surface activity mostly May-September, peaking June-July. [1][2][3][4]

Eats mainly reptile eggs, pierced with enlarged rear teeth, plus small lizards, snakes, frogs and mice. [1][2][3][4]

Lays 2-9 elongated white eggs underground in summer. [1][2][3][4]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

NatureServe lists it in the southeastern and south-central US, from New Jersey and Indiana south to Florida and west to Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas; Texas populations in SREL's account are a separate species (C. lineri). Not recorded for Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

  3. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia

  4. BIOLOGICALScarlet Snake

    North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · reviewed 2026-09-30

    North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission