Snakes are highly diverse creatures. There are over 3500 snake species in the world, and among other things, they also vary in color and skin patterns. This variation makes it hard to distinguish among species or classify the snakes in terms of their looks.
There are several black snakes with yellow bands, but they have different traits that set them apart from the others. Their shape and patterns are often more indicative of whether the snakes are venomous or non-venomous. Contrary to expectations, the majority of those snakes are harmless to people.
Keep reading to learn more about the habits and the areas where these yellow-banded black snakes live. I will discuss seven species of snakes with black and yellow representatives. In this article, you will also learn how dangerous to humans each of the species is.
What Kinds of Snakes Are Black With Yellow Bands?
Snakes of the same species can vary in color when found in a separate region or even at a different stage of life. The dominating snake colors are black, red, yellow, and iridescent. Black is the color most often used in the formation of snakeskin patterns.
Here are some black snake species with yellow bands:
Mangrove Snake (Boiga dendrophila)
This mildly venomous snake can be found mostly in southeast Asia. It is also called the yellow-ringed cat snake. It is black with 40 to 50 narrow bright yellow bands. It comes out at night to hunt small animals, including lizards, birds, and rodents. It is often aggressive, so you should never approach it if you see it.
Western Mangrove Cat Snake (Boiga melanota)
This is another Boiga snake distinguished by its contrasting yellow rings on a black skin surface. It has only recently been considered a separate species from the Mangrove snake. It is mildly venomous and nocturnal. The Western mangrove cat snake is among the longest snakes in the world, being around 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) long.
Banded Krait (Bungarus fasciatus)
This snake has alternate black and yellow crossbands around the body. It lives in southeast Asia. It usually avoids meeting people by coming out at night to hunt.
The banded krait is not aggressive. On the contrary, it is somewhat defensive and shy. Although it is venomous, it is little likely to use venom against humans. Simply said, it has the power to kill a person, but it doesn’t like to use it often.
Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula)
Eastern kingsnakes are a North American snake species. They are black snakes with yellow bands. They are also called chain kingsnakes because the yellow bands connect along the sides, resembling a chain.
Kingsnakes are active almost exclusively by day. They kill by constricting rather than by poisoning the prey. They can be beneficial because they tend to attack and eat venomous snakes. Kingsnakes can be tamed and therefore kept as pets.
Texas Coral Snake (Micrurus fulvius tenere)
There is a famous scout rhyme referring to the coral snake. It goes like this ‘If red touches the yellow, it will kill the fellow. If red touches the black, all is well for Jack’.
Besides being only black and yellow, the Texas coral snake has coral and red bands across the body. However, sometimes, the red pattern can fully fade into yellowish orange. This snake is notorious for its venomous and painful bite.
Garter snake (Colubridae thamnophis)
Colubridae is a large snake family found in North America. Although some snakes in this family are venomous, most of them are not lethal. The garter snake is relatively small and harmless.
A large number of these snakes are black and yellow. However, the yellow-striped pattern is formed by longitudinal stripes going along, not across, the body. The snake can have one or three long stripes at the sides.
Tiger Rat Snake (Spilotes pullatus)
It is also known as a chicken snake or yellow rat snake. It can be found living in tall trees in Central and South America. This snake is rather large but non-venomous. The black and yellow spots may form crossbands. The back is black with yellow crossbands, while the belly is yellow with black crossbands.
Color Patterns of Yellow-Banded Black Snakes
According to the patterns, snake species can be classified into five groups:
- Blotches
- Transverse stripes
- Longitudinal stripes
- Unicolor
- Speckles
Striped snakes are considered those with either longitudinal or transverse stripes. Transverse stripes merge into a uniform pattern when the snake moves fast. This makes it more difficult to be spotted by a predator.
Slower and larger snakes have more stripes to achieve a visual flickering that would disrupt the predator’s vision. They use a specific type of camouflage through disruption of form. Such snakes are most notably the mangrove snake, western mangrove snake, banded krait, eastern kingsnake, and Texas coral snake.
Longitudinal stripes are found on diurnal, fast-moving slender snakes. The stripes help them look invisible to the praying birds in daylight. These snakes are usually smaller than average and with an incredibly rapid escape speed.
Their primary weapon is not being invisible through camouflage but being visible yet able to escape the predator. This type of snakes include the garter snake and the tiger rat snake.
Are Black Snakes With Yellow Stripes Poisonous?
There are black snakes with yellow stripes that are poisonous. However, some yellow-banded black snakes are harmless to people.
You cannot attribute any specific characteristics to yellow-banded black snakes just because of their appearance. Some morphological characteristics are more important than their color when classifying snakes as either venomous or non-venomous.
Brightly colored animals are usually a threat to humans. The bright coloration is the animal’s warning sign to signal other animals that they should not be eaten or attacked. One would expect that yellow-banded black snakes are dangerous because of their highly-contrasted pattern.
However, sometimes this warning signal can be false. Animals and people may wrongfully assume that a snake is venomous when in reality, it just visually appears as such. We cannot label snakes as venomous only by means of their color.
Final Thoughts
A layman’s eye cannot easily distinguish between venomous and nonvenomous snakes. The color variation makes it difficult to pinpoint the dangerous snakes from afar. It is safe to say you better avoid all snakes in the wild, just in case.