Out & About San Diego with Jim Frimmer, Your Mission Valley Realtor — Lizards and Snakes: Alive! at the San Diego Natural History Museum

Lizards and Snakes: Alive!
at the
San Diego Natural History Museum

I don't mind lizards so much, but I'm really not a big fan of snakes. However, as long as the snakes are behind glass, I can at least tolerate them.

Over at the San Diego Natural History Museum is an exhibit running through April 3, 2011, called Lizards and Snakes: Alive! Yes, I did go, and yes, the exhibit was well worth it, especially since you pay to get into the Museum, so you also get to see all of their many other exhibits, the permanent displays and the touring exhibits, such as All that Glitters: The Splendor and Science of Gems and Minerals.

If you get a little squeamish looking at pictures of lizards and snakes, skip this post and click on All that Glitters to see some beautiful butterflies worth many thousands of dollars.

Be forewarned!

First up is the hind end of a gecko lizard:

Look at those toes! That little guy was stuck to the glass with those toes, upside down at that. Here is the same litttle guy's head:

This next one is a snake, the cabon viper. Look closely or you'll miss him.

Vipers are venomous snakes and most of them have live young. According to Wikipedia, all vipers have more than 100 young ones at a time. Yoweee! Here is a closer look at the cabon viper's head:

This next one is the red spitting cobra, also a venomous species. It was a very beautiful red, and according to Wikipedia, it actually sprays its venom (I guess that could be called spitting) which, if it gets in your eyes, can cause intense pain and blindness.

Our next one is either a coral snake or a milk snake. Do you know which? I'll tell you after the picture because I didn't know either.

According to Wikipedia, coral snakes have the most potent venom of any North American snake, followed by the Mojave rattlesnake.

The easy way to tell the difference between a milk snake and a coral snake is by the bands. In coral snakes, the yellow band will be the thinnest. In the milk snake, the black band will be the thinnest.

Looked at a different way, if the red and yellow bands are separated by a black band, it's a milk snake and you're okay. If the red and yellow bands touch each other, it's a coral snake. Steer clear. Also memorize this little rhyme for coral snakes and the red and yellow bands together: "Red and yellow will kill a fellow."