These animals usually live to around age 40. Because gopher tortoise habitat is quickly diminishing, they are a threatened species. The Coral Snake is usually 2 to 3 feet long and does not bite readily. It has a black nose and a body encircled by wide red and black rings separated by narrow yellow rings. Several harmless snakes look similar to the coral snake.
Cottonmouth snakes are dark, heavy-bodied semiaquatic snakes that have no rattle.
The eyes of the cottonmouth have vertical pupils. When annoyed, it tends to stand its ground and may gape repeatedly at an intruder, exposing the light cotton lining of its mouth. The Pigmy Rattlesnake is rarely 2 feet long. It is gray-brown with darker blotches and has a tiny rattle on its tail. It's also called a ground rattler.