HOUSTON -- Houston Zoo officials admit the Texas coral snake barely visible under a log in its display in the Reptile House is actually a rubber replica of the poisonous snake related to the cobra.
The rubber snake, with its red, yellow and black bands, has been on display at the zoo for two years, curator in charge John Donaho said, explaining that the real snakes are difficult to keep alive in captivity.
'We have had live snakes in the exhibit, but they don't do well. They tend to die. Rather than kill snakes, we put out a rubber one for people to be able to see what they look like,' he said.
The display does not acknowledge the snake is a dummy and zoo officials had not either until a tipster called a Houston newspaper and said the snake had not moved in nine months.
The Houston zoo is not alone in its substitutions for the real coral snake.
In Dallas, a photograph is used to show what the reptile looks like. The world-famous San Diego zoo uses the same approach.
'We have a photograph,' said Ardell Mitchell, supervisor of the Dallas Zoo's reptile department, 'and apparently Houston has a dummy, so it's two different ways of attacking the same problem.'
