I don't know if
this will help - it's a link to a site about snakes in New Mexico - did you know there are 46 species of snakes in new Mexico, but only 8 are poisonous (7 types of rattlers, and a coral snake...)
Cool, huh? I learned something new today :0)
are there any obvious markers I can use to identify it?
There are lots and lots of snakes that pose no threat. Most of the really bad ones (in the US) (rattlesnakes and moccasins), except for the coral snake (red by black, friend of Jack, red by yellow, kill a fellow) and copperhead (relatively weak venom, rarely fatal), have fat heads and chunky bodies. GO to
this Yahoo! page for lots of links to sites about snakes.