Happy Birthday to....

[flakgunner]

hey,

Well,,my Baby Western Fox Snake,will be turning a big!!#1,this week!!
Ripped from the jaws of Death!!Seconds away from being chopped in half!! at the hands of a spaded shovel.The oldest boy who has many Ball Python's,and has a few buddies,who themselves have pythons.It's one buddie who walked out into his back porchmto find his nieghbors ,screaming!!women ,screaming,KILL IT!!men searching for anything that looked like a weapon,the buddie had a good idea ,what was happening,run over and saw this little gem coiled up,no bigger than a half dollar,laying by some empty clay pots.
he was prepared for a Garter snake,and had no idea what this was,so with caution scooped it up into a empty pot,took it home and called my son,he quikly went over and he had no clue ,and quikly brought it to me,it took me all of a fraction of a second ,to know what this little beauty was,still sporting it egg tooth.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//573/medium/backyard_0152.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//573/medium/backyard_0141.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//573/medium/backyard_0131.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//573/medium/backyard_0151.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//573/medium/backyard_011.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//573/medium/backyard_010.jpg

then measuring in at a whopping 12",yesterdays length,coming in at a robust,20 1/2"

Joe

[Stefan-A]

Happy birthday, Mr. Western Fox Snake. :D

[Josh]

may i say your aging well mr snake?

[adamanteus]

Just shows what I know! I would have sworn that was a Great Plains Ratsnake Pantherophis emoryi.

[Stefan-A]

Just shows what I know! I would have sworn that was a Great Plains Ratsnake Pantherophis emoryi.
It crossed my mind, too. But I know even less. It does look more like an Emory's/Great Plains ratsnake than any of the fox snakes I found with google.

[adamanteus]

As you know Stefan, I don't google.......did your search tell you that Fox Snakes have keeled scales and lack the head pattern distinctive to emoryi and guttata?

[Stefan-A]

No, but I noticed the difference the second I entered the words "Pantherophis vulpinus". :D

[adamanteus]

Well, I hate to 'rock the boat' but to me that's P. emoryi.:o

[ssssnakeluvr]

looks like emoryi to me also......

[enigma200316]

Hey Joe love the poetry, and the snake kool also,
no matter what kind it is...I haven't a clue......:D
I'm still trying to figure out all the Garters......lol:o

[GarterGuy]

Well what ever it is, very cool save and glad to hear that it's doing well and many more years to come for him!:D

Roy

[flakgunner]

hey,
keep in mind it's a baby,it hasn't changed colors yet.it's base color will darken,over the next few years.

scroll down on this site(near the bottom),theirs a nice pic of babies hatching.Back in my much younger snake hunting days (70's),I would come across one of these beaut's,a couple times a year,i bet its been a good 20+ years since I had the pleasure of owning one,eastern milk snakes are even harder to find,as far I recall,great plains ,where never found around this area.In Southern Illinois,we would find Black Rat Snakes,in the cliffs ,around Carbondale.

REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS of the Ojibway Prairie Complex - Windsor, Ontario, Canada (http://www.ojibway.ca/herps.htm)

Herpjournal 4-26-03 (http://herpjournal.com/2003/4_26_03/pages/4_26_03.html)

Pantherophis gloydi.jpg: Information from Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/pantherophis-gloydi-jpg)

juvenile,starting to darken.

Pantherophis vulpina.jpg: Information from Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/pantherophis-vulpina-jpg)

at one time it was being claimed that Red Rat Snakes where found,down around that area also,near the Mississippi River,put never was proven,I did have a couple of high school buddies who caught Red Milks down there,but I never had the pleasure of finding one.

Joe

[drache]

happy birthday, little snake
and many more to come
you're very pretty and I'm glad you were saved

[flakgunner]

hey,
we live up by the Wisconsin border:
Elaphe vulpina (http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/herpdist/species/el_vulpina.html)

these are found down state:
Elaphe guttata (http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/herpdist/species/el_guttata.html)

as with most Rat Snakes,what you see at first,is not what you end up with.
there's a reptile meet in 1 1/2 weeks,I'll be going,I need bags of frozen mice,fuzzies,pinkie's.One of the dealers is hoping to bring some Trans Pecos Rat snakes,for me,otherwise maybe a Black Rat snake,but it is getting very difficult to find un-altered snakes,everything showing up,at these shows ,are the designer colors,it took me over 6 months to find a simple Red Rat Snake,I didn't want a morph,hypo,albino,ghost,amber,snowflake.Took me close to a year to acquire a nice simple Yellow Rat.
My son had quite afew of those designer color Rat Snakes,they died,never reaching a year old,My wife had a "Amber" Red Rat snake,it died last week,it was only 7 mos.old,full of tumors, my "normal" Red Rats are all,close to two years old now.
I'am also hoping to find a Red-Sided Gartersnake.
My Baby Baird's Rat snake,it's been touch and go with it,almost lost it a few months ago,each month it gets a little stronger.

Joe

[enigma200316]

hear this is your snake.............:)

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/Pantherophis_guttatus_emoryi.jpg
Pantherophis emoryi put them side by side and there I'd say 99% identical...............but thats just me....I guess there are diff. in every species, but this really does look the snake.....
(Picture By: LA Dawson)

[RZL36]

That thing is really beautiful. Wow. Nice set-up too.

[flakgunner]

hey,
nice pic of a Adult Great Plains Rat,but thier are a few differance noted,in Fox snakes once they reach adult,in the Plains Rat,adults keep their facial stripes,Fox snakes just about loose their stripe as there head changes color,the Plains Rat has a more typical neck found in most Rat snakes,where Fox snakes have a thicker neck,almost in line with their jaws,the Fox snake will loose most if not all of their maroon saddles,to more of a solid choclate brown,sometimes even black,thats why it so important to take many pics of your young Rats snakes,to compare the color changes,as the growup,at times I wished the Fox snakes retain their juvenile colors into adulthood,but they don't.As far as the Rat snake family goes,Fox snakes are the least known,for those that live outside their area,when was the last time you new someone that had one,or seen one at a reptile show?my sister lives in Phoenix,and she watches out for Rat snakes (Trans Pecos & Baird's)and Gartersnake out there for me,never seen one,rarely,does a Garter snake show up ether,but a co-worker of hers as a lead on a pair of true SF Garters,they will be a welcomed addition,seeing how all I can come up with is Plains Garter's.last reptile show I went to had zero Garter's,so I came home with another Yellow Rat.

Joe

Joe

[enigma200316]

kool lots of info and I guess will see many more pics as your snake gets older right.....lol until next birthday then.............:)