Oh my gosh this is a wild snake isn't it....

I got a call that there was a snake up at the library in town. I was out riding my motorcycle and just stopped by thinking it was going to be a bull snake or some other obviously native Iowan snake. Well, I find what I thought was a corn snake, which should not be loose in Iowa. I bring him back home and look up pictures of native snakes and find the fox snake is pretty darn similar. If he's a wild snake I'm going to freak out a little, I don't just go picking up wild snakes, and he was very calm and in perfect condition!

I really hope he's a corn snake so I don't feel like an idiot for picking up a protected species :slamhead:
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../other/088.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../other/089.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../other/090.jpg

Pretty sure thats not a corn... I'm prob wrong though...lol

Can you take better pic of the face in better lighting? That would be a dead give away if you could! Thanks!

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Originally Posted by reptiliachnids

Can you take better pic of the face in better lighting? That would be a dead give away if you could! Thanks!

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I'll work on it. The head was what threw me off. It's more or less solid colored, his eyes are yellow, not sure that means anything. Gosh dang it, figures he's a wild snake. At least he won't get murdered by people that are freaked out. I'll take him far out of town tomorrow morning and let him loose.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ther/003-3.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ther/001-5.jpg

Definitely not a corn...I think you're right with fox snake.

Either way, he's a looker.

And off topic: What bike were you riding?

http://img.tapatalk.com/a6b65035-3760-fda8.jpg

Not sure if the picture will post, but this is her. 250 ninja

Sent from my SCH-R930 using Tapatalk 2

Def not a corn. i found this picture on google does it look like this one?

http://www.tallgrassontario.org/_der...rnFoxSnake.gif

Good stuff. I've never ridden a sports bike, but I've been riding the heck out of my 750 shadow lately. I don't think I've been in my car for over two weeks now.

I take it you all won't be at the St. Louis show this weekend? (hey it's not THAT far)

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Originally Posted by Virus

I take it you all won't be at the St. Louis show this weekend? (hey it's not THAT far)

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11 ish hours is too far for me haha.

Cananda isn't that far.

Then again, It's still over three hours for me, and I'll be driving after a 12 hour shift at work. Yay.



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Oh, also. Stop breaking the law by stealing wild snakes.

:D:D:Dlooks like a corn snake to me.

I'd say it's a fox snake. Incredibly common. Here's one I found last year here in north central Illinois.

http://img.tapatalk.com/a69363dc-482e-85e3.jpg


<---Signature--->
Snakes, Jeeps, Dragons, Nature, & Knives.. Makes my world go-round!

Yes, what you have there is a Western Fox Snake - Elaphe vulpina.

The Eastern Fox snake is threatened and protected here in MI and only found around lakes Erie and Huron, but the Western subspecies is more common and it ranges from western Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota. Their ranges do not overlap.

This snake looks, and can act, very much like a Massasauga (or Michigan rattlesnake). They are generally a very docile species but they will hiss and shake their tails when threatened and their tails do make a bit of a rattling sound despite not having a rattle. Because of the similarity in behavior and appearance to a rattlesnake, many people will kill a fox snake if they come across one thinking that it is venomous. You should be glad you took him away from the library before some fool chopped his head off!!!

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Originally Posted by reptiliachnids

Def not a corn. i found this picture on google does it look like this one?

http://www.tallgrassontario.org/_der...rnFoxSnake.gif

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Yep, just like it!

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Originally Posted by Virus

Good stuff. I've never ridden a sports bike, but I've been riding the heck out of my 750 shadow lately. I don't think I've been in my car for over two weeks now.

I take it you all won't be at the St. Louis show this weekend? (hey it's not THAT far)

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I haven't rode anything other than sport bikes and endros. I won't be going :( I'm getting married next month and I always have something wedding related to do. I'm so ready to be done with it all!

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Originally Posted by suzuki4life

:D:D:Dlooks like a corn snake to me.

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I know, he really does look like a corn snake! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought that!

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Yes, what you have there is a Western Fox Snake - Elaphe vulpina.

The Eastern Fox snake is threatened and protected here in MI and only found around lakes Erie and Huron, but the Western subspecies is more common and it ranges from western Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota. Their ranges do not overlap.

This snake looks, and can act, very much like a Massasauga (or Michigan rattlesnake). They are generally a very docile species but they will hiss and shake their tails when threatened and their tails do make a bit of a rattling sound despite not having a rattle. Because of the similarity in behavior and appearance to a rattlesnake, many people will kill a fox snake if they come across one thinking that it is venomous. You should be glad you took him away from the library before some fool chopped his head off!!!

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I was thinking, oh please don't tell me he's a corn snake because I let him go this morning, lol. When I looked up the fox snake on Iowa's environmental site I read that it was a protected species and it's illegal to kill or collect the snake...but I was hoping that if I got caught I wouldn't be in too much trouble since I was planning to let him loose somewhere safe! I am glad I took him because he was rattling his tail and I'm sure people would have killed him in a heart beat!


I took a couple more pictures before I let him go this morning
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ther/005-1.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ther/004-2.jpg

Even though it's technically illegal to collect them, I believe you did the right thing by removing him from the library. Strictly speaking, you may have been in the wrong in the eyes of the law, but sometimes we actually know better! That snake was better off being removed from a location where he might have gotten in trouble and then released somewhere safe! :gj:

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Even though it's technically illegal to collect them, I believe you did the right thing by removing him from the library. Strictly speaking, you may have been in the wrong in the eyes of the law, but sometimes we actually know better! That snake was better off being removed from a location where he might have gotten in trouble and then released somewhere safe! :gj:

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I'm so glad you agree! Even if I had known right then that he was a fox snake I still would have picked him up. If someone didn't kill him with their own two hands they would have with their car. I hate when people tell me that they saw a snake and ran over it, then backed over it again to make sure it was dead. Why would I, of all people, be happy/ok with that. Ugh. If it was a rattle snake or something really dangerous I wouldn't be as upset, bc I understand people being legitimately scared, but here in Iowa you can almost guarantee that every snake is harmless.