western fox snake

LC - Least Concern

N5 - Secure

S4 - Apparently Secure

Species in Greatest Conservation Need

Western fox snake is a medium-sized to large, nonvenomous, typical snake. It is one of the four largest snakes in Minnesota. Adults are usually 36″ to 56″ in length.

The body is light brown, yellowish-tan, or gray with an upper (mid-dorsal) row of large blotches and on each side a lateral row of smaller alternating blotches. The blotches are dark brown and are bordered with black. The dorsal blotches on most of the body are wider than long. Toward the head they are long an narrow. On the tail they become rings. On average there are 43 dorsal spots between the head and the anal opening (cloaca). The belly is pale yellow with smaller black or brown markings in an irregular checkerboard pattern. The head is reddish and mostly unmarked. The dorsal scales are weekly keeled and the lateral scales are smooth.

Young snakes have a lighter background color, a dark bar between the eyes, and a dark line from the eye to the back of the jaw.

36″ to 56″

Moist places. Prairies, woodland openings and edges, lowland meadows, river bottoms, and rocky outcroppings near water.

In the spring and fall adults move about during the day. In the hot summer they move about at night. When confronted they will often vibrate their tails producing a buzzing sound. In leaf litter or dry grass the sound resembles that of a rattlesnake. When handled it will often release a musky, fox-like odor, from which it gets its common name.

17 years

Adults emerge in April. Mating occurs from April to July. After mating, the female lays a clutch of 7 to 29, usually about 14, leathery, 1½″ to 2″ long eggs. The eggs hatch in July or August. In October adults overwinter in rocky crevices or man-made structures that extend below the frost line.

Mice and other small rodents, birds, and bird eggs. Young may also eat frogs.

Sources

4, 14, 24, 29, 30, 74, 76, 78.

Common in the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota River valleys, uncommon or absent elsewhere.

Genus
This species was formerly placed in the genus Elaphe. A recent mitochondrial DNA analysis (Utiger, et al., 2006) showed that the genus Elaphe consisted of a common ancestor and most of its descendants, but excluded a few monophyletic subgroups – it was paraphyletic and therefore invalid. The study proposed resurrecting the genus Pantherophis for North American ratsnakes.

Species
This species was formerly thought to be the same species as Pantherophis vulpinus, then known by the common name western fox snake. A recent reevaluation of the foxsnakes (Crother et al., 2011) proposed splitting the species geographically. Those east of the Mississippi River, formerly P. gloydi and P. vulpinus, would be recognized as P. vulpinus, and would have the common name eastern foxsnake. Those west of the Mississippi River, formerly P. vulpinus, would be recognized as the new species P. ramspotti, and would have the common name western foxsnake. The proposal has had mixed reception.

Young western fox snake

Location: Houston County

Location: Silver Lake near Cumberland  Wisconsin

Location: LeSueur County, gravel road outside the Kasota Prairie

Location: Afton State Park

I sighted this fox snake at Afton State Park sunning itself on the path near to main parking lot on September 20th.