Masticophis flagellum

Masticophis flagellum is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snakes commonly referred to as coachwhips or whip snakes, with seven recognized subspecies.

Geographical range

Coachwhips range throughout the southern United States from coast to coast. They are also found in the northern half of Mexico. Typically, they are found in open grassland habitats, but can also be found in lightly forested areas.

Western coachwhip
Masticophis flagellum testaceus

Description

Coachwhips are thin-bodied snakes with small heads and large eyes with round pupils. They vary greatly in color, but most reflect a proper camouflage for their natural habitat. M. f. testaceus is typically a shade of light brown with darker brown flecking, but in the western area of Texas, where the soil color is a shade of pink, the coachwhips are also pink in color. M. f. piceus was given its common name because specimens frequently, but not always, have some red in their coloration. Coachwhip scales are patterned so at first glance, the snake appears braided. Subspecies can be difficult to distinguish in areas where their ranges overlap. Adult sizes of over 160 cm (63 in) are not uncommon.

Behavior

Coachwhips are diurnal, and actively hunt and eat lizards, small birds, and rodents. They tend to be sensitive to potential threats, and often bolt at the first sign of one; they are extremely fast-moving snakes. They are curious snakes with good eyesight, and are sometimes seen raising their heads above the level of the grass or rocks to see what is around them.

Masticophis flagellum, in shed

Myths

The primary myth concerning coachwhips, that they chase people, likely arises from the snake and the person both being frightened, and both just happen to be going the same way to escape. Coachwhips are fast snakes, often moving faster than a human, and thus give an impression of aggression should they move toward the person.

The legend of the hoop snake may refer to the coachwhip snakes.

Another myth of the rural southeastern United States is of a snake that, when disturbed, would chase a person down, wrap him up in its coils, whip him to death with its tail, and then make sure he is dead by sticking its tail up the victim's nose to see if he is still breathing. In actuality, coachwhips are nowhere near strong enough to overpower a person, and they do not whip with their tails, even though it is long and looks very much like a whip. Their bites can be painful, but generally are harmless unless they become infected.

Masticophis flagellum

Masticophis flagellum

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Eastern indigo snake(Drymarchon couperi)

The Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi) is a large nonvenomous snake with an even blue-black coloration, with some specimens having a reddish-orange to tan color on the throat, cheek and chin. This smooth- scaled snake is considered to be the largest native snake species in the United States with the longest recorded specimen measuring 9.2 feet (2.8 m). The Eastern Indigo Snake gets its name from the glossy iridescent blackish-purple sheen it displays in bright light.

Eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi)

Food habits and behavior

The Eastern Indigo Snake is carnivorous, like all snakes, and will eat any other small animal it can overpower. It has been known to kill its prey by wildly beating it against nearby objects. Captive specimen are frequently fed dead prey to prevent injury to the snake from this violent method of subduing its prey. Its diet has been known to include other snakes (ophiophagy), including venomous ones, as it is immune to the venom of the North American rattlesnakes. Eastern Indigo Snakes eat turtles, lizards, frogs, toads, a variety of small birds and mammals, and eggs.[2][4]

As defensive behavior the Eastern Indigo Snake vertically flattens its neck, hisses, and vibrates its tail. If picked up, it seldom bites.[6]

It often will cohabit with gopher tortoises in their underground burrows, although it will settle for armadillo holes, hollow logs, and debris piles when gopher tortoise burrows can't be found. Hunters, hoping to flush out rattlesnakes, often wind up accidentally killing Indigo Snakes when they illegally pour gasoline into the burrows of gopher tortoises (a practice referred to as "gassing"), even though the tortoises themselves are endangered and protected.

 Preferred habitat

Eastern Indigo Snakes frequent flatwoods, hammocks, dry glades, stream bottoms, cane fields, riparian thickets, and high ground with well-drained, sandy soils.[2] In Georgia, snakes prefer excessively drained, deep sandy soils along major streams, as well as xeric sandridge habitats.[3] Xeric slash pine plantations seem to be preferred over undisturbed longleaf pine habitats.[4] Habitat selection varies seasonally. From December to April Eastern Indigo Snakes prefer sandhill habitats; from May to July snakes shift from winter dens to summer territories; from August through November they are located more frequently in shady creek bottoms than during other seasons.[5]

The Eastern Indigo Snake is most abundant in the sandhill plant communities of Florida and Georgia. These communities are primarily scrub oak-longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) with occasional live oak (Quercus virgianiana), laurel oak (Q. laurifolia), Chapman's oak (Q. chapmanii), and myrtle oak (Q. myrtifolia). Other communities include longleaf pine-turkey oak (Q. laevis), slash pine (Pinus elliottii)-scrub oak, pine flatwoods, and pine-mesic hardwoods.

 Cover requirements

Because the cover requirements of Eastern Indigo Snakes change seasonally, maintaining corridors that link the different habitats used is important. From the spring through fall snakes must be able to travel from sandhill communities and upland pine-hardwood communities to creek bottoms and agricultural fields.[5] In winter Indigo Snakes den in gopher tortoise burrows, which are usually found in open pine forests with dense herbaceous understories.[4] Burrows need to be in areas where there is no flooding. Eastern Indigo Snakes heavily use debris piles left from site-preparation operations on tree plantations.[4] These piles are often destroyed for cosmetic reasons but should be left intact because they provide important hiding cover for both the snake and its prey. Summer home ranges for the Indigo Snake can be as large as 273 acres (229 ha)

The eastern indigo snake is the largest snake in North America.

 

 

Reproduction

Eastern Indigo Snakes are oviparous.[7] The eggs are 75–100 mm (3-4 in.) long by 27–32 mm (1-1¼ in.) wide. Only 5-6 eggs are laid. The hatchlings are 600–700 mm (23½-27½ in.) long.[8]


 Captivity and care

Due to its generally docile nature and attractive appearance, some people find it a desirable pet, although its protected status can make owning one, depending on location, illegal without a permit. Only a few states require permits to own an Eastern Indigo Snake but a federal permit is required to buy one from out of state anywhere in the US. The permit costs $100; information about obtaining one can be found by doing a web search. Most states allow unrestricted in-state sales. To thrive in captivity, this snake requires a larger enclosure than most species do, preferably with something to climb on.

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RED TAILED RACER (Gonyosoma oxycephalum)

The Red-tailed Green Ratsnake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) is a species of snake found in Southeast Asia. It is a thin snake with powerful and rough scales on its belly, ideal for climbing and moving in trees. It has smaller, smooth scales on its back.

As its name indicates, the snake has a green body with a red tail (usually brownish), and it also has a dark line horizontally across its eye. On the sides of its black tongue there may be a blue colour.

The red-tailed green ratsnake lives and spends its life in the trees and in cavities in trees. It seldom descends to the ground. It feeds almost exclusively on birds, but in captivity it can be trained to feed on small mammals . The female can reach a length of up to 2.4 m (almost 8 feet), while the male is generally a little bit smaller. Its average life span is 15 years. It reaches sexually maturity at the age of 4 years, and its eggs have a hatching time from 13 to 16 weeks. The female lays on average between 3 and 8 eggs usually between September and January and the hatchlings are about 45 cm (18 inches) long.

When the snake is stressed, it may inflate a bag of air in its neck, making it appear larger in size.

In captivity, it has quite the 'attitude' and may strike at or bite an unwary handler.

The red tailed racer is a medium-bodied arboreal rat snake that occupies lowland to mid-level rainforest. They are common and widely-distributed across the Peninsular. They are usually completely green except for the yellowish labials and lower cheeks. A faint stripe runs from the snout through the eye and fades off towards the neck. The tongue is blue and the tail tip is a dark rusty brown.

Red-tailed rat snakes are aggressive and flare up their throats and bodies when under duress. They hunt birds and rodents in the wild, using constriction as a killing method. Gonyosoma oxcephalum can be differentiated from Elaphe prasina by their much larger size, stripe through the eye and rusty brown tail; features that the green tree racer lacks. in Southeast Asia, this species occurs in Malaysia, Borneo, Thailand and Indonesia, some with different colour forms.

Habitat                   

Found in the sandy soil of sparse woodlands
Behavior

The Gray Rat Snake is larger than most Rat Snakes. They are usually docile, although they can become aggressive when threatened or nervous. Found primarily in the Midwestern United States, the Gray Rat Snake can usually be found in the sandy soil of sparse woodlands.They are mostly arboreal animals, meaning they spend a lot of time in trees. They can often be found hunting or basking on rocks and tree limbs. Gray Rat Snakes do not require hibernation unless they are to be bred. They are quite common in captivity. In the wild, young Gray Rat Snakes are eaten by raptors and carnivorous mammals. The adults grow to a significant length, so they are rarely harmed by anything but humans.

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A black rat snake

The Western ratsnake (Pantherophis obsoletus) — also called black rat snake, pilot black snake, or simply black snake[2] — is a nonvenomous colubrid species found in North America. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Elaphe obsoleta - A black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta and Pantherophis obsoletus)

Description

Adults can become quite large and are known to reach up to eight feet, being the largest snake found in Canada. The record length is 101 inches (2.6 m), making it (officially) the longest snake in North America. Unofficially, indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi) are known to exceed them, and one wild caught pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) with a portion of its tail missing measured 111 inches (2.8 m).[citation needed]

Juveniles are strongly patterned with brown blotches on a gray background (like miniature fox snakes). Darkening occurs rapidly as they grow. Adults are glossy black above with white lips, chin, and throat. Sometimes traces of the "obsolete" juvenile pattern are still discernible in the skin between the scales, especially when stretched after a heavy meal.

Geographic range

The black rat snake is found throughout the Eastern and Central United States. In Canada it is found in lower Ontario. It is found in northeast United States, in particular New Jersey(northern), New York(eastern) and Vermont(southern).

Preferred habitat

It prefers heavily wooded areas and is known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches. The black rat snake is a competent swimmer but usually (not always) uses this ability only to travel to additional hunting territory. During winter it hibernates in dens, often with copperheads and timber rattlesnakes. This association gave rise to the common name, pilot black snake, and the superstition that this nonvenomous species led the venomous ones to the den.

Behavior
When startled, they may freeze and wrinkle themselves into a series of kinks. If they feel further threatened, they may flee quickly or vibrate their tails in dead leaves (a form of mimicry, which makes them sound like rattlesnakes). They are also capable of producing a foul smelling musk which they will release onto a predator if picked up. They spread the musk with their tail in hopes of deterring the threat

Reproduction
Mating takes place in late May and early June. The male snake wraps its tail around the female with their vents nearly touching. The male then everts one of its sex organs, a hemipenis, into the female sex organ, cloaca. The mating lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. After five weeks the female lays about 12 to 20 eggs, which are 36–60 mm (1.4-2 in.) long by 20-26.5 mm (0.8-1.1 in.) wide. The eggs hatch about 65 to 70 days later in late August to early October.[9] The hatchlings are 28–41 cm (11-16 in.) in total length,[10] and they look like miniature fox snakes.

Pantherophis obsoletus, Chatham County, North Carolina

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texas long-nosed snake

A Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus (a snake).

Description

A tricolor subspecies, its color pattern consists of a cream-colored or white body, overlaid with black blotches and red between the black. It gives them an appearance vaguely similar to that of a venomous coral snake, Micrurus tener or Micruroides euryxanthus. They have an elongated snout, which gives them their common name. They grow to approximately 30 inches (76 cm) in length; record 41 inches (104 cm).[1] In some western localities their red coloration can be greatly reduced, giving them a black and white banded appearance, and other localities the red appears more orange or even pink in color. They differ from all other harmless snakes in the United States by having undivided subcaudal plates.

Behavior

The Texas long-nosed snake is a shy, nocturnal burrowing subspecies.

Diet

It feeds on lizards and amphibians, sometimes smaller snakes and, infrequently, rodents.
 
Reproduction
Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus is oviparous, laying clutches of 4-9 eggs in the early summer, which hatch out in the late summer, or early fall.

Conservation status

This subspecies holds no federal conservation status and no status through most of its range, but it is considered to be vulnerable in Kansas and Oklahoma, and critically endangered in Colorado. Primary threats are from habitat destruction.

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Morelia viridis(green tree snake)

Morelia viridis, the green tree python, is a species of python found in New Guinea, islands in Indonesia, and Cape York Peninsula in Australia.

Morelia viridis

Description

Adults average 120–200 cm (3.9–6.6 ft) in length, with a maximum length (although rare) of about 7 feet. The supralabial scales have thermoreceptive pits.[2]

A mostly arboreal species with a striking green or yellow color in adults, the color pattern on this species can vary dramatically from locality to locality. For example, the Aru local is a vivid green with a broken vertebral stripe of white or dull yellow scales, the Sorong local is a bright green with blue highlights and a solid vertical stripe, and the Kofiau local is mostly yellow with varying highlights in white or blue. Cyanomorphs (blue morphs) are also known to occur but are not considered common at this time.[2] Juveniles are polymorphic, occurring in reddish, bright yellow and orange morphs.

Morelia viridis. Morph

neonate morelia viridis

Geographic range
Found in Indonesia (Misool, Salawati, Aru Islands, Schouten Islands, most of Western New Guinea), Papua New Guinea (including nearby islands from sea level to 1,800 m elevation, Normanby Island and the d'Entrecasteaux Islands) and Australia (Queensland along the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula). The type locality given is "Aroe-eilanden" (Aru Islands, Indonesia).[1]

This species is sympatric with M. spilota and the two often compete in the same ecological niche.

Habitat

Its main habitat is in rainforests, bushes, shrubs and trees.

Conservation
The largest threat to the species is habitat destruction due to logging of forests.

Behavior

Primarily arboreal, these snakes have a particular way of resting in the branches of trees; they loop a coil or two over the branches in a saddle position and place their head in the middle. This trait is shared with the emerald tree boa, Corallus caninus, of South America. This habit, along with their appearance, has caused people to confuse the two species when seen outside their natural habitat.

Reproduction

Oviparous, with 1-25 viable eggs per clutch. In the wild eggs are incubated and protected by the female, often in the hollow of a tree. Hatchlings are lemon yellow with broken stripes and spots of purple and brown, or golden or orange/red. Over time the color changes as the animal matures, color of the adult depends on the locality of the animal (some taking many years to finish color change).

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