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Natural History/Field Observation Field observations of corn snakes, field collecting, or just general topics about the natural environment they are found in.

Wannabe Thief
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Old 06-07-2014, 06:27 PM   #1
Aozora
Wannabe Thief

We have coturnix quail chicks, and they had just gotten large enough to be moved to their outdoor hutch. We put them into the hutch at 8am, and when we checked on them again at 3pm, we noticed something a little... odd... sitting on one of the waste trays.

It was a black rat snake, all but drooling over the feathery meals right above its head. It can't get into the cages, but oh boy did it want to. I'm pretty impressed--less than 8 hours for the rat snake to find the quail and try to get them. I'd always heard every snake loves quail, but this just proves it.

Since it's clearly hungry, it's sitting in a spare bin while a mouse thaws. We'll let it stay with us til it has digested a bit and then let it go. It's been very well behaved aside from musking me when I pulled it out of the quail hutch.

Behold a very unrepentant face.
 
Old 06-07-2014, 07:00 PM   #2
vetusvates
Excellent.

Imho, BRS musk is the most pleasant woodsy earthy smell of just about any snake.
 
Old 06-07-2014, 07:05 PM   #3
hypnoctopus
I'm glad he didn't get any of your babies.
 
Old 06-09-2014, 07:48 AM   #4
Aozora
Unreal...

Went to check on quail chicks this morning. They've been outside for 48 hours now. Found this behemoth, also sitting on the waste tray and drooling at the meals above his head. Based on the trails he left in the litter and the amount of chick poop he had on him, he was probably there all night. Good news is, we're not missing anyone! He's definitely big enough to have eaten one of them.

But yes, quail truly are snake magnets. I can see why black rats are also called "chicken snakes".

BTW, my roommate (holding him in the 1st picture) is 6'3" to give an indication of this guy's size. And again, such a sweet-natured snake. He put up with all of our manhandling for the pictures, and he will get a rat for a reward.
 
Old 06-09-2014, 08:56 AM   #5
AliCat37
Wow! That second one is awesome!!
 
Old 06-09-2014, 12:15 PM   #6
Rich Z
Black rat snakes are very highly underrated as pet quality snakes. I've caught a lot of them when I lived in Maryland and they have nearly all been very mild mannered and docile even being pulled right out of a tree.
 
Old 06-11-2014, 01:28 AM   #7
chris68
Love black rats, and they do make good "pet" snakes. I've had a few over the years and all of them were very aware of what goes on around them
 
Old 06-11-2014, 01:32 AM   #8
MysticExotics
Awesome! I love the BRS! I wish we had them here!
 
Old 06-11-2014, 05:13 AM   #9
Nanci
What a beauty! You're so lucky!!! (Don't forget, if you can't resist temptation, you need to STRICTLY isolate any wild-caught snake, and it sure doesn't hurt to get it and a poop to the vet for a check.)
 
Old 06-11-2014, 05:57 PM   #10
Aozora
I dearly love BRS, and I really am tempted by the big guy. However, I don't feel right taking an adult snake out of the wild. If we find a baby, I'll have zero qualms about keeping him--if wild adults are this sweet, imagine what a hand-raised one would be like.

On the other hand, my roommate and I have agreed that if the same snake shows up 3x he clearly wants to be a pet and we will keep him. We've recorded identifying marks on these two, so we'll see what happens.
 

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