• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Help identify wild caught snake....*Pics*

Beothon Lover

The One an Only Kuro....
So about 60 to 90 minutes ago my dad was dragging the trash can back from the curb when he disturbed a rock with the trash can...under the rock was a snake...so he called me out to where he was...i saw the snake and ran back inside to put Divana(my dumeril's ground boa) away and get a deli cup to put the snake in.

the snake is about a foot long and is brown with i think 4 white or yellow stripes that start near his head and go down the rest of his/her body..and a interesting patterened belly. I believe he is a Garter Snake...my dad believes he a garter as well...I'll be taking the snake to a guy that knows kansas reptiles prettyweel on friday to have him identify the snake as well.

I'm posting here cause i know i get answers faster.

Here are the pics(their not as blurry as other pics i've posted cause i found the button on my camera that helps it focus on what i taking a pic of better.)......


000_0233.jpg


000_0234.jpg


000_0235.jpg


000_0236.jpg


000_0237.jpg


000_0238.jpg




Theres the pics...if you guys need any more from different angles or whatever just tell me i'll get them. If the snakeproves to be a garter can some give a link to a good care sheet for them?? would be most appreciated.





Beothon
 
im guessing garter too I saw a huge one in my back yard the other day probably 2 feet black with nice yellow stripes. I was going to catch him but he was too fast. I think there is a nest in my yard somewhere ill have to look. I think they look cool.
 
a good garter snake forum is: http://www.thamnophis.com they have a good caresheet as well. I would say that the lined snake and the garters share similar husbandry requirements; quite a bit like a corn! small pinkies or worms are good starts to food.
 
Lined Snake (Tropidoclonion lineatum lineatum)
Temple, Texas (May 2002)

by Jerry Cates



While digging a hole in Temple, I was surprised to see a small snake come slithering out of a spade-full of dirt he had just thrown on the pile. Its head was unusually tiny for its body. The slick scales and body markings told him right away it was not poisonous. As it tried to crawl away, I picked it up and examined it.

The small snake immediately defecated in my hand...

Its body coloration consisted of alternating stripes varying in color from black, to beige, to white. The body was about half the diameter of my little finger at its largest girth. It did not attempt to bite while being handled, but when agitated it would flare its body, appearing to be larger than it was.

The lined snake lives in the soil and mostly eats earthworms. When handled, it defecates and flares its body as a mechanism of defense. The final proof, however, is the snake's belly. Lined snakes have a double row of black, half-moon markings that are unique to this species. To me they look more like a pair of dark sunglasses, peering under the brim of a fedora.

Note the arrangement of the scales under the chin.

The vent, containing the anal orifice of the cloaca and the genital organs, is prominent on this specimen. A foul smelling musk is released here when the snake is handled. Note that the tail is short- in this snake less than two inches long.

Ventral scales distal of the vent are divided, but the anal scale itself (the ventral scale that protects the vent) is undivided. The anal scale and the scale next to it are unmarked.

The lined snake has a light tan spinal stripe originating at the head and extending the length of its body dorsally. The body is a darker tan on each side of the stripe, with dark spots that produce faint "stripes" near the lateral margins, one or two millimeters from the ventral scales. A small black spot also appears where each ventral and dorsal scale meets, excepting the first six junctures distal of the snake's head. This snake has seven upper labial scales.

The eyes are round, and positioned near the snout. Dorsal scales are keeled, as the photo below shows. Each side of the body has nine dorsal scales, counting from the ventral scale margin to the mid-center stripe.


The above info was found when i went looking for pics of lined snakes and everything on the page includeing pics showing certain marking on the snake matched the snake i caught.

http://www.bugsinthenews.com/texas Snakes Texas_lined_snake page 1.htm <<......is the site...you can see the pics there.

I'm going to see if i can find some more info...like how big they get.

Thanks for helping everyone keep suggesting if you think of something else.





Beothon
 
Whatever it is (Lined Snake or so^^) , its definitly not a Garter, look at the belly , garters have always plain bellys.
 
There is no question. That is a lined snake for sure. I have come across several in my Kansas Herping. They are beautiful little guys and you dont actually come across those very often, so good find!

They like earthworms to eat.
 
dawnrenee- i already released him/her. I really wasn't planning on keeping the little squirt. I put him/her back where i found him yesterday and he/she slithered away free once more.



Beothon
 
good find, nice to see you let him free, I think most people don't like to see wild snakes being kept, but then again, all snakes started from the wild :p
 
PCS- my mom taught my sister and me from a very young age that its alright to hold and look at a wild creature(as long as its not venomous or anything like that) for awhile but then you have to release it back to the wild where you found it.

Just an update kinda....i was outside few minutes ago and i re-found him/her.....i held him/her for about 2 minutes and let him/her go back under his/her rock, and went back to feeding our outdoor dogs.
 
He can tell it's a snake-friendly yard! (Hey, did everything work out with your dog?)

Nanci
 
Nanci- so far we're keeping Athena(my dog) but it's still kinda bumpy about the landlord and what he'll think. If the little snake is still there when i go to get this weeks snake and lizard food later today i'm going to buy him a can of earthworms and see if he'll take one.



Beothon
 
Back
Top