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How common in the wild?

G

Guruofchem

New member
Anyone know how common striped corn snakes are in the wild? I came across a young snake (a bit under a foot) this morning that was a pretty red and brown striped beast that I didn't immediately realize was a corn. After hunting through field guides, I'm convinced it was a striped corn - the head looked proper, it was docile and neither bit nor voided on me, making it unlikely to be a garter or racer morph. I let the little dude go, and did get one not-so-great pic of it with my cell phone that I may try and upload later, but I'm pretty comfortable in my ID. So, back to the original question - just how rare a snake did I release...? :roflmao:
 
Let's see your photo, even if it didn't come out great, we can make an educated guess. If I were a gambling man, I'd wager you found a different species.
 
OK - best pic I could get with my crappy phone...

snake8-38_zps7f96989c.jpg
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That looks like a hypo garter! Don't think that's a corn, but it still might be rare!
 
I couldn't figure out what it is, but like Chip says, those side markings are very typical of a gartersnake. My first thought was Dekay's, but it's so red for that...
 
As I recall the belly was not checkered. My first thought was garter, but the head in particular seemed wrong - it had a rounded head with protruding eyes much more like a corn or rat snake than the more angular garter head. The striping was also a lot more subtle than I've seen on garters. There were also four stripes - two dorsal and two more lateral, and all basically the same tone running the length of the body.

I could just about shoot myself for not hanging on to it and getting better pics, but it wasn't very large and had already been stressed by the students finding it, and I was trying to set a responsible example for the kids. I'm also not a field herper these days, and I just didn't think in terms of it being unusual until I went through Herps of Texas later that morning and could not find a match, at which point it was too late...:cry:
 
dave partington said:
Looks like an Ribbon Snake
Here's a handy link: http://www.gartersnake.info/articles/2006/telling-garter-snakes-and-ribbon-snakes-apart.php
Click to expand...

My problem with this hypothesis (and I considered it) is that the stripes are wrong. All the garter and ribbon pics I've looked at have a single centered dorsal stripe and then a lateral stripe on each side. This little critter had 4 stripes - two each to the side of the spine and on the sides - and the contrast wasn't anywhere close to what you would expect with a garter or ribbon. Also, no white spots in front of the eye, and no white scales along the lower jaw.

There was another faculty member who also got pictures - I'm pinning my hopes on something definitive from her...
 
That's as close a match as I've seen, but that sucker must be the reddest specimen on record. I'm also still unconvinced by the striping - this dude had full striping down the body, whereas all the Dekay's I looked at had broken spots at the anterior end that fuse into stripes farther down toward the tail. I also didn't notice any keeling on the dorsal scales, which Texas Brown's are supposed to show, but as a working hypothesis that may be the best option...
 
OK - 2nd picture. Can't decide if I was wrong about 2 dorsal stripes, or if this angle simply doesn't show them. Anyway, have at it...

redsnake_zpsea7a07ec.jpg
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