Fox Snake

Coluber vulpinus, (B. &. G.)

Colouration: Pale brown or yellowish, with a series of large, rich brown blotches on the back and a series of smaller, alternating blotches on the sides; beneath the latter and at the edges of the abdominal plates, is a yet smaller series. The abdomen is yellow, with numerous dusky spots.
Dimensions: Specimens six feet long have been recorded, but the writer finds the average of a large series of specimens from Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa to be below these dimensions. The measurements of an average-sized adult from Illinois, are given:
Distribution: The Central States, from Ohio to Minnesota and Nebraska (inclusive); southward to the valley of the Missouri River. The species is quite abundant in Ohio, Illinois and Iowa.
Habits: Compared with the other Colubers this is a ground-loving species. It is seldom found in trees and its actions in climbing are not nearly so agile as those of most of the succeeding snakes. Occasional specimens are vicious fighters, vibrating the tail so rapidly that the member is blurred in the motion; at such times they double the neck into an S-shaped loop and strike fully a third their length. In striking they emit a sharp, short hiss, sounding like a miniature sneeze. An enraged specimen will retain this position for a quarter of an hour, following with its head the motions of the person who annoys it. However, most specimens of this snake are very good-natured and may be handled with impunity a few moments after capture. They become very tame in captivity and cannot be induced to bite, a demeanour in strong contrast to the erratic disposition of the Pilot Blacksnake (C. obsoletus), the Yellow Chicken Snake (C. obsoletus quadrivittatus) and many individuals of the beautiful Corn Snake (C. guttatus). When newly captured specimens of the Fox Snake are handled, they eject, from glands at the base of the tail, a very strong-smelling secretion, of much the same odour as that noted about the cage of a captive fox--hence the popular name.

Stoutest of the Colubers. The tail is very stout, but tapers abruptly to a sharp point. The scales are distinctly, though not heavily, keeled. Attains a length of five or six feet.

There are no head bands and the head is often tinged with ruddy yellow or reddish.

Total Length. . . . . 46 1/4 inches.

Length of Tail. . . . . 7 1/4 inches.

Greatest Diameter. . . . . 1 1/8 inches.

Width of Head. . . . . 15/16 inches.

Length of Head. . . . . 1 1/2 inches.

The Fox Snake feeds largely upon small rodents--young rats and mice. To procure the former it often haunts the vicinity of barns and sheds where hay or grain is stored. From this habit it is sometimes called the house snake. The fully adult individuals eat mammals as large as half-grown rabbits. They occasionally prey upon birds and will eat their eggs, swallowing them entire and breaking the shell in the throat by a contraction of the muscles. The good this species does in destroying the smaller, injurious creatures of the fields, should cause it to be the recognised friend of the farmer. One snake is worth a dozen traps, for the reptile prowls into the burrows and nests of rats and mice and eats the entire brood.

Like all of the Colubers, the Fox Snake deposits a considerable number of eggs, generally in the hollow of a rotting stump, and leaves them without further ado, to hatch within six or eight weeks' time. The eggs gradually increase in size by absorbing the moisture of the wood pulp in which they are deposited. Just prior to hatching, an egg is a third or half larger than when it was laid. One of the writer's specimens deposited 12 eggs on the 1st of July. They were adhesive in a single cluster. These eggs began hatching on the 21st of August, and all had not hatched until about ten days later. The female specimen was three and a half feet in length and in proportion to her size the young were very large. The accompanying photograph of a specimen of this brood (beside a rule) illustrates the proportions. The eggs were hatched by placing them in damp, sphagnum moss and keeping them in an ordinary room temperature.

As a captive the Fox Snake is hardy and subsists indefinitely upon a diet of mice and sparrows.