Fox Snake Species Profile
Fox Snake Stats
Scientific Name: Pantherophis (Elaphe) vulpina
Family: Colubridae
Adult Size: 3 to 5 feet
Range: The Mid- to Northwest areas of the United States.
Fox Snake (Elaphe vulpina)
No photo of the Fox Snake available.
The Fox Snake is from the order Squamata. Species from this order are amphisbaenians, lizards or snakes.
Food Fox Snakes are valuable consumers of rodents, which make up the bulk of their diet. Young Fox snakes may feed on frogs or young mice (Oldfield and Moriarty, 1994). Adults have been known to eat birds and their eggs (Vogt, 1981).
Fox Snake (Elaphe vulpina and Elaphe gloydi)
Description: A large yellowish or light brown snake with dark brown or black blotches down the back and sides. The head may be reddish or orange, and the belly is yellowish, checkered with black.
Fox snakes are great rodent eaters. They strike their prey, grab it with their teeth and wrap themselves around it to stop its breathing. They are called constrictors. After they kill their prey, they swallow the animal WHOLE, head first! Yikes! ...
Fox Snake, Eastern
Elaphe vulpina gloydi
Garter Snake, Butler's
Thamnophis butleri ...
The fox snake gained its name because it secretes a strong-smelling fluid, suggestive of the odour of a fox. Of the two subspecies of fox snake, only the eastern fox snake (Elaphe vulpina gloydi) is found in Canada.
Western Fox Snake
(Elaphe vulpina)
1 image
The Western Fox Snake is blotched with light brown to black spots. The head is brown or reddish. The belly underside is yellow and checkered with black.
EASTERN FOX SNAKE
Elaphe vulpina gloydi
Length 36-54 in.
(91-137 cm.)
Along the southwestern shores of Lake Erie, west of Sandusky, one may encounter the eastern fox snake.
The March 26, 1855 mention of a "milk snake" may refer to a misidentified fox snake, Elaphe vulpina vulpina. Fox snakes are not mentioned by Kennicott, although they are fairly common in the more rural areas away from Chicago today.
Milk Snakes are much more opportunistic eaters than the fox snake or corn snake. They have been known to consume a variety of animals including rodents, eggs, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.
Genus Elaphe (corn snakes, fox snakes, and rat snakes)
Genus Elapoidis
Genus Elapomorphus (diadem snakes) ...
Some other harmless snakes that you may find in your yard are black rat snakes, fox snakes, hognose snakes and banded water snakes.
Genera: Cemophora (Scarlet Snake), Coluber (Racers), Lampropeltis (Kingsnakes and Milk Snake), Masticophis (Whipsnakes, Striped Racers, and Coachwhips), Opheodrys (Rough Green Snake), Pantherophis (North American Rat Snakes and Fox Snakes), ...
North American Racer (Blue racer) *RSG
Northern water snake
Plains garter snake
Plains hog-nosed snake *RSG
Ratsnake *RSG
Redbelly snake
Ringneck snake
Smooth green snake (Grass snake)
Western Fox snake ...
It is interesting to note that some other Ontario snakes such as the Milk and Fox snakes will also vibrate their tails but they do not possess rattles. The rattle of the massassauga best resembles either escaping steam from a kettle or of cicadas.
 See also: Fox, Snake, Rat snake, Rat, Milk Snake
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