The two morphologically similar species of fox snake-- eastern (Pantherophis gloydi) and western (Pantherophis vulpinus), were, until recently, considered subspecies under the latter name. Fox snakes range from 91 to 137 cm in length when mature (the published record length is 179 cm, some slightly longer animals are known). The dorsal surface varies in color from a yellowish color to light brown, with dark blotches ranging in color from chocolate to black. The head will also vary in color from brown to a distinctly reddish color. Eastern fox snakes have a yellow colored belly that is checkered with black (Conant and Collins 1998). The scales are weakly keeled and they have a divided anal plate. Young snakes are paler in color, spots are rich brown and edged with a black or dark brown band, and they have a dark transverse line anterior to their eyes and a line from their eye to the angle of the jaw (Conant and Collins 1998).
Eastern fox snakes can be differentiated from western fox snakes by the number of blotches present on the dorsal surface. Eastern fox snakes have fewer blotches (average 34) than do western fox snakes (average 41). The blotches on the eastern fox snake are 4, 5, or 6 scales in length, while the western fox snake's blotches are 3 to 4 scales in length (Schmidt 1941, Harding 1997). Their ranges do not presently overlap; western fox snakes occur in prairies, farmlands, and open woodlands of the western Great Lakes and eastern plains states.
Range length: 91 to 179 mm.
Other Physical Features: heterothermic
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Western fox snakes are usually between 91 and 137 cm long. The published record is 179 cm. They are blotched snake, with light brown to black spots. The head varies from brown to reddish. The reddish head is often mistaken as a copperhead and often spells the end of that snake. The belly is yellow and checkered with black. The scales are weakly keeled. The young look distinctively different. The dark spots are rich brown usually edged with black or dark brown. The head has a dark transverse line anterior to eyes and a dark line from eye to angle of jaw. The lines on the head fade away with age. Western fox snakes have an average of 41 blotches.
Range length: 91 to 179 cm.
Other Physical Features: heterothermic
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 17 years.
Western fox snakes are found in grasslands, prairies, dune areas, farm fields, pastures, and woodlots. They are typically found fairly close to water. Like all snakes, they can be found basking near the edge of marshes or in grassland clearings.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest
Wetlands: marsh
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Western fox snakes (Pantherophis vulpinus) are found in farmlands, prairies, stream valleys, woods, and dune habitats from the central upper peninsula of Michigan, through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and into northwestern Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Western fox snakes eat small mammals and occasional birds. They eat meadow voles, deer mice, eggs, fledgling birds, and newborn rabbits. Western fox snakes kill their prey by constriction.
Animal Foods: birds; mammals
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats terrestrial vertebrates)
Western fox snakes help keep pest populations down. They often inhabit agricultural lands and prey on rabbits and rodents.
Positive Impacts: controls pest population
Western fox snakes are harmless snakes, there are no negative effects of this species on humans.
Western fox snakes are often mistaken for rattlesnakes. As a result they are often indiscriminately killed. In fact, they are harmless and beneficial. Western fox snake populations also suffer from habitat destruction, illegal collecting, and being hit by cars. Currently populations of western fox snakes are considered stable.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Eastern fox snakes are typically found in flat, marshy or partially drained areas. Eastern fox snakes on islands in Lake Erie are found in open, rocky habitats and woodlands. Unlike western fox snakes (E. vulpina), eastern fox snakes are rarely found in upland wooded areas. Eastern fox snakes are ground dwelling animals that are rarely found climbing trees or understory brush.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds
Wetlands: marsh ; swamp
Eastern fox snakes historically occurred along the shores of the Lakes Huron and Erie, from the Georgian and Saginaw Bays to north central Ohio and eastward along the northern shore of Lake Erie to Long Point and perhaps Buffalo (Schmidt 1941). Today the eastern fox snakes can be found from Saginaw Bay along the shore of Lake Huron south to the western edge of Lake Erie (Holman et al. 1989) in Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Eastern fox snakes feed on small mammals, frogs, birds, and occasionally bird eggs. Eastern fox snakes are constrictors, which means they kill by wrapping their bodies around the chest of their prey and squeezing until the prey eventially dies.
Animal Foods: birds; mammals; amphibians; eggs
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats terrestrial vertebrates)
Eastern fox snakes are major predators of small rodents, which can be agricultural pests. If fox snake numbers can be kept stable they will help control small rodent numbers resulting in less crop damage in many agricultural fields.
Positive Impacts: controls pest population
Eastern fox snakes are harmless snakes, there are no negative effects of these snakes on humans.
Eastern fox snakes are currently listed as a threatened species in the state of Michigan. The loss and pollution of wetland habitats, indiscriminate killing by people who think fox snakes are venomous, illegal collecting, and road kills are all factors in the decline of fox snakes. Any sightings of this snake should be reported to local wildlife authorities.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: threatened
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
Fox snakes, both western and eastern, are often killed by people who mistakenly believe them to be venomous. Many people get the fox snake confused with the venomous copperhead snake due to the reddish coloring of the head. One of the defense mechanisms of the fox snake is to vibrate its tail as a warning to potential predators. This creates a sound similar to that of a rattlesnake by the rustling of the leaves beneath the snake.
When a fox snake is threatened it will secrete a strong substance which some say smells like the musty secretions of foxes, hence the name "fox snake". In many areas eastern fox snakes are referred to as "spotted adders," a local name also sometimes applied to eastern milk snakes (Lampropeltis triangulum) in the same region.
Eastern fox snakes lay anywhere from 7 to 29 eggs in June or July, which hatch in late summer. The young are similar to the adults and measure roughly 27 cm in length.
Breeding interval: Eastern fox snakes breed once each year.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs in June and July.
Range number of offspring: 7 to 29.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; sexual ; oviparous
Western fox snakes mate from April to July. The female lays her eggs anywhere from late June to early August. She usually lays from 6 to 29 firm leathery eggs that are from 3.8 to 5 cm long. The young hatch from late August to October and are 25.5 to 33 cm long.
Breeding interval: Western fox snakes breed once each year.
Breeding season: Western fox snakes mate from April to July.
Range number of offspring: 6 to 29.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; sexual ; oviparous
Pantherophis vulpinus, commonly known as the eastern foxsnake or eastern fox snake, is a species of rat snake in the family Colubridae. The species is nonvenomous and is endemic to the eastern Great Lakes region of the United States, as well as adjacent western Ontario in Canada. Pantherophis gloydi is sometimes considered a distinct species and sometimes considered a junior synonym of the species Pantherophis vulpinus.[3]
The specific name, gloydi, is in honor of American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd.[4][5]
Between about 1990 and 2011, foxsnakes were sometimes divided into two species, with P. gloydi as the eastern foxsnake and P. vulpinus as the western foxsnake. A 2011 paper by Crother, White, Savage, Eckstut, Graham and Gardner proposed instead that the Mississippi River be established as the species boundary between two species of foxsnakes, and that those found to its east be considered P. vulpinus (including those previously known as P. gloydi) and those found to its west be given the new name P. ramspotti.[3]
P. vulpinus is found in marshes and other wetlands, as well as in adjacent fields and meadows.
P. v. gloydi is found in the eastern Great Lakes region. Both P. v. gloydi and P. v. vulpinus live in the state of Michigan. P. v. vulpinus lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where it is sometimes known as the pine snake, and P. v. gloydi lives in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. P. v. gloydi can also be found in Ohio in the United States, and in Western Ontario in Canada.
P. vulpinus is considered threatened over most of its range due to habitat loss. Numbers have plummeted because of the development of wetlands and coastal habitat. Its numbers have also fallen due to collection for the pet trade. P. vulpinus is often misidentified as the copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix or as the massasauga, Sistrurus catenatus. P. vulpinus often rattles its tail similar to rattlesnakes as a form of mimicry. This behavior also contributes to its decline in numbers, as many people fear that the snake may be venomous. In Ohio, P. gloydi is listed as a "Species of Concern" by the Ohio Division of Wildlife.[6] In Michigan it is listed as a "Threatened Species" by the DNR and is protected by state law.[7] In Ontario the species is listed as "Threatened Provincially and Nationally".[8]
A powerful constrictor, P. vulpinus will consume a variety of small mammals and birds. It has been hypothesized that it will also consume amphibians, but this has not been well documented. P. vulpinus will occasionally wiggle its tail, rustling leaves, to ward off potential predators. This is a form of mimicry. The sound resembles that of a rattlesnake. When threatened, it also may coil and, if it continues to feel threatened, strike.
Like all reptiles, P. vulpinus reproduces sexually and is an r-strategists according to r/K selection theory. An adult female may lay between 7 and 29 eggs, which generally hatch after about 60 days. Eggs are usually laid under logs, or in rotting wood or humus.
Education may be the best form of conservation for P. vulpinus. Being able to differentiate between this species and venomous ones, such as the copperhead or the massasauga, may greatly reduce misidentification cases and subsequent deaths of the snake.
Pantherophis vulpinus, commonly known as the eastern foxsnake or eastern fox snake, is a species of rat snake in the family Colubridae. The species is nonvenomous and is endemic to the eastern Great Lakes region of the United States, as well as adjacent western Ontario in Canada. Pantherophis gloydi is sometimes considered a distinct species and sometimes considered a junior synonym of the species Pantherophis vulpinus.
