(soft music)
- Welcome to "Creature Features."
Today am exploring Middle Bass Island.
While this location is famous
for its unique population of Lake Erie water snakes,
today, I'm actually searching for another one
of its slither and serpents, the Fox snake,
that's early morning, and the sun's just beginning
to peak through the trees,
which means that these snakes
are gonna come out to start basking
and then hunting for the day.
So, I have a good feeling
that with just a little bit of searching,
there's a good chance we're gonna find one.
So if you guys are ready,
let's see if we can track down, a Fox snake!
(upbeat rock music)
One of the best places to search for Fox snakes
is actually the base of trees.
The reason for that, is these predators are opportunistic.
And this time of year, a lot of baby birds
are learning to fly,
those that can't fly, get up into the air
end up on the ground,
which presents the perfect opportunity
for a snake to get a simple meal.
By searching the base of the trees,
I'm hoping to come across one of these snakes
that's waiting in ambush.
All right, let's check a few more trees.
I think we're getting close!
Okay guys, we have got a fox snake moving right here
from the shadows and into the light just as I predicted.
Aha, this is perfect. Check this out?
This is one of my favorite six species in the world,
totally safe to interact with, all I need to do,
is gently pick it up like that,
and there you have it!
That is our Middle Bass Island Fox snake.
Good morning, buddy, how are you?
That is one good looking Fox snake.
And it may be the largest Fox snake
I've ever caught here on Erie Islands.
This guy's close to three and a half,
maybe even four-feet in length.
All right, so if you guys are ready, here we go!
The five things that you probably didn't know
about the fox snake.
Number one: The fox snake is a classic case
of vilification based on this identification.
What that means, is this species is often confused
for venomous pit vipers,
like the Copperhead or the timber rattlesnake.
And the truth is,
this is a completely non-venomous constrictor species
in the colubrid family,
and they're very closely related to rat snakes
in the genus Pantherophis.
Number two: As constrictors,
these snakes will wait and ambush
for the prey to get close,
that primarily feast on small mammals, birds and amphibians.
When they strike out, the grapple on
with a mouthful of teeth and anchor onto their prey.
Once they have that prey in place,
they quickly wrap their coils around begin to constrict.
Once their prey in them dies,
they're capable of swallowing it down whole.
Number three: The fox snake gets its namesake
from Reverend Charles Fox.
This is the guy that discovered
and collected the original holotype of this species.
And the name also comes,
from the fact that when they're threatened by predators,
they will release a really pungent musk
that supposedly smells like a fox,
hence the name, Fox snake!
Number four: If the smell of a fox
doesn't drive off an attacker,
this is one of many non-venomous snake species
that is capable of striking out repeatedly
and also rattling its tail against leaf litter
to mimic a rattlesnake,
that combined with the bandit, and checker patterning,
plus a striped tail,
you can see why this species is often confused
for a venomous rattler.
Number five: Fox snakes are completely harmless to humans,
and they're actually doing us quite a bit of good
by helping to balance out the vermin population.
Yet these snakes are on the decline,
and throughout many parts of the range
are considered threatened,
that's due to habitat loss from human encroachment,
and also eradication
based on an unnecessary fear of this species.
So there you have it,
five things that you probably didn't know
about the fantastic Fox snake.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next "Creature Feature."
(upbeat music)