Edwin: My southeast Missouri prairie kingsnake.

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ShadowBass

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2007
2,322
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Poplar Bluff, MO
I usually don't like to take herps from the wild, but it's legal to catch 5 reptiles without a license here, and this guy was hanging around the boat ramp very boldly, not even scared, where he was probably going to get shot or run over eventually (people around here aren't real nice to snakes, especially poisonous, and can't tell a garter from a cottonmouth half the time, so all snakes are essentially poisonous :screwy:).

Here's Edwin. He's about 2 ft long I'd guess.:
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(pic doesn't really show his pretty red belly color)

His "palace", a 29g (yeah yeah I know, hot rock, taboo, whatever. Never had an issue with them over 20 years though, I just make sure to stick with low wattage ones *shrug*). The black stuff is just liner so it's easier to change his coconut bedding. The grassy stuff, for anyone interested, is like 3 bucks at walmart. Listed as non-toxic and safe for kids - he loves it. Also loves the blue basket since he can wrap around the holes Forgive the dirty look on back of tank - was an old fish tank and I couldn't get all the hard algae off with vinegar, and I didn't wanna use something harsh or toxic:
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Edwin doesn't eat anything but fish. This explains why he was hanging around the boat ramp. But he's a terrible hunter, so I'm guessing he was probably feeding on dead discarded fish. He's not even good at catching fish out of his bowl, but he won't eat anything else, and won't even eat fish off the ground, just in water. Either way he's fat and healthy on his current diet. I'm still trying to see if he'll eat some amphibians or something.
He's very docile (like most king snakes) and has never bitten me. He's even gotten more used to being handled, and he now recognizes me as the magical food bringer and comes to the glass when I walk over, then goes and looks in his bowl. I've had him since about mid June. :)
 
Kingsnake? Sure doesn't look like one to me... And feeding behavior doesn't sound like one either. What it does look and sound like is a Nerodia erythrogaster......
 
yep. that is definitely a water snake man. Nerodia sipedon pleuralis most likely.
 
Whoops, got the names mixed up. Been trying to remember them all better, I still mix them up sometimes.
 
Holy crap guys. You're kidding me. He looks nothing to me like the ones where I'm from (Cincinnati), or the others I've seen around here which are quite obvious (he's lacking belly pattern for one), and I've never met a northern water snake, or similar, that DIDN'T bite me or try, so I didn't even assume. Prairie kingsnake was the closest I saw of the non-water snakes, and the most common around here are broadbanded, which are easily ID'd.

So apparently I have the most docile water snake ever lol. And the worst hunting one ever. I had one as a kid (who I carried home latched to my thumb, btw) and he was great at catching live fish.

Well, he's a cool little guy either way.
 
I have some pics from Mingo National Wildlife reserve of the more common broadbanded.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/5488_142350443331_4984923_n.jpg
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/5488_142350448331_8118370_n.jpg
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/5488_142350453331_4452574_n.jpg
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/5488_142350458331_5063190_n.jpg

We'll throw in a mud snake for good measure, just because they're neat :p :
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/5488_142352418331_5878553_n.jpg

Tell me if the links don't load since I captured them directly off my facebook. I'll upload them to photobucket instead.
 
My experience with Nerodia is that they are very bitey at first, but they tame down very quickly and usually stay that way. I had a large female rhombifer a while back, she was very tame and is now used for educational shows at a nature center I donated her to.
 
This one never even bit me when I caught him which is odd. Never even opened his mouth and postured. Quite odd IME. Not like he's sick or something. He had food in his belly when I found him, was nice and shiny, and he's eaten regularly since then. He sheds regularly.

The one I had when I was a kid was a juvie, but he never wasn't bitey. He'd swell up and coil in preparation to bite if you got your hand near him.
 
Btw, given he's NOT what I thought, am I doing ok with feeding? He mainly eats various species of minnows that we catch (often mosquitofish), and sometimes goldfish.
How often should I feed him? He eats until he's full every few days to a week.

I'm pretty knowledgeable about everything else. I clean his tank often, and keep it warm, and change water daily. I'd assume most of that stuff is relatively similar to temperate rat snakes and king snakes which I've had many of.

Any other husbandry info I should know?
 
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