Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Keeping E. Foxes are like having a cross between a Rat Snake and a Bull Snake!!!
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After first shed...
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Congrats Bill-great looking hatchlings!

I spent my teenage and college years in Ohio, and we always tried to find gravid eastern fox snakes, because the wild caught adults were notorious for doing poorly in captivity. They are really gorgeous snakes as adults-IMO much more attractive than the western form.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Hey, Brad,
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"wild caught adults were notorious for doing poorly in captivity"

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Do you have an opinion on why that was? Restlessness of wild caught? Parasite load? Specialized food?
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That and their limited habitat with the encroachment of humanity, though they seemed locally abundant when I went there in '92, are probably good reasons for their protection in both US states and Canada where the Easterns are found.
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The hatchlings are hardy, if given conditions that are cooler than more southern Rat Snakes (72 - 78 F).
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Bill-

The main reason was that most stubbornly refused food. It's also true that even those thad did eat were sporadic feeders at best, and still seemed to languish-perhaps parasites were the culprit. As you point out, captive hatched animals thrive.

You're right, the species did seem to be locally very common (of course within their restrictive range of the Lake Erie marshes and Islands) up to the time I moved out of Ohio (1990).
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

>>Keeping E. Foxes are like having a cross between a Rat Snake and a Bull Snake!!!

Congrats, Bill! They look great. Interesting observation too, and makes me curious about them. They look somewhat more like some of the Old World rats, to me - than our other North American rats.

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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Hey, Toby,
You know, they do remind you of Eastern Four lined Rat Snakes ( Elaphe sauromates) a little.
Stocky build, mostly terrestrial, eating machines!!!!

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Regards, Bill McGighan

Those are very tempting Bill! Not sure I can get them in that temp range down here in south Texas right now! keep me in mind down the road, I will be expanding the herp rooms soon!
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Todd Hughes

Temps ... Yeah Todd,
When I lived in Florida and Texas, They were kept under airconditioning in the house.
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Regards, Bill McGighan