Corn Snake<\/strong>Elaphe guttata<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe corn snake is an eye catching rat snake. Corn snakes can be found on the ground, on the trees or buildings. Adult corn snakes feed mostly on rodents and are very useful around farms. If caught, they excrete a foul smelling musk. They can lay up to 25 eggs in decaying vegetation. Also called the red rat snake, the corn snake is named for its checkered belly, which reminded the early colonists of multicolored Indian corn. Corn snakes do well in captivity and are often kept as pets. Color mutants are often available, and quite popular, in pet stores. Two common mutations are anerythrism (a lack of red pigment that produces a gray body) and albinism (a lack of melanin, resulting in a bright reddish-orange body). They can grow up to 2 \u00bd to 4 feet long. In the wild they will eat young rats, mice, birds, lizards, and frogs. Our corn snake is ready for viewing in the Herpaquarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDesert Rosy Boa<\/strong>Lichanura trivirgata gracia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nDesert rosy boas belong to the family of snakes Boidae, which contains some of the world\u2019s largest snakes species, including anacondas, reticulated pythons, as well as many smaller forms. When threatened or disturbed, this small ground boa may coil up into a ball and tuck its head into the center of the coil. This provides its predators the smallest possible body and protects the vulnerable head from attack. On average, they are 24-42 inches in length and weigh 11-21 ounces; females are larger than males. They eat small mammals and birds. You can see our Desert Rosy Boa\u2019s in the Herpaquarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGreen Tree Python<\/strong>Morelia viridis<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Green Tree Python has adaptations for living in the trees. It is slender, has a prehensile tail, and its green coloration is great camouflage amongst the leaves. It will coil up on top of a branch with its head hanging down ready to strike at prey. Green Tree Pythons have heat pits around their mouth which aid in \u201cseeing\u201d prey in the dark by detecting infrared radiation from warm bodies. Females will lay 6 \u2013 30 eggs in a tree hole or among plants. The young are either bright yellow or red and are hunted by birds of prey. They get their green coloration at about one year of age. You can find our Green Tree Python in the Herpaquarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPueblan Milksnake<\/strong>Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe milksnake is not venomous. However, the Pueblan milksnake mimics the coloration, markings, and even behavior of venomous coral snakes and is easily confused with them in parts of its native range. This adaptation is a form of defensive mimicry. If disturbed or uncovered from its hiding place, the milksnake may thrash around in an attempt to startle its predators with its vivid colors. It can grow up to 3 feet in length. Milksnakes are found in the southern portions of North America, northern portions of South America, and throughout Central America. They live in arid portions of its native range and found at elevations exceeding 5500 ft. They eat small lizards and snakes, birds, mice and other rodents. You can find our Pueblan Milksnake in the Herpaquarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRussian Rat Snake<\/strong>Elaphe schrenckii<\/em>As adults, Russian rat snakes are usually black or dark brown with yellow or cream bands. It can attain an adult length of 6 feet and has been known to occasionally reach 8 feet. When threatened, rat snakes will \u201crattle\u201d their tail, fooling other animals into believing they are venomous. Rat snakes are constrictors, which suffocate their prey. These snakes are excellent climbers and hunt for birds and eggs in trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The species has not been assessed by the IUCN but is on the China Species Red List with a classification of \u201cVulnerable VU A2a\u201d. It is an officially protected species in Russia and South Korea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kingdom: AnimalsPhylum: ChordataClass: ReptiliaOrder: SquamataSuborder: SerpentesFamily: 18Species: about 2,900 Snakes are highly evolved predators. They have no limbs, no eyelids, and no external ears. They can move with ease and find their prey using sophisticated senses. All snakes …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":458,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":{"banner_style":"is-style-1","alt_title":"","desc":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465,"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/464\/revisions\/465"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/decatur-parks.org\/scovill-zoo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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