Description: The Eastern Fox Snake's background color is yellowish to light brown. Contrasting with this light ground color a row of large, dark brown to black splotches, that runs down the middle of the back and tail. On either side of this bold row there is a row of smaller dark blotches. The smaller marks alternate with the larger marks so that they usually are not side-by-side.
Habitat: Prairies, sandy dune beaches, marshes, open woodland, and farmland, usually near water.
Breeding: Mating occurs in the late spring and early summer months. A clutch averaging 15-20 eggs is laid in mid summer and normally hatches in early fall. Unless conceived in late summer
Range: The eastern fox snake ranges in the states of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and eastern Michigan, and the Canadian province of Ontario in flat, marshy areas along the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Erie.
Diet: Like all snakes, fox snakes are strict carnivores. Their primary diet consists of mice and other small rodents, but they will take any prey small enough to swallow whole, including young rabbits, frogs, fledgling birds, and eggs. As constrictors, they subdue their prey by squeezing it between their coils.
Behavior: Fox snakes are primarily diurnal and terrestrial, rodent feeding snakes, but sometimes will also eat birds, rabbits, and juveniles often consume frogs and other small animals. They kill their prey by constriction. Like many colubrid snakes, when harassed they will vibrate their tails, which frequently results in them to be mistaken for rattlesnakes. They are also capable of releasing a musky anal secretion which purportedly smells fox-like, hence their name.
Conservation Status: The state of Michigan lists the eastern fox snake as threatened, largely due to habitat loss. In Ontario the eastern fox snake is listed as threatened and protected by the Species at Risk Act (SARA). The extent of their decline is currently the subject of study by biologists at Queen's University. The western fox snake is listed by the state of Missouri as endangered due to prairie loss and wetland drainage.
