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03-09-2010, 05:36 AM
|  | Has not logged in for 1 year | | Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Posts: 740
| | | American Snakes
Lately, I’ve been trying to get information on some North American reptiles – snakes to be exact. I’ve had some interest in them having watched various movies where snakes were encountered.
I found a source which gives some information on FAMILY LEPTOTYPHLOPIDAE (slender blind snakes), FAMILY BOIDAE (boas and pythons), COLUBRIDAE (colubrid snakes), ELAPIDAE (cobras and coral snakes) and VIPERIDAE (vipers). I was interested to look for info on the Cottonmouth (which I believe inhabits the bayous and swamp lands of the Gulf states) and eventually I found something under VIPERIDAE - Agkistrodon piscivorus. There are still some types I can’t find mentioned. Sometime ago I heard or saw reference somewhere, maybe a movie, to an Alabama Black Snake and though I looked through library books, I couldn’t locate the species. However, it must be either a local name for the increasingly rare Coluber constrictor (Black Racer) or Elaphe Obsoleta (Black Rat Snake) found in North-East Alabama.
Can anyone shed some light on the species ?
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03-09-2010, 05:46 AM
|  | | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Connecticut
Posts: 810
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I used to be an assistant curator at a wildlife sanctuary and we had black rat snakes. They're a native species even up north here in Connecticut. A related species is the corn snake (Elaphe guttata) that is common in the pet trade. That snake is also known as the red rat snake. I actually have one in my classroom and it's the largest specimen I've ever seen. It's over 6' long, close to how big a black rat snake can get.
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03-09-2010, 06:18 AM
|  | | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: NJ, USA
Posts: 279
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Lachlan09  Lately, I’ve been trying to get information on some North American reptiles – snakes to be exact. I was interested to look for info on the Cottonmouth (which I believe inhabits the bayous and swamp lands of the Gulf states) | I'm not sure how much help I can be with snakes in general, but I know that Cottonmouths come quite a bit farther north than the Gulf states. When my son was stationed in LeJeune, in North Carolina we encountered them there. In a more extreme example, when I was a youngster the school custodian killed one on the school playground. It was positively identified by a biology teacher at the High school. This was in NJ, not very far from Philadelphia PA. May have been a pet that escaped or was released, but it was there, sunning itself on an asphalt path, just yards from a small swampy area.
Here in the Pine Barrens its' not unusual to find Black Racers in the six foot range, and the Pine Snake can get to the same length, though that size is rare.
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03-09-2010, 06:23 AM
|  | | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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03-09-2010, 06:49 AM
|  | | | Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Clodine, Texas
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Lachlan,
I'm pretty sure that you will find that "Alabama Black Snake" is a cultural reference to male genitalia, rather than a particular reptile.... http://www.outdooralabama.com/watcha...ptiles/Snakes/
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03-09-2010, 10:22 AM
|  | | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Louisville, KY, USA (38° 13' 11"N x 85° 37' 32"W gets you close)
Posts: 835
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The Cottonmouth ('round here in Kentucky a.k.a. the 'Water Moccasin' or 'Cottonmouth Moccasin') can actually range up into parts of Southern to Central Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. These areas also have wetlands areas where these snakes prefer to nest.
By far the most predominate viper in this part of the country is the copperhead snake (both northern and southern varieties, according to this page: http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/). There are also Timber Rattlesnakes and Eastern Diamondback rattlers.
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03-09-2010, 10:44 AM
|  | | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arkansas
Posts: 13
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03-09-2010, 10:48 AM
| | | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arkansas
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03-09-2010, 01:04 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 660
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Originally Posted by Zardoz I'm pretty sure that you will find that "Alabama Black Snake" is a cultural reference to male genitalia, rather than a particular reptile.... | Likewise. The phrase was famously used in the film Full Metal Jacket but shows up in other literary/cultural sources as well as in ... uh ... conversation ...
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03-09-2010, 01:22 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1,108
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South Carolina is home to all 4 major groups of venomous ( i.e. poisonous ) snakes in North America: Rattlesnakes ( Eastern Diamondback, canebrake,aka Timber) Genus Crotalus Pygmy rattlesnakes (sistrurus miliarius) Cottonmouths ( also known here, as above, as Water Moccasins)Agkistrodon piscivorus Copperheads Agkistrodon contortrix
and Coral Snakes ( Family Elapidae, kin to cobras, etc) Micrurus fulvius
I can count and know this is five listings, but I do not think many non-herpetologically inclined people note the distinction among the rattlesnakes.
Interestingly, SC is also home to all four types of barbecue sauce: Mustard, tomato, vinegar, and ketchup http://www.scbarbeque.com/History.html
On a day-to-day basis, I encounter more barbecue than venomous snakes
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