Something in all this heat

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LouB747
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Something in all this heat

Post by LouB747 »

Kansas City. HOT. I'm from SoCal and am in KC and have been for the last few weeks. Pretty hot summer for you Midwesters. Anyways, under less than ideal conditions I had to at least look.

Quite a few cool inverts....
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I knew I was onto something when I saw this sign.
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Ended up finding this 30 mins later.
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I'm guessing Prairie King, unless it's a Great Plains Rat. Either way, it was nice to see something on the crawl. Back to SoCal tomorrow.

Lou
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justinm
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by justinm »

Nice finds, I waste a lot of summer afternoons looking at flutterbies, and Odonates.
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Jordan S.
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by Jordan S. »

Yup, that's a Prairie Kingsnake.
ChadHarrison
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by ChadHarrison »

I hate to break it to you, but it is for sure not a prairie king. It's of a completely different genus, actually. I am from as far north as southern IL can get so I don't have any experience with emoryi. But that snake is DEFINITELY of the Pantherophis genus. I would put any sum of money on that. It does resemble P. calligaster slightly, I suppose. But that head, they eyes, the arboreal body are all just dead give aways. It definitely looks like emoryi, and if so thats a hell of a lot better of a find than a prairie king!


- Chad
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justinm
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by justinm »

Chad,

How much money can you afford to lose on this wager?
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muskiemagnet
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by muskiemagnet »

i'll follow this. i have no experience with either. my gut says king, but that head sure has some rat qualities to it.

ben
DanW
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by DanW »

That's a nice looking yellow-bellied kingsnake you found there. :lol:
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justinm
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by justinm »

This is a juvenile Great Plains Rat. The snake in the above photo is a Prairie King Juvie. I'll look to find a decent shot of one of those, I can find all kinds of adults... I need to organize my photos a little bit better.

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Soopaman
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by Soopaman »

A good indicator on the prairie king is the concavity on either side of the blotch/saddle. The rats are more uniform in shape.

Additionally, once you have experience enough with both species, you'll recognize the very distinct kingsnake facial structure, though it is not evident in the given photograph. A profile picture would show it well.
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Brian Hubbs
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by Brian Hubbs »

Those two can be confusing. One time i picked up a DOR rat snake in KS because i thought it was a Prairie King county record. It was an adult and i should have looked more closely, but didn't. I was embarrassed when I delivered it to the Hays museum. :lol:
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Brandon D
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by Brandon D »

Definately a calligaster. Just being from Kansas City would most likely justify that. great plains rats are extremely rare in that region in Mo. I have never found one from Jackson county. They are recorded but I wonder if some of those specimens were in fact calligaster instead of emoryi.
Here are some more prairie king snakes

Cass county Mo.
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I think this was another one I couldn't get to it in time due to taking this insitu photo
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Henry co. Mo.
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Jackson co. Mo.
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yep definately a calligaster, with that said sometimes photos of them can be confusing especially lateral views, I once ate my words on here, just like you Chad :lol:
:beer:
Brandon DeCavele

One distinctive factor is the Y or "wish bone" followed up by another Y often the first Y or wish bone is closed at the anterior end and often the second larger Y is open and seperated posteriorly (with striped individuals this will extend all the way to the vent) like this individual from Clay county Mo "north of KC"

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Brandon D
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Re: Something in all this heat

Post by Brandon D »

Heres some more calligasters

Cass co Mo
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Jackson co Mo.
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Platte co Mo.
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and an emoryi
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