Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Soopaman
Posts: 924
Joined: March 18th, 2012, 7:34 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Post by Soopaman »

Getting closer to completing my list of East Texas species and spent some time close to the gulf coast this past weekend, and probably will this weekend too. Sunday night I came across this beast. I thought I'd cruised a N. clarkii clarkii on the side of the road shortly after sundown, but instead it was a meter long Thamnophis proximus orarius. Definitely the biggest ribbon snake I've ever seen or heard of, kinda wish I'd held on to him a few days for better pictures and some appropriate measurements. I'll have to put a tape measure in my herping pack from now on.

Image
Thamnophis proximus orarius (Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr

Image
Thamnophis proximus orarius (Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr

Ribbon snakes aren't particularly rare or interesting, but it's neat coming across something unusual from a common species.
Tamara D. McConnell
Posts: 2248
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:42 am

Re: Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Post by Tamara D. McConnell »

Wow, neat find! Definitely an impressive ribbon snake.
User avatar
muskiemagnet
Posts: 1253
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 8:43 am
Location: kaukauna, wi

Re: Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Post by muskiemagnet »

i find that a seamstress tape works very well for taking measurements. rolls up real nice in the pack as well.

-ben
User avatar
cctbspencer
Posts: 7
Joined: August 10th, 2012, 1:49 pm
Location: Dewey, OK

Re: Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Post by cctbspencer »

Wow..........that guy is huge! Congrats!
User avatar
chrish
Posts: 3295
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:14 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX
Contact:

Re: Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Post by chrish »

That's a brute alright. I have found a few very large ribbons along the gulf coast. The big ones are usually really bad tempered as well! Your's looks pretty clean. Most of the big ones I've found were much more beat up looking.

You could measure that snake still using the Serpwidgets measuring tool, assuming you have the hook as a known reference (http://serpwidgets.com/main/measure). By guessing the hook is 1 inch in diameter at the widest section, that makes the snake somewhere around 45 inches. It's a hog.
User avatar
Soopaman
Posts: 924
Joined: March 18th, 2012, 7:34 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Giant Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Post by Soopaman »

chrish wrote:That's a brute alright. I have found a few very large ribbons along the gulf coast. The big ones are usually really bad tempered as well! Your's looks pretty clean. Most of the big ones I've found were much more beat up looking.

You could measure that snake still using the Serpwidgets measuring tool, assuming you have the hook as a known reference (http://serpwidgets.com/main/measure). By guessing the hook is 1 inch in diameter at the widest section, that makes the snake somewhere around 45 inches. It's a hog.
Oddly enough, Chris, this wasn't all that bad tempered. Didn't get bit once by it, and most ribbons are pretty nasty biters!

Using that tool, it says it was 2'9". Since the first joint on the hook is exactly 7/8 of an inch, I used that as a reference. The hook its close to 36" itself, so I really think that's closer to the actual length. Still, it was a big ribbon!
Post Reply