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Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus
Average size: 48-66 inches; Record 90 inches. Young are 19-20 inches at birth. Diet: Pocket gophers, small mammals and birds. Status: Special Concern. Rare. Population is decreasing mainly from habitat reduction. Seldom seen spending up to 85% of its life in gopher burrows. Hisses loudly. When first encountered will hold its own by striking vigorously. A large, powerful constrictor. This is my favorite Florida snake.
Range: From around Lake Okeechobee north throughout rest of state.
These are my father's snake pictures. He sent them to me to post for Project Noah. I'll set him up with an account of his own and remove (or as someone at Project Noah) to move his pictures from my account when I set him up his own account. He reported, that he was on the way back from the mail box when his "Eagle Scout" brain thought..."be on the lookout for snakes" and he saw this. It stayed put long enough for him to get a camera from inside. It had eaten something recently and in the first picture you can see the contour of it in the snake belly. He said it was non-venemous. http://www.floridabackyardsnakes.com/Flo... http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-...
Ceherzog, My father took these pictures and sent them to me to post on Project Noah. He says he did not see what it ate, but based on the size of the bulge, he thinks it was a rat, squirrel, or similar sized critter.