Reptile

CLASS: Reptilia
ORDER: Squamata
SUBORDER: Serpentes
FAMILY: Colubridae

SIZE:
Up to 53 inches in length

RANGE:
North America; statewide in Louisiana except for the marsh, the Mississippi alluvial plain and western half of the Florida parishes.

HABITAT:
Mixed pine/hardwood forests

DIET:
Wild - Small rodents, snakes, lizards, and young birds
Zoo - Rats and mice

DESCRIPTION:
Moderately long with alternating dorsal and lateral series of black-bordered brownish or reddish blotches on a gray or tan ground color; darker pigment in large adults; belly usually checkered pattern; anal plate undivided.

FACTS:
Strikingly similar to the corn snake. Distinguished by the anal plate which is divided on the corn snake and undivided on the prairie kingsnake.

YOUNG:
5 - 17 eggs laid in June and July, hatching in August and early September.

STATUS:
Not threatened

REFERENCE:
"The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana," Harold A. Dundee and Douglas A. Rossman