Mystery solved

The "mystery snake" I blogged about yesterday has been identified thanks to Chris! I am certain it is a Fox Snake. All the info we read about the Fox Snake adds up to our mystery snake. I'm so thrilled to know this and I had never heard of a Fox Snake. It's neat to learn about new species we didn't know existed. I can't wait to tell Cliffand Holden. I'm curious to see if Cliff has heard of a Fox Snake since he grew up in Iowa and knows more about snakes than I do. I'm thankful we did not kill this rodent loving snake who is often killed because he acts so aggressive and rattles his tail.

Knowledge is the key. I had done a lot of reading over the past few years about Iowa snakes and spiders because Holden loves these creepy crawlies and I didn't want to worry about him being bitten by anything venomous. I have also called Iowa State University to speak with experts on venomous insects and snakes. All the research we have done has put our fears to rest. In the area we live in Iowa we do not have venomous snakes or spiders. It gets too cold here in the winter. Poisonous creatures like warmer climates then what we have in central Iowa.

Horray to Chris for helping us figure out this mystery snake!!

Fox Snake info on Herpnet.

Fox Snake info on Wiki.

P.S. I just told Holden the snake was a Fox Snake and he is excited! He wanted me to read the info about it and print it off on the printer. Right away he wanted to know why it is called a Fox Snake so I had to read the reason to him. He found an envelope to put the information about the snake into. Unschoolers learn all day and all year! And it is fun!!