Got a response from Ky wildlife today.....
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 12:22 PM
To: Sharp, Philip - NRCS-ST, Marion, KY <
[email protected]>; Sharp, Philip (FW) <
[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Record King snake? Almost certainly a Rat Snake
Jim & Philip, this looks like a shed skin from a rat snake to me. I can see the remnants of large dorsal saddles (blotches) in the pattern, and I can also see faint keels on some of the individual scales toward the middle of the back. Our native black kingsnakes normally have small whitish dots on some of the scales and (usually) narrow crossbands made up of small whitish dots – these show up on the shed skins. Also, kingsnakes have smooth scales on the back that lack the faint keels.
A snake’s skin is somewhat elastic and can be stretched as needed by the snake – this allows it to swallow and digest large meals (mice, rats, small birds, etc.). When you look at a snake you see only the outer layer of scales. However, when a snake sheds his skin you see the scales plus the actual skin normally hidden between the scales, so the shed skin will often be about 20% longer than the snake it came from. I am guessing the 76-inch shed skin came from a snake about 60 inches (5 feet) long.
FYI – accurately measuring the actual length of a live snake is tough. If you stretch him out straight, he will struggle against this and will actually pop some of his vertebrae, especially in the neck region. Often this will eventually result in the death of the snake. The only way to get an “official” length measurement from a living snake is to take the snake to a vet, have the vet knock it unconscious with gas or drugs, straighten it out on a flat table, and take a measurement.
No one I know of keeps data on record lengths for snakes. The “record lengths” in the field guides are based on lab measurements of preserved museum specimens in good condition (no broken or separated bones and not stretched out artificially after they had died). The field guide record length for a black kingsnake is about 58 inches, but anything over 4 feet long is really big for a kingsnake.
John MacGregor
Herpetologist - Nongame Program
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort KY 40601
[email protected]
office phone 1-800-858-1549 (extension 4476)
Cc: MacGregor, John (FW) <
[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Record King snake?
Faster response than thought.
Jim