Not only does the exposure of fence-post dwelling make them exponentially vulnerable to natural and man-made threats, but many Nicaraguans erroneously believe the Ctenosaura quinquecarinata to be venomous and kill the reptile on sight if encountered in fence posts. In desperation, the endangered reptile has adapted to finding refuge in wooden fence-post cavities, a major lifestyle change from living in the forest canopy, where foliage and body camouflage help protect the Nicaraguan Spiny-tailed Iguana from natural predators. This reality has created a housing crisis of dramatic proportions for the Nicaraguan Spiny-tailed Iguana. quinquecarinata is fortunate enough to survive natural predators, deforestation and intentional fires, its refuge may still be destroyed by the most responsible of farmers, ones that instead of burning or clear-cutting forest, remove only dried branches and trunks for use as cooking fuel. What’s worse, more than 90% of the Nicaraguan campesinos cook using fire wood. Nicaraguan cattle ranchers and farmers set fire to their land twice annually to regenerate pasture and prior to crop planting biannually burning already occupied and potential Ctenosaura quinquecarinata refuge sites. However, habitat loss is just the beginning, since the Nicaraguan Spiny-tailed Iguana only lives in the cavities of dried tree trunks and branches, its survival challenges are multiplied. triangulum.Despite having diverse natural predators, the biggest danger to the Nicaraguan Spiny-tailed Iguana’s continued existence is the destruction of its tropical dry forest habitat by humans. The latter is now considered a synonym of L. Two former subspecies are found in Minnesota, eastern milk snake (L.

All other subspecies are now treated as synonyms of one of the six resulting species. Habitat: Occupies a wide variety of habitats, from open woodlands, bogs, swamps, and woodland edges, to marshes, lake shorelines, old fields, pastures, suburban parks, and gardens.

in 2014 resulted in the species being separated into six species. Scientific Name: Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum Size: 24 52 (adult total length) Status: Locally common throughout most of its range. At that time 25 subspecies of Lampropeltis triangulum were recognized. This species was formerly named eastern milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum). Mostly rodents, but also amphibians, birds and bird eggs, reptiles and reptile eggs, and other snakes, including venomous snakes. Image: Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum). They also live under rocks or logs in other habitats including fields, savannahs, agricultural, suburban, wetlands, and forest edges. Shy, beige-brown with keeled scales and black spots on back.

Habitat: Milksnakes are found in a variety of habitats, but generally prefer pine or hardwood forests with rock outcroppings. It is rarely found in the open during the day. Watersnakes have keeled scales and divided anal scales. This snake is frequently encountered in buildings with stone foundations, including human dwellings. Rocky hillsides rocky areas in deciduous forests and grassy areas near woodlands and rock outcroppings. There is usually a light-colored 'Y' or 'V' shaped mark on the back of the neck, sometimes replaced with just a light mark. Milk snakes are highly variable in coloration but most have a light background color with dark splotches that are outlined in black.

Milksnake keeled