Black Rat Snake

[catfishrod69]

Found this cute little guy at work today! Akwardly they are supposed to be threatened in Ohio. And from what i have read, thier range is about 150 miles north of me. He came out of a piece of pipe at work, and i immediately snagged him up to take home. Hopefully i can get him eating some frozen/thawed mice chunks for now.

 

[catfishrod69]

Well the little guy ate today! I was feeding all the snakes, so i cut a leg off of a mouse going to my female garter. I held it in front of him, and he took to it very easily!

 

[The Snark]

Looking like kismet, my friend.

 

[loxoscelesfear]

what you have there is a juvie black rat snake.

 

[3skulls]

Yep, Black Rat.
Mine love to perch and climb. Great snakes.

 

[catfishrod69]

Are you sure about that? It looks identical to a young eastern fox snake.

 

[3skulls]

I'm never sure
I have never seen a Fox snake so I could be wrong. But I would always guess a Black Rat when I looked at one of those photos.

Black Rats have that band between the eyes.

Here is the only photo I have of one of my Rats that I have with me.

I can try to get some more when I get home for you.

 

[loxoscelesfear]

No doubt about it: juvenile black rat snake. you are 150 miles south of fox snake territory! here's a a pic of baby fox in foreground, black rat baby curled up behind it
http://s219.photobucket.com/user/wo...akeandblackratjuvenilesC.jpg.html?sort=3&o=74

and a young fox snake http://s219.photobucket.com/user/wolfpacksved/media/bigJ273.jpg.html?sort=3&o=78

 

[Msh]

It looks like a fox snake to me. Their somewhat common around me.

 

[catfishrod69]

Darnit!!! I was really hoping for a fox snake! But i do love black snakes so i guess it will still be a great addition. Wish i could re-title the thread now. Hope a mod sees this and renames it. Thanks for your help everyone! Ill update this as the little guy eats and grows.

 

[3skulls]

They are great snakes. Mine come out and watch me when I'm in the room.

Will tame down pretty quick if you work with them and great eaters!!

 

[catfishrod69]

Yeah i have always liked them. I found a 5' female in my house about a year ago. Was pretty tough catching her, but once i did i just took her outside and released her. Im gonna try and hold him as much as i can.

 

[catfishrod69]

Found this little guy floating around in his water dish the other day. He was soaking up for a shed. I found him today with all the shed off and in good shape. Was cute when he was in the water floating. I could nudge him with my finger and he would just float around in a ball.

 

[catfishrod69]

After a couple sheds!

 

[Bugmom]

Aww! He's cute!

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[catfishrod69]

He sure is. But he is also a little nervous and pissy lol.

 

[Shrike]

Gorgeous snake!

 

[catfishrod69]

Thanks man!

 

[pitbulllady]

A lot of baby Rat Snakes are what I like to refer to as "tightly-wound", lol. I guess when you're small enough to be on the menu of every potential carnivore from Jay birds to feral hogs, you would tend to be a tad edgy. As they get older, they settle down a lot. Most of the time. Once in awhile I run across an adult with a major attitude, but most are very laid-back. I caught a large(6+ feet) male a few weeks ago, as he was about to tempt fate by crossing a usually-busy highway in upstate SC, and he has yet to so much as vibrate his tail. Unfortunately, though, I'm having trouble getting him to accept f/t rodents, and he prefers mice over rats, in spite of his size, so feeding him is more of a challenge. He's such a sweetie, though, I might have to put up with that inconvenience, plus he's really BLACK, unlike most of the specimens I catch locally, which have a lot more Yellow and Gray Rat influence and tend to maintain a noticeable pattern(like the youngster in the op's pictures)throughout their lives.

pitbulllady

 

[Bugmom]

He sure is. But he is also a little nervous and pissy lol.

I found a little grey rat snake in Georgia last fall. Took him home just to photograph (he was in the trees behind my apartment there) and he proceeded to turn into a huge jerk. Now, he was like a foot long, so dinky little thing. Still managed to bite my dachshund on the nose, bite my hand, and escaped into the couch. I used a pair of kitchen tongs to get him out lol.

I put him in a small plastic tub with plans to release him after I showed my boyfriend. He struck and struck and struck while in there. It was like, "Aww, you're so small and angry."

Dunno if he would have calmed down had I kept him.

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