How to distinguish a black rat snake from a black king snake?

Hey everybody, I'm from middle Georgia and tomorrow I'm going to be relocating about 5 snakes from a lady's basement, to the woods behind my house. She says they are long skinny black snakes, which my guess are either king snakes or rat snakes. I've caught snakes like this for a long time, but I've never really looked into colubrids, and I've always had a hard time telling between the two :rolleyes: I've looked them up online but most of the pictures look the same. Does anybody know how to tell between the two? I've just always been curious.
Thanks a ton!

If they are adult kings they should have a bit of pattern, probably thin white rings/bands on them that should be fairly visible. If they are adult black rats, you will have to look for the pattern as it will be there, but is almost obscurred by how dark the snake is. Imagine it will look like a cornsnake pattern but hidden in the dark background. If they are juveniles it should be easy to tell the difference.

Okay great. Yeah she says the snakes range from roughly 2-5 feet. Some some are adults

Another thing to look for is the scales on their backs. Kingsnakes have completely smooth scales, where Black Rat's have a slight keel (ridge) in the center of their scales on and along their backs.

I would think you'd have a harder time telling the difference between racers and rats than rats and kings. Kings almost always have the chain pattern or banded pattern. One very important note though. Ownership of native colubrids is illegal in the state of Georgia. While you are just moving them to the woods I'm not sure if a law enforcement officer would see it that way. So be careful in that aspect.

I live in GA this is a Black rat snake

http://stewartreptiles.com/wordpress...ratsnake02.jpg

http://stewartreptiles.com/wordpress...ratsnake01.jpg

http://stewartreptiles.com/wordpress...tsnake0201.jpg

Kingsnake have white banding/rings and the head shape is different

Here is a Kingsnake http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/lamget.htm

Here is the rat snake http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/elaobs.htm

I don't recall any rats having keeled scales, but it's been a long time since I've seen a big black rat.

Kings have a rounder nose and rats have a more triangular head. If you post pictures someone will be able to tell you what they are.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wilomn

I don't recall any rats having keeled scales, but it's been a long time since I've seen a big black rat.

Kings have a rounder nose and rats have a more triangular head. If you post pictures someone will be able to tell you what they are.

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They are slightly keeled.


http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps_of_nc...s/Ela_obs.html