1 a.m. 2' juvie black rat outside our door!

[MelissaFlipski]

Last night when my husband went to let the dog out at 1 a.m., he saw something moving in a branch right outside our kitchen door. He got a flashlight and went after it, catching it before it escaped into the crawl space.

He was very docile until I decided to measure him. Then he bit me - no biggie. Then he bit me again and wouldn't let go! Taught me a lesson. But I was still unphased.

Though I'm in my late thirties, my mom can still worry about me and said, "Be careful. They can have germs in their mouth. Maybe MRSA even." Was that a play on my concern over some eczema??? Yes, mom, I put Neosporin on the bites immediately after. "What if you grab a baby copperhead?" Uh, I know what those look like and they aren't thought to live down here, only on the ridges.

Anyway, without further ado, here he is, in all his 46 gram and 24" glory!


Beautiful belly! White under top half and checkered the rest of the way down.


Spring is here!

[littleindiangirl]

I have a hard time telling the difference between eastern milk snakes, rats and corns lol. The saddles always throw me off (no pun intended)

[MelissaFlipski]

Not sure on the others, but black rats have black tongues and gray bellies as adults with some checkers. Juveniles have checkered and white bellies.

Black rats have solid colored heads - grayish brown or brown. Corns and Milks have lighter markings among the darker ones on the head. I'm not sure corns get as brown as the juvie black rats. And while Milks are two-toned brown separated by black, black rats are missing the clarity of black between the two tones.

I'm getting this some from experience, but mostly from pictures found in Will Bird's and Phil Peak's "A Snake Hunting Guide."

[catawhat75]

Ohhh, I love the rat snakes. I have never been lucky enough to see one in the wild though. Nice find!

[Morph Addict]

Ohhh, I love the rat snakes. I have never been lucky enough to see one in the wild though. Nice find!

Wonderful find!

I always thought that I was never going to find a snake in the wild (to camera hunt). Once I made a point to go out regularly and keep a vigilant eye out you can see your local fauna going WILD (well, I guess staying wild... not going wild it was already there hehe). One snake that has remained visually elusive is the rattlesnake (I wouldn't try a capture, just pics). I have seen many types of snakes including gohper snakes, pine snakes, hoggies, cottonmouths, copperheads, kings of all sorts, and many others just to name a few. What really blows me away is that I touhght it was impossible to see snakes, that they'd always be camo'd and I couldn't find them. But if you make an effort, and you go out more than once (as in regularly) you'd be suprised! I hope you see some snakes soon!

[MelissaFlipski]

Yes, it is so fun to find snakes in the wild. I am finding it a nice add-on to the hobby. Between the pet snakes, the black rat snake rehab, field herping, snake education presentations for kids, snake books, reptile magazine, snake forums, and trying to start up a local herp society, it's become a full blown hobby!

Speaking of timber rattlesnakes, I went out to a local Audobon meeting the other night and the local timber rattlesnake expert (and well known, nationally, I think), W. H. Martin did a presentation with a slide show, a live timber rattlesnake, and a live copperhead. He brought the snakes out on snake hooks and let them crawl around a table some. It was awesome!

Also, a good read is "A Snake Hunter's Guide" by Will Bird and Phil Peak. They say that timber rattlesnakes prefer hiding under ground cover that has some height to it - not touching the ground like lots of other species accept. Put branches under artificial cover for them to prop it up a little. Also, they are very susceptable to disturbance. So once they are found in one place, they don't frequent it again.

Woo-hoo! Glad it's spring!

[Thor26]

cool! i want to get a black rat soooooo bad i've always wanted one.

[MelissaFlipski]

I want one, too. But for now, I prefer them propagating on my property. Seems either the black rats are more elusive or the eastern garters are more prolific.