A question for the rat snake experts...

[dalvers63]

I picked this girl up from a very nice and well meaning owner. The snake is 8+ years old and purported to be a corn snake. I don't see any corn snake in her myself and hope that another rat snake person will have an idea as to what she may be. Since the snake was dumped on this girl 8 years ago, she didn't have much background info on her, only what she was told (that it was a corn snake).

There is one caveat to her...though she is 8+ years old, she is only the size of a yearling corn snake. She was fed one mouse (not sure what size) a month for the last 8 years. It's hard to tell scale in the photos so I'll say that a large rat fuzzy will make a nice little bulge in her tummy. She is just about to shed in the pics (she actually shed last night - The only difference I can see color-wise is that she got a bit brighter and maybe a tiny bit more orange. Otherwise she is a nice amber brown).

I'm thinking that being so small, maybe she didn't complete a color change from baby colors to adult? I don't know how much she is going to grow over the coming months. She weighed in a 125g about 10 days ago and that was after two meals of rat fuzzies. I'll weigh her again now that she's shed and see how she's doing. Being so thin, she also has next to no muscle mass so I hope that will improve with some good meals.

[MelissaFlipski]

She might be an corn...
http://www.marshall.edu/herp/Snakes/Cornsnake.htm

How reliable is the 8+ years? Only other option I can come up with is an eastern milk snake...
http://www.marshall.edu/herp/Old/milksnake.htm

Or a juvenile black rat snake...
http://www.marshall.edu/herp/Snakes/Black_Ratsnake.htm

Two questions, what color are the eyes and what color is the tongue? That will help with identification.

For now, I'm guessing it's actually a captive caught corn. Other opinions?

[FloridaHogs]

I would say no to a corn, the pattern on the head is all wrong. But it could be a corn / rat hybrid. Or a black x grey x yellow rat cross. Maybe a mole or prairie king, they are typically under 3 feet.

[dalvers63]

Thanks for the suggestions!

We found out not long ago that she's actually a Glossy snake, Arizona elegans. I'm not sure what subspecies she is but it's a match as far as looks go.

She's turning into a very nice snake, too. As for the 8 years, it's pretty solid. The person we got her from had been taking care of the snake for 8+ years, ever since it was left in her care by a friend.

She's eating and shedding now and getting muscle control back. I'll post another pic of her soon.

[Snakemaster24]

thats what I was going to say