Everglades Rat Snakes.

[fiona]

Hi

I am just looking for some advice please. For the past few weeks I have being weighing up the options for a first snake. I have noticed that people are encouraged to keep a corn snake as their first snake.

Has anybody got any experience of an Everglades Rat Snake? Do you know anything about their nature and feeding habits or difficulties?

Not many people keep rat snakes. Any ideas why? Is it the nature of rat snakes that they are 'advanced' in some way to keep or thier availability?

Just like the look of the yellow or everglades varieties, and am under the impression they are less 'nippy' than the texas rats.

Any advice welcome, regarding if it's a snake I would 'work towards' when experienced so to speak. etc


Thanks
from Fiona.

[Ophiuchus]

I know this is a month old, but I'll give my $.02.

The "other" ratsnakes (i.e. Elaphe obsoleta sp....which includes the blacks, greys, yellows, and everglades) are really not much harder as far as I can tell than corns. The main difference is size; corns rarely exceed 5 ft, whereas the rest can commonly get 6-7 ft.

I do know a few folks who keep them, and from what they say, part of the matter is that there is a lot of legality issues regarding the black rat snake (E. o. obsoleta). Many states in its range prohibit its collection as well as shipping it out of state.

Another thing is bloodlines. Many E. obsoleta enthusiasts like to be "purists" and there is lot of intergrades happening with the species. Since the black rats are the species type and the others are sub-species, this causes issues with the legality of the blacks I mentioned above.

As far as Everglades go, Ive never worked with them myself but I do know they require a tad higher humidity than the rest.

Overall, I honestly don't think they're much more diffcult than a BP or a corn, etc. I say go for it if you really want one.