What is it?

[Ben Biscy]

Arrogance, sweet, sweet arrogance....

I'm pretty sure that Nashville is someplace in Tennessee.

According to guys who should know, http://www.tennsnakes.org/, the black rat doesn't even occur in that state.

IF you would look at the eye in the first picture and then at the eye of whatever you're calling a black ratsnake I bet a smart observant guy like you will have NO difference seeing THE difference. Count a few scales too, that might give you another indication that things may not be as you think they are.

what is this link?

black rats are the MOST seen snake in north and south carolina. the locals (aka, the ignorants) call them "black snakes". any snake that is black is a black snake.... so i can see how someone who would reference a Tennessee site/chart as the "all southeastern nonvenomous snakes" would have similar thoughts.

similar, yes. but not quite; color is the number one give away. five minutes on a yahoo search will show you what i'm talking about. don't check one site, check many and see comparisons from different states, esp sc and ga.

you'll find that rat snakes are VERY common in the area (red, yellow, black), much less than the black/blue racer, which is found more north, ie nc, tn, va.... we've got the racers too, but you don't see them very often. you're more likely to stumble upon a coachwhip than a racer.

but yeah; check the coloration of baby vs. baby. then go to counting scales and posting links.

and to the other poster, yeah; all in good fun . i like arguing with wilomn, it's entertaining and great stress relief.