"Yeah I was kinda leaning towared rat snake, but wasent sure. I'm also not sure how old he is, but he was bought from a North Carolina pet store roughly a year and a half ago. At what point would he be a considered an adult? And also how can I tell if its male or female?"


Rat snakes can often be sexually mature just prior to their second year in the spring(18 months) if they have optimum conditions and husbandry, but anywhere between two and three years is very normal. many factors like temperatures, size of prey offered, and how often it is fed will of course be a huge factor in the rate of their growth rate and optimum size, as well as their individual genetic pre-disposition for size from the parents lineage. They grow at the fastest rate in their first two years of age, and after that it slows down more.

That snake had to have been bought as a new hatchling to be the size it is now that we are in November. It looks to be no more than somewhere around a year and a half old actually.

Anyway, if fed well, it will grow dramatically and next year it will be able to breed if it is a male with no problem, but if it is a female, I would hold off one more year to let it get some more size so it doesn't have any issues laying eggs. Since the breeding season is only 6 to 8 months away, it would be pressing it a bit to be good enough sized female. Over-feeding is not healthy either.

Male Ratsnakes have a much longer tail than females, and they also stay much thicker past the vent(cloaca). Females on the other hand have tails that are shorter and taper much more abruptly after the vent.

If you can provide a good quality photo of the entire tail pulled strait out, with no kingers in the way and keep it at a 90 degee angle straight in front of the camera to not change the length/depth perception any, I could tell you what sex it is if the pic is good enough.

Here is a comparison illustration of the male and female ratsnake tails.


cheers, ~Doug



-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"


serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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