Great write up Daniel. I've always enjoyed your website. I finally got to head to south Florida this year and search for wild Everglades Ratsnakes. I had a couple of good Florida herper buddies take me out. We hit a few of the palm plantations on the outskirts of Everglades National Park. We found lots of corns, 6 yellow rats and one of what the hobby would consider an Everglades Ratsnake. The below pictured animal is what was found (Pic taken by my friend).

It was an eye opening experience for me. That animal was found within 50' of a normal looking yellow ratsnake. Heck, in Everglades National Park we came across a huge yellow rat crossing the road. As much as I still want to push for them being a different subspecies (I'm a splitter), my recent observations lead me to believe they are just a color phase. I still call them different and breed Everglades Rats.

One short trip isn't a life time of experience like you have--it just showed me that there are orange snakes alongside the yellow snakes.... lol



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