Hi Tim,........

Yes, I very much agree that they can look fairly similar. Here are the feature differences........

The head shape (somewhat flaired and flattened in the pic), the solid gray color of the head, the MUCH smaller eyes (and iris coloration), the more "H" shaped saddle blotching, no finely-mottled side freckling, the forked-shape nuchal marking behind the head/neck, and no gradual fading/blending of the color and blotch pattern towards the tail are all indicative of a juvenile Black rat.

Check out the huge differences here on each one of those characteristics on this very young juvenile Black Racer. None of the above characteristics apply to this one as well.


cheers, ~Doug



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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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