A while back your posted dozens of location Yellow Rat Snakes of on a web site and I found that very informative. Have you done the same with Kentucky Rats across the state?



Bill,

I started that project a few years ago but I don't have any type of website at the current time. I am still compiling photos, mainly of snakes I've seen myself in the wild. The Carolinas and Florida are some of my favorite places to herp. The photos below are of a snake I came across in Hart County, Kentucky.



I've seen eastern Kentuckians solid black (Harlan County near me in East Tennessee) and have seen the contrasting blotched in western Kentucky (Calloway County).



I've yet to see a solid black rat snake from Kentucky. All of the obsoleta I've seen in Kentucky are the olive brownish versions that can also be found in southern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and North Alabama. From the post above, looks like they are quite similar in MS, although I've never herped there... yet. I live in Todd County, which is two counties east of Calloway. I've got quite a few pics of Calloway county rats, I'll have to dig some up and post.



I just thought you might have documented the variances across your beautiful state? Actually it would be a great, albeit ambitious, project to pictorially document all North American Rat Snake variants where there is a perceivable delta, much like Joe Forks has done with Gray-bands!!!



Working on it, someday I'll put all my locality photos on the web again.



dg

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