I've kept dozens of Black Ratsnakes, normal specimens as well as plenty of the mutant variants, during the past 5 years. What I've seen is that adult size is quite variable in Black Ratsnakes. On average Black rats grow up to 1,5 - 1,8 meters, sometimes up to 2,0 meters but that's about it. Males average about a feet longer than females, but this too seems to vary a lot. Factors such as (geographic) origin, food intake, and genetics determine growthrate and therefore adult size.



Some of the mutant variants average significantly smaller than normal (wild colour) specimens. Inbreeding may have something to do with this. One of many reasons why I moved away from the leucistic Texas / Black Rats. I have seen that whitesided Black Rats too tend to average about a feet shorter than normal Black Rats. Of all the whitesided Black Rats I've seen during the years, there was only one specimen good enough to meet my standards, the rest was (sorry guys) rubbish. This one male specimen, born august 2004, is now 1,3 meters long and still growing very fast. Next year I'm gonna breed it to my melanistic female Black Rat, also a damn fine specimen. If it wasn't for this one specimen, I would have cancelled my whitesided Black Ratsnake program.

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