>>I just got this guya few days ago, and was sold to me as a brindle rat .. This is my first snake, and I have no idea how to tell a brindle rat from a corn.



Look at your snake's head. The brownish stripe that extends diagonally downard from the eye to the corner of the mouth is called the "postocular stripe". In the picture above the postocular stripe stops at the corner of the mouth. This is cited as a distinguishing feature of the Elaphe obsoleta ssp. (Black Ratsnake group), vs. Elaphe guttata ssp. (Cornsnake group); in Cornsnakes, the postocular stripe extends onto the neck (Conant and Collins, 1998).



However (a big one!), using field characteristics, albeit reliable ones, to differentiate captive-born snakes can be problematic. At best, one could say that your snake is consistent with a variety of the Black Ratsnake, Elaphe obsoleta ssp.



If anyone has a different opinion, please share!



Hope this helped.



John D
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I am so not lesdysxic!



0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"

1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"

0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"

0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

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