Sorry, but I think you have asked for trouble with this... First, I'd like to say I would like to see MORE tolerance for whatever people want to call things, as long as the audience which said name is aimed at, knows what is meant by it.

I have found "obsoletus" (which is obviously the species you are referring to) in trees, but not as often as on roads, in old sheds, and under a/c. They are semi-arboreal, and nest raiders which raid the nests of both birds and rodents, as adults. "All other rodents" includes rats of various species, as well as mice, and large obsoletus are known to take down squirrels too. Having said this, I have found more rough green snakes (Opheodrys aestivus) and racers (Coluber constrictor - now there's an inappropriately named snake) in trees than I have rat snakes, but I would not consider them to be arboreal either.

Aside from the obsoletus group (which I sometimes think of as the "forest rat snakes" ) the other species/subspecies of NA rat snakes can be found far from the vicinity of trees/heavily wooded areas, and which are not arboreal. For example, Great Plains rat snakes and southwestern rat snakes (Pantherophis emoryi) are not arboreal, and frequently found far from trees. They are terrestrial and might be considered semi-fossorial, so should we call them rodent-hole snakes? Kingsnakes, milksnakes, and bull/gopher snakes also occupy rodent holes, at times... Speaking of kingsnakes - what are they king of? I would put money on a large indigo snake winning a battle with a kingsnake of almost any size. In addition, there are the other rat snakes of the desert southwest, Bogertophis subocularis and Senticolis triaspis, which I have never heard of being found in trees.

Anyway... I don't think you are going to get many rat snake enthusiasts behind you on this, as I think most of us like the name "rat snake". I could go on, but I'm tired of this now...

-Toby


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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

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