"Thats a beautiful snake! Is it a texas rat or a black rat?"

Well, that is a VERY good question..LOL!, because phenotypically, the two leucistic forms are virtually identical. And meristic-wise with scalation etc..is as well. So unless one knows EXACTLY where this morph originated, it is quite impossible to know for certain.

The snake pictured was bought as a "Texas" ratsnake, along with another male from a different vendor at the same Daytona show back in 2007,but who is to say that it doesn't, or cannot have any geneflow from the black ratsnake somewhere in there.

Black Rats and Texas rats can blend together in a very large area of their range naturally, so unless there is definite color and pattern phenotype(visual look)to the snake, and it is known specifically where it was found, it can really be anyone's guess as to exactly what any individuals true subspecific identity really is.


regards, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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