All this has been hashed out on the forum many times before.

The original description of the everglades rat snake called for a red tongue, but did not explicitly state a "solid red tongue". I had a pet yellow rat that I caught in Pinellas County, FL that had a solid red tongue, and it most certainly was not a Glades rat.

As an avid field herper who has caught some ridiculous thousands of snakes, I can tell you that every trait of every species is subject to variation. There are no homogeneous populations of snakes that fit any printed description to the letter.

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