>>Is this a Yellow Ratsnake underneath the morph animal?
>>
>> ~Doug
>>
>>
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>>"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"
>>
>>my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com



this doesn,t have anything to do with yellow/black rats but it does have to do with supposed ranges and range maps..
according to the range maps, range descriptions and supposed biologists, water moccasins/cottonmouths are not in my area.
So, I can say for a fact that you can not trust range descriptions, range maps and biologists, who may or may not even explore areas they expound knowledge about. I caught a nice three foot cottonmouth in a pond not more then 50 yards from the shop.
Not only that but there were four or five other people from work with me.
We were checking the pond for spawning bass and I saw a water snake headed for some rocks. Well, I grabbed it by the tail and one of my friends lifted the main rock it was wedged under.
Well holy crap!.. what do you think I had in my hands?
Yep, a cotton mouth. This was not a case of mistaken identity.
I had it in my hand, it turned and postured ready to bite, mouth open, fangs obvious, scales on head obvious, eyes obvious, I mean hell, we had it right there in living color. I've been catching snakes since I was a kid...I'm 51 now, I'm not an idiot and I do know what I have in my hands. I've caught copperheads, rattle snakes, corn snakes, rat snakes, king snakes, worm snakes, brown snakes, queen snakes, green snakes, ring necks, garter snakes, black racers, ribbon snakes, water snakes (nerodia), pine snakes and even a nice mole king snake...so, back to the point.....snakes can't read, they move about, they expand their territories. Unless very extensive searches and studies are done on a very regular basis, books aren't gospel. That's why they are called field "guides" and "reference" manuals. That are meant as a guide or a reference not as concrete, perfect to the letter, indisputable fact.
Hell, if a book is published in 2010 then all you have to do is look at the time involved in collecting data, compiling said data, writing the book, getting it to publishers and then editors, re-writes and finally to print. This would mean the data was probably gathered no later then 2007.
sorry to ramble but I just wanted to point out my opinion of range maps and guide books..
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Corn snakes and rat snakes...No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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