Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever seen or heard of this? Two adult black rats of
roughly equal size. One constricted and killed the other then left the dead one laying there and crawled off.
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1.0 het albino ball
1.0 norm ball
0.4 norm ball
0.1 snow corn
1.0 butter corn
0.1 norm corn
1.0 southern plains rat
1.0 striped Cali king
1.0 western hog

Never head of it myself, maybe two males fighting for the rights to a female? Or a snake biting more than it can chew.
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PHLdyPayne

Why do you ask? Have you ever see this? Someone might have mistaken a Black King Snake killing a Black Rat Snake as one Black Rat Snake killing another.

From all the dealings I have had with wild caught Black Rats, it sounds like nothing but pure fiction to me.

I ask because I am the one who saw it. I do not think it was a black king snake although it could be possible. I live in central VA and all the kings I've seen here have the white "chain" markings. I also sent this post to the Virginia Herpetological Society yahoo group that I am part of and was told that: 1. black rats are ophiophagus and that since I disturbed it, it left without eating. 2. Males participate in dominance combat dances where the objective is to pin the opponent's body or head to the ground, but this does not result in death. and 3. Another possible explanation is that one snake was already injured (dying) and the other snake attempted to mate with it as we are now in the peak of the breeding season for black rat snakes. Once the healthy snake realized the other snake was dying or dead, it stopped and crawled away
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1.0 het albino ball
1.0 norm ball
0.4 norm ball
0.1 snow corn
1.0 butter corn
0.1 norm corn
1.0 southern plains rat
1.0 striped Cali king
1.0 western hog

A homocidal black rat would be a killer of humans.
My guess is that one about 18 ft long could do it - especially if the human were scented with mouse first.
!!!!!!

Wouldn't that be an awesome snake to see?

Cheers!

JPD
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0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"

Ok, yes I thought of that also. Homicide - killing of one human by another human. So a snake couldn't be homicidal even if it did kill a human. LOL.
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1.0 het albino ball
1.0 norm ball
0.4 norm ball
0.1 snow corn
1.0 butter corn
0.1 norm corn
1.0 southern plains rat
1.0 striped Cali king
1.0 western hog