Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had the pictures of this snake unlabeled for over a year now, but have always figured it to be a Great Plains Rat Snake. I can't remember it's belly pattern, which as far as I know is the only way to tell the difference between that and a corn snake. It's the only one of these i've ever seen in the area (Fort Bend County, Texas) in 8 years and neither of them are shown on field guides as occuring here. Unfortunately I found what I believe to be this same snake dead on the road less than a month later about 500 feet away.

Another picture.

Visually, that is a Great Plains Ratsnake (Elaphe guttata emori). The Cornsnake, (E. g. guttata) does not occur naturally in Texas.

I'm not sure what field guides you are using, but check out these:

A Field Guide to Texas Snakes - Alan Tennant, Texas Monthly Press, 1985.
Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America - Roger Conant and Joseph T. Collins, Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Both guides show the Great Plains Ratsnake Occurring in Fort Bend County. They differ slightly, as Tennant shows the snake occurring all the way to the coast, while Conant and Collins show them absent from Brazoria County.

Disclaimer!

Recent taxonomic work by Burbrink, 2002, has reclassified the East Texas Elaphe g. emori, naming it as a seperate specis - Slowinski's Corn Snake (Elaphe slowinskii). Not all herpetologists have accepted this reclassification.

Hope this helps,

John D.

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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

Hmm, you're right i've had Tennants field guide for years and I guess I stupidly never looked into that one for the range. I was looking in the Werler & Dixon Texas Snakes book, and the smaller field guide they put out last year, which don't show it's range anywhere near my area. I was wondering why in the field guide they put out last year it was called Slowinski's Corn Snake now. Thanks.

Hmm, you're right i've had Tennants field guide for years and I guess I stupidly never looked into that one for the range. I was looking in the Werler & Dixon Texas Snakes book, and the smaller field guide they put out last year, which don't show it's range anywhere near my area.

The difference between those books is profound. Always read Tennant's books with a carefully skeptical eye. Tennant's maps are loosely based on Dixon's data. Dixon and Werler is a much more credible source. If Dixon and Werler say they aren't known from Ft. Bend county, they aren't (at least they weren't in 2000).
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

That is a juvenile Texas Ratsnake (P. obsoleta), not one of the subspecies of Cornsnake (P.guttata). The ssp of cornsnake in Ft Bend county (where they would be uncommon, to say the least) would probably be Slowinskii's cornsnake (P. guttata slowinskii).
I have never seen a corn in Ft. Bend or Harris county.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Props Chris -

>>That is a juvenile Texas Ratsnake (P. obsoleta)...

Yep - sure is! Forgot to look at the postoccular stipe! D'oh!

>>...The ssp of cornsnake in Ft Bend county (where they would be uncommon, to say the least) would probably be Slowinskii's cornsnake (P. guttata slowinskii).

Yeah, I mentioned Slowinskii's cuz its on the CNAH forum. Not sure if its a full sp. or ssp. - until someone comes out with a new guide, I'm sticking with E. g. emori. The guides do show it there (whatever its called), but since you haven't seen one, I bet they are uncommon.

Great ID!

John D

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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

Would a juvenile Texas Rat Snake have the spearpoint head pattern though?

Sorry, should have mentioned that this one was probably between 3 & 4 feet long so not sure if that could be classified juvenile. Wish I had better pictures that showed it's full size but this was about 1 week after I got a new camera and didn't know how to use it. Thanks again for the help all.

They can have a spearpoint. It varies how connected the tip of the spear is, but they can have it. Here's a yearling (around 2 feet) from Grimes Co. (north of Houston).

Here's a juvenile Cornsnake from Grimes county -

Here's an adult cornsnake from Grimes county as well -

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Well, guess I learned a couple of things today. I was figuring only between the Great Plains & the Corn Snake because of the spearpoint I never realized that Texas Rat Snakes could have a pattern like that but looks like you nailed it. Thanks again.

I think there is a sort of instinct with this type of thing. I saw the pic and the first thing that came to me was Elaphe. After so many years dealing with native herps, it usually just comes to you.