Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry for the bad photo quality but I was told that this "Corn Snake" was an albino black rat snake in the corn forum so I'm just here for a little confirmation. (I just want to know what to call it when I take it to a reptile show this sunday.

can you get any clearer pictures of the snake? what about a headshot/closeup?

To me the head doesn't look very 'corny' but there's not really enough detail to say for certain...

Well, my grandpa took the pics, he'll be over this week I'l get some more pics, closeups and everything. Thanks for the quick reply, I'll post them soon.

Like I said, Black rat Get a good top of the head shot and that will disprove your corn theory. Also I am sure the ventral checkering doesn't start for about 1/3 down the length of the stomach...? That guy could be a twin of one of my girls. Where is he from?


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.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

"You saved my life! I'm gonna get you so many lizards!"

There is no belly checkering on this guy at all. I'll get them photos by friday.

People are making this much too hard. If it is a Corn Snake, it will have the classic spear point marking on top of its head. If it has what looks like three dots or so and stripe that runs across the front part of the top of the head and then down across the eyes, it is likely to be a Black Rat.

The picture below is of a western Corn Snake, AKA, a Great Plains Rat Snake, that shows you what the spear point marking looks like. If you don't see that pattern, then it is not a Corn Snake.

Below the Corn photo is one of a young Gray Rat Snake showing the pattern that would still show up on an albino Black Rat Snake.

I guess its a black rat then, cause it looks more like the bottom, or an intergrade cause the head pattern is VERY vague. Thanks for help. Sorry I can't get pics, my grandpa forgot his digital camera yesterday so no pics were taken.

If there is little or no pattern on top of the head, then it is more likely then not a Black Rat. Just plan on it to get a little larger then a Corn Snake, and envoy keeping the animal.

Good luck with your snake.

Rick

He's really nice, the guy gave him to me for 25 bucks with cage and everything cause he "bites sometimes when you try and get him out." I just wanted to know what I should call him.

What does the belly pattern look like? Corns will have a checkerboard pattern while a black rat will be patternless.

If that is a snow corn the pattern will be more of a white and ivory color as opposed to a white and black pattern on a classic corn, but it will still be easily seen.

That's not really true. I have seen WC black rats who have patterns starting up close to their heads, and the standard rule of thumb is that black rats belly patterns start anywhere up to 1/3 of the way down their body, but this is by no means a true method, either. The best way to tell would definitely be a head shot, but looking at that pic, my vote goes for black rat, or obsoleta integrade, anyway.

Maybe patternless was a bad choice of wording. I should have said blotched, diffused or random patterned.

I was just thinking of the lack of a true stark checkerboard pattern.