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I scanned this pic out of an ancient book I have by Klaus Griehl. The picture lost some detail in the scanning process, but I have to question is this Spilotes Pullatus. I'm no expert but of the three I've owned none had a head shaped like that. Any thoughts? The author labels it "chicken eater or cribo"
(spilotes pullatus). In the description he states they kill rodents by constriction and that one in captivity ate common vipers, killed by constriction! BTW, looking at this picture is what got me into tiger rats as a child.

There is a couple of pairs in the United States. I will ask one of the breeders if I can share who has one of the pairs. Animals from Columbia and Costa Rica look like the ones you posted.
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"Life without risk is to merely exist."

i have that book as well & it is a spilotes but which sub, i don't know. i have only seen babies constrict [rarely] however, adults seem to employ drymarchon tatics when necessary. i also read an article once by louie porras stating that in the 60's, he had seen solid yellow spilotes that had been captured for export!

I have that same Barron's book too! At the time, it had some great info. and still has some really nice pics that you don't see over and over in all the TFH books.

On to the question about head shape. I think you are referring to the higher, boxy head? If that is the case, then yes, the two adults I recently acquired have similar shaped heads, more so in the male. As for the name, tiger rats were more commonly referred to as tropical chicken snakes or tropical chicken eaters back in the 80's and 90's, and I suspect cribo was also used (especially in Europe) as a catchall term for a large SA/CA colubrid.

>>I scanned this pic out of an ancient book I have by Klaus Griehl. The picture lost some detail in the scanning process, but I have to question is this Spilotes Pullatus. I'm no expert but of the three I've owned none had a head shaped like that. Any thoughts? The author labels it "chicken eater or cribo"
>>(spilotes pullatus). In the description he states they kill rodents by constriction and that one in captivity ate common vipers, killed by constriction! BTW, looking at this picture is what got me into tiger rats as a child.
>>

Noenates will occasionaly constrict. Adults seldom constrict but will pin quarry to a wall or object with coil. I recall on one occasion where a female with oversized quarry constricted but that was an isolated incident. I have had hatchlings try to eat each other and given their opertunistic nature would venture to guess that the odd viper may have been eaten. They eat identical to Coachwhips but much faster. I have had rat pups half way down the throat just from the enitial grab and blink once and the rat pup is gone. No exageration. They inhale food.
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"Life without risk is to merely exist."

Your right Bill, but from my experience pseustes are also really fast eater, probably even more than spilotes...
Take care
Justin

Our local pet store in Lima, Ohio had a pair that looked identical to that one in the mid-70s. They even bred them once-I got one of the babies and if anything it had even more yellow than that. I sold it to a friend when i went off to college-wish I had it back now!

Brad Chambers