Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I don't know anything about this snake's history. And guesses?

here's one more bad one

bairds ratsnake? where are you?

That seems to be a Yellow Ratsnake, Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata. This taxonomy might be a bit dated, but I still prefer it.
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
1.2.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
2.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.1.0 California Kingsnake
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
4.2.0 Rosy Boas (Harquahala, Mexican, Temecula, & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes

LIZARDS
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko

AMPHIBIANS
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog
0.0.2 Gold Frogs
1.0.0 Fire Salamander

So, I have been wanting to get a yellow rat snake and someone (who I do not know) is trying to get rid of this guy. He got it from "a kid" about a month ago. Any way to guess if it would be captive bred or wild-caught? (it is located in Philadelphia--I know no one can guess where it originally came from, but I guess I am asking if it could have been caught near Philly?).

What I really want is one that will look like the one that DMong has posted!

Anyway, I have several rat snakes now, but have never gotten one from such an unknown source. So, does anyone have any advice on what I should consider in deciding whether to get this snake? I presume I would need to have him de-parasitized. What is involved in this? Is it a case of the "cheap" snake costing me $300 in the end?

Thanks for your help ,
Sonja

If it was wild-caught it would probably have been in Florida or near. Not yellow rats will be living around Philly, I believe its way too cold. Check for scars or missing scales around the snake's body. If it is clean then chances are its captive bred. I imagine its rare for a rat snake to get that size in the wild with no battle scars.

I don't go to great lengths when introducing a new snake to my collection other than to quarantine it for a month. Put white paper towels for or on the substrate so mites will show up if they are there and check the feces for anything unusual.