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My buddy that goes to Shenandoah University in Virginia caught this going on in his back yard. I'm lucky to run across a garter and he got to see this. He sent me the pics for an ID to make sure they were not venomous. I think it is kind of neat to see the color differences between two snake from the same locale. Definatily not as black as the VA locale a few posts down.

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3.1 Corn (Anery Stripe-Ripple '06/Amber-Jack Straw '06/Snow-Casey Jones '06/Amel Motley-Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.0 Western Hognose (Samson '05)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 8yrs, Porter 3yrs)

great photo's .. very macho thanks for sharing

Sue x
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np

Not saying it is but that looks more like male combat behavior to me. Anyone know if obsolata does that?

>>Not saying it is but that looks more like male combat behavior to me. Anyone know if obsolata does that?

Yep they do .. and thats what i thought when I looked, as the bodies are intertwined and the heads are off the ground .. real cool shots
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tony...that's the first thing i thought....the position of the heads reads more male/male combat....but very cool

Looks like combat to me. Regardless, it's VERY cool to see that caught in action. There might actually still be a female nearby in those pix that just wasn't noticed.
Very cool timing!!

I once found a hatchling black rat wrapped around a baby mouse (a fuzzy) under a bunch of English Ivy in my yard. I only found them because the mouse was squeaking so loud.
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Tom

"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

He just sent some more pics since I was so excited to see the first three. I didn't even think it could have been 2 males. In one of the pics it almost looks like they are hooked up, but I could be wrong. Anyway, either way I am jealous I wasn;t there to see it.

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3.1 Corn (Anery Stripe-Ripple '06/Amber-Jack Straw '06/Snow-Casey Jones '06/Amel Motley-Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.0 Western Hognose (Samson '05)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 8yrs, Porter 3yrs)

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Carl

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw the pic was male on male combat.Just the way they are twisted full body makes me think so.Sweet pic and if they are both males,that is something that not many people get to see.Classic example of being in the right place at the right time.Or at least they were!
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"Upon Thy Belly Thou Shalt Go"

That seems to be what everyone but me figured out. When I mentioned that to my friend he said that they were doing it for a few hours. He said he went out a few times over 3 hours to check them out. Very cool stuff!
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3.1 Corn (Anery Stripe-Ripple '06/Amber-Jack Straw '06/Snow-Casey Jones '06/Amel Motley-Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.0 Western Hognose (Samson '05)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 8yrs, Porter 3yrs)

If they were actively doing this I would say it is male male combat. In my limited experience once coupled snake mating is a pretty static event. You might want to define and report this observation to your state herpetolgist. I'm not sure if this has been documented in black rats. It would make an interesting line of inquirey. Coolest post I've seen in a long time!