Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As I have posted here before, I have a WC Texas rat snake I rescued from a neighbor's back yard two years ago. He's thriving in captivity, and doing much better than he would have wandering back yards until some yahoo chopped him up.
Two weeks ago, another neighbor came knocking with news of a "big snake" on her patio, just two doors from where I found the original. Yep, another Texas rat snake, casually climbing up the gutter. Then last week on the way to the barn where my wife keeps her horse, in a one-mile stretch of road I found one DOR Texas rat and a second five-footer AOR, which I shooed into the weeds. Last night, coming through my neighborhood (a typical OKC suburb, not that close to the country) there was a really big (I'd guess almost six feet) DOR Texas rat a block from my house. I know these are very common snakes, but they seem to be everywhere right now. Has anyone else noted a population surge for rat snakes in your area, or am I just being lucky?

I haven't seen a snake in days, the last I saw where 2 garters, nothing big. Can't manage to find a bull/rat/racer to save my life lol.

Well, I can tell you that I caught a juvie rat snake IN a grocery store in Yukon just a few days ago. I assumed it is a black rat, but now you have me questioning my id!

Steve

Black/Texas rats are basically the same in our range. You seldom see the very dark or jet black color common in the eastern states. Here they keep the fairly clear pattern throughout life and have a tan/sometimes even yellowish background. Yep, that's a baby rat snake. I'm guessing the wet spring and early summer is a factor . . . plants are vthriving, things that eat plants are thriving, things that eat thing that eat plants are thriving and snakes are on the move and eating and reproducing well. Going to keep the little guy?

I haven't decided whether I'll keep him/her yet. I do still have him. Wanted to at least put a couple meals in him to ensure health, and then decide whether I'll keep him. So far, he has taken a fuzzy mouse and kept it down.

I caught one a couple years ago at my parents' house that repeatedly regurged. Treated him and got him holding his meals down, overwintered him, then released him the following spring.

I also caught a huuge black rat near Ponca City a few years ago, at my uncle's house. That one I immediately released into some woods a few hundred yards from where I caught it. I've regretted not keeping that one!

I do have a 4.5 foot bull snake that I caught in my ex-wife's back yard last year. I'm not really sure how many WC animals I need!?!?! Can't breed 'em, can't sell 'em... just pets. But, I think the rat snake makes for an interesting story, having caught it in the stock room at the local grocery store!

I see you're in OKC. You're not Constrictors Unlimited Mike are you?

Steve

Nope, just plain Mike. Years ago, when my son was in his teens, he was seriously into snakes and we kept a dozen or so, including some venomous. I had not had any in a long time until I acquired my rat snake by accident. Later got a motley corn, so I have those two -- and would probably grab a bullsnake if I came across one. Not really into the larger constrictors, or anything too exotic or hard to feed like hognose. My wife's horse barn is out north of Spencer, so I am always on the lookout for road or barn snakes (have picked a few baby rat snakes out of the stalls in the past and released them in the woods.)
I'd say your little snake will do fine with a couple of feedings and a release somewhere near the store. Hopefully he'll find safer hunting grounds!