Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am considering getting a rat snake. Its been a long time since I had one. I am considering a gray rat snake. I also like black rats but live in Ohio where I would need to pit-tag it. What are gray rats like in captivity? Do they rub there noses raw or is that easily preventable? Can someone please post a pic of an adult white oak gray rat snake?

Thanks much,
Dan

I recently sold off a large venomous collection after working with them for 7 years. (something I and my wife thought I would never do). I now am focusing on North American ratsnakes. I have to say I love them and find them to be real interesting and smart (for a snakes). I have sevral of the obsoletta species. They never rub their noses. Some can be nippy as babies, but all my adults are laid back for the most part. You need to handle them as young snakes. My favorites are my yellow ratsnakes. If you have room to set up an arboreal set up, they will make use of it and you can enjoy them even more. I only had one other snake I liked as much as my yellow rat snake. It was an Indian spectacled cobra. They both had/have the same curious nature. Both the rat snake and cobra actually get/got excited and come up to the glass when when I enter the room. The nice thing is I can free handle the ratsnake. I also have some Tiger carpet pythons and Jungle carpets. While they are beautiful they have nothing going on upstairs (in the brain). They perch allday and bite any thing that moves. I took my jungle out the other day and while I was holding him he bit himself twice. I was pissed. Any way sorry to ramble. Go for the rat snake they are cool, and get a grey oak they are beautiful. Cheers Greg

Thanks much for the advice. I am getting more interested in the obsoleta ratsnakes. I also got rid of my venemous after working with them for 13 years. My wife lived in constant fear of me getting bit and asked that I get rid of them. There are many other snakes to keep so I did. I will always cherish the experience I gained. Right now I keep kings and boa constrictors. I also have a couple corns but would really like to get into obsoletas.

Thanks,
Dan

I had the same situation. It was a choice I made for my family.

I'm also in OH and I own a CB black rat - love him! He's a fantastic animal, and as the previous poster said, very alert and aware.

Although he was already PIT tagged when I bought him, I bet the ODNR could give you a list of qualified reptile vets that do the procedure if you were interested.

>>I now am focusing on North American ratsnakes. I have to say I love them and find them to be real interesting and smart (for a snakes). I have sevral of the obsoletta species. Cheers Greg

I like North American ratsnakes a lot too. While the obsoletas are really cool, I prefer the Slowinski's and Emory's. I don't think of them as being terribly intelligent, but they have great dipositions and personality, because of all their adaptations. And they are safe! I work with some kings also, and some other natives, but the rats are the coolest!!

PS: The grays are pretty much like blacks, except they probably like a little longer season, and they have much more of a pattern.

TC

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Ratsnake Foundation

obsoleta are a great ratsnakes. The white-oak phase gray rat is in my opinion one of the best looking natural ratsnakes out there. Good luck with your choice.

Steve
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"I never had any luck with women. One girl told me to come on over, there's nobody home. I went over, there was nobody home."
Rodney Dangerfield.

I really enjoy my grey rat. He is the most active of all of my snakes. He and my IJ Carpet are usually the only snakes I see when I walk in the room. I have my grey in a 29 gallon with dow rods for him to climb. He is very active and loves to climb. I did have an issue with him rubbing his nose, so I dropped the temps a bit and it has gotten better. I don't have any real recent pics, but here are a few from last year. He is a white oaks.

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3.2 Corn (Butter-Sunflower '07/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)

>>I really enjoy my grey rat. He is the most active of all of my snakes. He and my IJ Carpet are usually the only snakes I see when I walk in the room. I have my grey in a 29 gallon with dow rods for him to climb. He is very active and loves to climb. I did have an issue with him rubbing his nose, so I dropped the temps a bit and it has gotten better. I don't have any real recent pics, but here are a few from last year. He is a white oaks.
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>>3.2 Corn (Butter-Sunflower '07/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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Ratsnake Haven Group

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3.2 Corn (Butter-Sunflower '07/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 9yrs, Porter 4yrs)

Gray Rat Snakes can show a lot of color variation. Their background color can range from a very washed out shade of gray to a dark gray. There are also those animals that are not gray at all but have a background color ranging from a very light tan to a dark brown. The saddles also have a similar range of color. You also have the Gulf Hammock gray rats that show both saddles and stripes. If you get a young one and get it used to being picked up and held, most become calm and are easy to keep.

Check your game laws. In Virginia, they adopted the new naming convention of calling Black Rats, Pantherophis alleghaniensis. This puts Eastern Black, Yellow, and Everglades all in the same bag. It also means that Black Rats from your area are not the same thing as Black Rats from my part of the country. Since I don’t think Virginia is going to go around testing the mtDNA of anyone’s snakes, I find the new law absurd. It is meant to protect native animals from over collecting, but it also pretends that we can’t tell if a Yellow Rat was collected in Virginia, and we can tell what side of the Alleghenies a Black Rat came from.

Dan,.......when it comes to the obsoleta complex, a nice vividly colored Yellow Rat is pretty hard to beat in my opinion, as this W/C east coast central Florida specimen displays shortly after "downing" a nice meal.

Nothing wrong with owning ALL of them either!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

haha.... looks like he's smiling for the camera. how cute!!!
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn(Just A Pet), A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

Our rescue:
0.1 green iguana about 3 1/2 feet (Spikey)

Yeah!,........he sure does look like he's making a sarcastic camera smile!..hahaha!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I like all of the snakes in the obsoletus complex, but they are larger than I personally want to work with. I like bairdi as a substitute for the obsoletus complex, as they usually don't get as large, and they can be very nice looking as well. Also, they used to be considered part of the obsoletus group, and are very similar in many ways. They are usually very docile also, which makes them even better imho.

I agree with Terry also, about emoryi, which are very nice rat snakes to start out with.

-Toby Brock
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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Yes the emoryi are real nice. Chamelon Counters still has them frosale here on K.S. The ones I ot from him are breeding size . beautiful, and real calm.

P.S. Toby, those Texas rats rock. I had them out roaming around the reptile room for about an hour yesterday.

Sorry for all my bad spelling in the last post. I started my Easter wine early.

Hey Greg, I'm happy that those Texas rats went to a good home, and very glad that you like them! Enjoy your wine - we celebrate with Mexican beer (Corona) in South Texas!

-Toby
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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research