Reptile & Amphibian Forums

has anyone else read that they are trying to change the name from black rat snake to eastern ratsnake?? Personally i think its dumb. b/c people here in VA just call them black snakes... and then you can say, actually they are called black RAT snakes. but i read somewhere they are trying to switch the name to eastern rat snake. any one else think this is stupid?? or is it just me!?!?
heres a pic of my boy....
thanks for looking and i appreciate all the info!!!
~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 Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

Heh, this has been a hot topic for a while. It stems from a paper published a few years ago by Frank Burbrink, in which he found that the traditional color-based subspecies of ratsnakes did not line up with molecular phylogeny; he threw out the old subspecies and created three new species: the eastern ratsnake (Elaphe alleghaniensis) east of the Appalachian Divide and the Apalachicola valley, including yellow and black snakes; the central ratsnake (Elaphe spiloides) between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, including grey and black snakes; and the western ratsnake (Elaphe obsoleta) west of the Mississippi, including grey and black snakes.

There's still a lot of argument over whether his methodology and conclusions were correct.

In Virginia, the law reads Pantherophis alleghaniensis. That would lump Black, Yellow and Everglades rats all together. It would also make some Black Rats excluded because they are from west of the Allegheny Mountains. With this system, I have no idea how they plan to enforce the laws reguarding Black rat Snakes.

I imagine they'll just assume that any black ratsnake is P. allegheniensis unless proven otherwise.

>>I imagine they'll just assume that any black ratsnake is P. allegheniensis unless proven otherwise.

Here is my BLACK RAT SNAKE

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My collection
1.0.0 Normal Taiwan Beauty Snake
1.1.0 Normal Black Rat Snake
1.0.0 White-sided Black Rat Snake
1.0.0 Anery Corn Snake
1.0.0 Amel Corn Snake
1.0.0 Normal Common Garter Snake
Wish List
1.0.0 Black Racer
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0.0 Spilotes
1.0.0 Blue Beauty Snake

very cute!!!! i like how they change colors as they grow.... but i got mine as an adult....
~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 Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

and technically you cant have any "wild type" corn snakes either. heh... i think thats just stupid... b/c if you breed for example a bloodred to an Amel. you get all normals.... and its illegal to let them go... so what are you supposed to do!?!?! kill them? i dont think so....
~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 Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

The wildlife laws in many states are poorly written/thought out; this is why it's always a good idea to contact the captive wildlife coordinator for your state's fish and game dept. and get to know him/her. It really smooths a lot of potential bumps. If you let them know your situation, and let them know you're trying to obey all the rules, they're less likely to hassle you.

Kin,In va. you can legally keep up to 5 but,you can't breed them unless they are amel.As far as corns go,if you have a permit you can legally breed them . Jeff

right... thats what i meant... but you cant "really" sale them unless your licensed. which i think is silly... VA is odd....
~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 Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

You are so right!What really burns my but is,You can't get a permit to breed eastern hogs but,you can kill them all day long!! All you have to do is call it a blowing viper or some dumb s__t like that! Jeff

Get the permit. It's only $10.00 and you have to fill out an application. It's really not that much of a hassle.
-Phil
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Work is the curse
of the drinking class!