I was over in the mountains of WV for work last week when I came across an old rundown barn. I love seeing the rats everyone else seems to find in these places online, but I don't often get a chance to look in places like this myself. So I looked all around without turning up anything of interest. I was getting depressed and thinking I'd have to take a pic of this barn just to show how nice it looked for snakes despite not having any.
As I went to walk out a different doorway than I had come in I found a black rat shed hanging from the ceiling. That made it all the more frustrating, but I did appreciate the souvenir. As soon as I walked out the door, I turned to frame up a picture of the barn and saw this nice 5 footer draped across the door. It was about as black as any I've seen in person and was very calm.
Once the tail had completely disappeared between the boards, I was about to go on my way when I noticed I was being watched.
I had just seen a nice black rat that got away before I could even get a decent picture the week before, so I was really glad to have turned this one up.
