Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last week, I had the thrill of catching, photographing, and releasing one of the most beautiful, stout, and impressive fox snakes I've ever seen. (I was in Vermilion County, Illinois at the time.) Earlier this week, a coworker showed me two images of a snake he had seen while camping with his Boy Scout troop across the border in extreme western Indiana. I'm guessing from the images that the snake is a grey rat snake (with a meal in its belly), but since I've never seen one in person, I wanted to get everyone's opinions.

If the images don't show up, here are the direct URLs:

http://www.greatsleague.com/images/other/r1.jpg
http://www.greatsleague.com/images/other/r2.jpg

Here is the fox snake (inside a suede bag):

http://www.greatsleague.com/images/other/foxsnake.jpg

Thanks!

That is a black rat snake. Gray rats are a rarity in extreme southwestern Indiana. Basically, the black rats in the southern half of Indiana have the light saddle-pattern, the ones to the north are darker. The fox snake is cool, I come across them from time to time in northwestern In.

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2 tham radix
1 Chicago Tham s. semifasciatus
2 elaphe vulpina
1 gray tiger salamander
4 Aphonopelma hentzi
1 G rosea
1 Haplo minax
1 Brachy angustum
1 Brachy sabulosum
1 Brachy vagans
1 Cent. hentzi scorp

Thank you, sir, for your quick response! One of these days I'd love to come across a black rat snake. I've been field herping for five years now, and I've seen only garter snakes, northern water snakes, fox snakes, and Dekay snakes. I'm dying to see a hognose, milk snake, and, as mentioned, a rat snake.

Thanks again,

Jason

0.1 Trans-Pecos Rat Snake (cb)
1.0 Okeetee Corn Snake (cb)

Coming soon:

Texas bullsnake
Western hognose

head to southern Illinois, you would be in heaven.
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2 tham radix
1 Chicago Tham s. semifasciatus
2 elaphe vulpina
1 gray tiger salamander
4 Aphonopelma hentzi
1 G rosea
1 Haplo minax
1 Brachy angustum
1 Brachy sabulosum
1 Brachy vagans
1 Cent. hentzi scorp

Looks like a black rat to me too. This one would look almost entirely black without the meal in its belly to separate the scales and show the pattern underneath.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.