Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are some pics that show how variable Emory's rats can be depending on what part of their range they are from. The first two are of a Brazos Island female(meahllmorum) and the last one is a western Colorado female(intermontana), although this subspecies is not recognized as being valid by most.

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Matt Kauffman

Yeah,..big difference there!. Sort of like an Okeetee corn vs a lower keys "Rosy Ratsnake"(rosacea).

Nice looking animals!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

very different!

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Todd Hughes

Nice photos, snkes, and comparison, Matt.

Those tip-o-Texas meahllies have even buggier eyes than other localities (of meahllmorum), I think. Very interesting snakes - but even though most taxonomists would consider those two locaities to be simply "emoryi", I am of the mindset that still considers them subspecies of guttatus. Furthermore, I would suspect that our south Texas meahllmorum are probably more closely related to east Texas guttatus slowinskii than they are to intermontanus.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I totally agree. I couldn't remember if it was intermontana or intermontanus. Thanks for the correction.

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Matt Kauffman

>>I totally agree. I couldn't remember if it was intermontana or intermontanus. Thanks for the correction.
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>>Matt Kauffman

LOL I didn't even realize that I was correcting you. It still is intermontana, if you say Elaphe emoryi (or guttata) intermontana. Using the generic name Pantherophis changes it to intermontanus.

Very nice photo and snake, BTW.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I knew I had seen it both ways, hard to keep up sometimes. And thanks.
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Matt Kauffman

Here are two different locales I found this year. Unfortunately both were DORs. The first is a elaphe emoryi emoryi found on River Rd. in West Texas.

Here is a emoryi meahllmorum found near Freer in South Texas. This guy had wide saddles. We nicknamed him Skully.

Chris Drake

those longer blotches, over all size, and the transverse bars really nail most of the meahllys. The blockier, short, and green tint to the blotches screams emoryi to me, along with the reduced size.
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Todd Hughes

>>Here are some pics that show how variable Emory's rats can be depending on what part of their range they are from. The first two are of a Brazos Island female(meahllmorum) and the last one is a western Colorado female(intermontana), although this subspecies is not recognized as being valid by most.
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>>Matt Kauffman

Those Emory's are both very cool. Do they both belong to you? Please give me a shout as I'm in the market for both of those forms. I do consider intermontanus a ssps, btw. I also keep B.I. rats. The Brazos Islands rats are the largest Emory's I've seen and the intermontanus are the smallest.

Holiday Cheers...Terry

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