Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I realize that these snakes can be highly variable in both pattern & colors, but regional morphs are common, as well as regional traits. Generally: grays & darker colors are more common in the East; reds are more common in the NW; yellows more vibrant in South; lighter colors dominating in the west.

I'm researching locale-specific traits of the San Antonio area. One or two months ago, a forum poster posted a photo of a specimen from that area that seemed quite dark brown, with little orange or yellow.

1) Does anyone else have photos of specimens from the San Antonio area?

2) Has anyone encountered Brown-headed (rather than the common gray head) specimens frequently in any area?

I'm trying to determine the likely ancestral origin of my captive-bred snake. A darker oak brown, his upper blotched stripe is orange; his lower blotched strip is yellow. My hunch is that he's typical of snakes from the SW part of their range, from Austin to San Antonio, possible NW as far as the Wichita Mountains.

The following is a Flickr link (no login needed) with photos examples. Any experienced field herpers care to venture a guess on his ancestors' likely origin??
Link

Ameron,

A couple of years ago, I encounterd a huge linderheimi that had the fron third of its body looking exactly like a Black Rat. To a tee, rest of the body typical brown on black.
I live just south of DFW & the Texan rats are HIGHLY variable in this area, that was the only one I've seen like that..

Matthew

The Texas rats I captured in central texas about an hour north of Austin were VERY DARK. Their blotches were a very dark brown and very large, with little groundcolor showing between them. I thought they were black rats at first. Their heads were very dark as well. Yours may have originated south of Austin, but doubful north of Austin.

Don,

I've seen some that color from around here. Pretty close to the storm Casualty I found sunday AM up here..

Matthew