Reptile & Amphibian Forums

WHERE ARE THE LARGEST BLACK RATS FROM?

Not sure about which locale might harbor the ultimate largest known populations, but the record documented length is 101 inches.. 8'5"

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

PA ....people always tell me stories of seeing this 8 and 9 foot ratsnake all the way across the road!!!!

largest I ever caught , period....6 ' 6"

about the same as a yellow rat I had years ago (male ,captive and raised by me)

....I am still looking to see bigger....

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........JY

No doubt,....most of the general public's estimations of snake lengths are absolutely ridiculous as we both know. Most people will look at a 3 foot ratsnakes and swear it is a 7 foot behemoth as big around as a mans arm..LMAO!!

I'm sure somewhere in the country there are some very old absolute monster ratsnakes, but most certainly don't approach 7 to 9 feet that's for sure. That other poster's leucistic T-rat bloodline come to mind...wow!!!..uh, yeah, pretty freakin large!

I had a 7 plus foot Yellow rat around 1968-1970 that was a real handful to carry home as a 8-10 year old kid. I bought the thing from an older kid on the next block over from where I lived. On the way home I was trying to avoid stumbling all over it the entire way home because it was so huge and cumbersome no matter how much I tried to control the big loops and coils. So about mid way home, it pushes it's nose into my neck and starts chewing real good..LOL! Geez, so when I get home my T-shirt is soaked in blood, and my neck looked like it was slashed by Jack the Ripper..

I think I went into the bathroom real quick as soon as I walked in to clean up so my mom wouldn't blow a gasket when she saw me standing there covered in blood..LOL!. She was very cool about me having snakes as a kid though, and she even bought quite a few for me for my birthdays and Christmas too. But I just bought the snake, so I didn't want her thinking it was something I couldn't handle right off the bat...LOL!

Anyway, yeah, as a young kid, that big 7 plus foot yellow rat seemed like holding about a 12 foot King cobra would to me now........minus the gnarly venom of course..LMAO!!

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

may be mistaken, but I seem to recall reading that the record 101" black rat was found in New York.
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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

I have a Black rat from the Delaware water gap area along the new york border. It was a newborn back in Sept of 2001.
He was fed well and is just shy of 7' now and I think the growth has slowed down so he won't be one of those record BRs.
He probably won't top 7'.
Absolutely the best tempered snake I have though.

The biggest american rat snake I ever personaly saw was down in florida at "Uncle Donalds Farm". It was a yellow rat that was in excess of 8' and very thick. It was obvious at first glance that this snake was a possible record being way bigger than your average rat snake.
I inquired about it last summer and was told after having it as an adult for better than 15 years it passed on. If any snake lover here had visited that farm they would remember it for sure.
Mike.