Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are two Texas Ratsnakes collected in the last three weeks.
One is a classic colored yellowish and black specimen found in Nueces Co. (Corpus Christi).
Now the other is like none I have seen before. It was collected in Comal Co. (near New Braunfels). It shed two days ago and seems to be lacking the yellowish pigment that most of the Texas rats have (except for the high red ones). It does have some whites and reds on a dark colored ground color.
Is this snake a morph of some sort or is it just an unusually dark specimen? Let me know what you guys think after looking at the not so great pic.
Regards,
-John Lassiter-

It is pictured next to the "normal" phased one:

Let me know what you guys think.
I have been raising kingsnakes and ratsnakes for nearly 20 years and breeding for only 4 and have never seen such a "Chicken Snake" before. BTW, the venter is nearly all black with some white specks unlike the creamy yellowish venter of most Texas Rats.
-John Lassiter-

Again, sorry for the poor picture quality. It is the only camera that I have working right now.

It looks to me like just a real dark example of lindheimeri. I've found a few like that myself over the years. The variation can be great. Does he have the red in between his scales? If not he could be an anerythristic.
Alan,

Yes he does have red between some scales and white between others just no yellow shades as in others I have seen.

I kinda figured the red would rule out Anery.

I am working on some better pics.
Thank you for your response. If he is just a dark colored Texas Ratsnake, he is definitely the only one I ever saw.
He nearly looks like a black rat, but I now their range does not even intergrade with texas rats in Comal Co., TX.
Thanks again,
-John Lassiter-

I've really only seen a few that dark myself, and that is over about a 30 year period. The funny thing is, there are pure black rats that aren't as black as your lindy. Some from even the northern most reaches of their range.
Take care.
Alan,

john, i had an even darker female lindeimeri a few years back......lacking almost all pattern. she threw hypos when bred to a normal male......

Now, that IS strange.
Wouldn't they both have to be heterozygous for hypomelanism to occur in some of the offspring?
Where they both wild caught (collected)?
If so, then LUCK was on your side.

Regards,
-John Lassiter-

john, i know the male was wc, the black female was obtained at a show and the guy said to me that 'she is het for something but i forget what'. i don't know where she originated though. she left my collection as part of an [attempted] cutback because she was sooo ugly but she did throw nice babies. good luck w/ her!

This snake was wild caught in Freestone County (near Palestine). It was actually a beautiful snake when seen in person and reasonably calm for a TX Rat.

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Chris Harrison