Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please vote! Found on a gravel road west of San Antonio, Texas in semi-arid mesquite and cactus ranch land.

Looks more like a Corn from that picture. How about a closeup of the top of the head. That would help.

I'll cast a vote for corn. E.guttata meahllmorum.

Terry Parks

np

Looks a lot like mine.

That looks like a western rat snake (formerly known as the Texas rat snake), Elaphe obsoleta instead of an Emory's rat. Got any other pics?

kk

They are all over Wichita, KS. This is the only picture I have. I've posted the question before about ID and consensus is it's an Emory. The kicker is they only have one anal scale. Go figure.

Mike B

I am guilty of being the instigator that made happycamper question his original identification (I thought it was a guttata, as have most respondents).

However, birddog, the snake in your photo is certainly NOT an emoryi. That snake is an obsoleta. I am as sure of that as I am that happycamper's is a guttata.

It is hard to describe the difference in words, it is kind of a gestalt thing, but the head pattern, head color, shape of the blotches, etc. all tell me that is a young obsoleta (probably a TX ratsnake).
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Chris Harrison

Mine has 48. And does it have stripes (lengthwise) under it's tail like mine? Also it looks like yours has a red tongue, mine is more grayish. Don't know if that means anything...

Man, that just doesn't look like a corn head pattern to me. The saddles look too big to be Emory saddles, they always strike me as being really thin-saddled compared to corns.

(albino emory formerly owned by Don at SMR, not sure who has the project now)

This snake's pattern is what I think of with Emory's rats. The head is much more corn-like than the hatchling in that photo.

My first gut reaction to that photo was juvenile grey rat, but I'm no expert in the other rat snakes. I defer to the ones in the know here for that. The saddles aren't right really for an obseleta, but the head isn't right for a corn, either.

Any chance on seeing a good head shot and belly shot?

The blotches certainly look large, rounded, and saddle shaped like the regular corn, but the head is wrong. I wish I could explain it better.

Anyone have any photos of juvenile Kisatchie (or Slowinski, I guess they've renamed them) corns?

I've just never seen anything close to that head pattern in a corn...even the ones with bloodred influence and wide/skull head patterns don't look like that.

IMHO
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~~~Hurley