OK first off, let me give you all some background on this snake.
A male from NorthCentral MO, saline county. According to range maps, the only racer in that part of MO is the Eastern yellow bellied racer, C.c.flaviventris. Now after looking at this snake, I think it looks an awful lot like the Southern black racer, C.c.priapus. But the problem is, the priapus does not range up that far into MO. But I have never seen a flaviventris this dark either. So what do you guys think?? The belly coloration isnt right for a flaviventris, so could this be a possible range extension for the priapus??
Or possibly an isolated population of melanistic flaviventris, much like the melanistic eastern hognoses we have here in KY!!
He is not aggressive at all, has never bitten. He was in really bad shape when I got him. Had a serious RI, mouth rot (his nose scales are still scarred up from it), and numerous wounds on him. The worst being a deep gouge across his stomach, it was very deep and pretty badly infected. After a trip to the vet and some TLC, he has turned into one of the "jewels" in my collection. Feeds on F/T mice like no tomorrow and doing great!
In this picture you can make out how scarred up his nose scales are!!! This guy would have died for sure!
Here is a side shot of him. He is probably close to 36".
And in this shot you can see the color of his belly. Looks typical priapus, but again, way out of range!! If you look right above my right hand, you can make out the wound to his stomach. This one was very deep and is still not fully healed. It looks much better with every shed though and doesnt seem to bother him anymore.
He had numerous other wounds as well, and has a spot on his neck that is scarred up as well. There are alot of Bald Eagles in the area he was found, and I imagine that the wounds were a result of him almost becoming Eagle food. And I didnt even notice the T-shirt I had on during the picture session until I was previewing this post!! LOL
Thanks for any input
Brian
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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath" (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Yellow rat snake "Wolverine" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)
RACERS
1.0 Eastern Yellow Belly racer "Nightcrawler" (MO locale)
KINGS
1.1 California king snake "Bandit and Moonstar" (Coastal phase)
1.0 Prairie king snake "Bishop" (KY locale)
0.1 Black king snake "Domino" (KY locale)
1.0 Desert Kingsnake "Gambit"
MILKS
0.0.1 Eastern Milk snake "Cable" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern/Red milk intergrade "Omega Red" (KY locale)
Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian
