Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking about getting a rat snake sometime this summer mainly because I want something bigger than my corn, but I don't think I want to venture into python or boa territory. I'm looking for a colorful snake though...any suggestions? Pictures are always welcome.

Check out everglades and some of the black rat varieties. Depends on what "colors" you are looking for. You'll find lots of yellows, oranges and shades of albino. While pure white is not a color, the leucistic texas rat is a beautiful animal. Scroll down and see what has already been posted. Duffy

If you're talking a little bigger (5 to 6 feet) then I agree with everglades or yellow rat. They can be very pretty.

If you want bigger than that then you'll have to go to asian rats. I'd recommend russian rats for their size and good temperment but they are hardly colorful (see photo below).

A Taiwan beauty snake can get up to 9 foot and a nice one is quite a sight. There are also several smaller beauty snakes and they can be quite colorful (thus the beauty in the name). There are several other larger colorful asian rats but they are rarer, harder to find, harder to keep, less handleable and more money. Even the beauty snakes can be a handfull and aren't as calm as corns. But even yellows and everglades can be spooky.

Several people on this site work with various beauty snakes and several have shots of yellows and other nice american ratsnakes (for instance bairdi's). I'm sure you can do a quick search here under taiwan or beauty and find several nice photos of colorful beauty snakes here.

Best regards
John

Whatever snake I decide to get (rat or otherwise) I don't want to go above 10'. This won't be a problem with rats, and I know there are several boids that don't get that big, but I don't really like the look of the body shape on those snakes. I've been looking through the pictures on this site and I really like the greens/yellows on a lot of the snakes. I have a normal corn right now, so that's enough red and brown to suit me for now. I like that picture you posted...even though it was mostly black, the high contrast is a definite plus.

Part of the reason why I want a colorful rat is because I'm using my corn and other animals from work as subjects for educational programs. I'm hoping to expand on this in the coming years, and I'd like to include things that aren't commonly seen (i.e. something that doesn't look like a native species)

but if you'll be working with kids and they'll be handling them then you may have to take temperment into account. A lot of ratsnakes tend to be skittish.

No, I'm the only one that handles the stuff. Snakes are some of the more tame animals I use anyway. Most of the time it's hawks or owls, so I've written every program to be hands-off.

That sounds like a very exciting presentation for kids (of all ages!).

Then a nice bright colored Taiwan Beauty Snake might make a nice display snake. See link below to a photo on the Asian and Eurpoean Ratsnake Forum. In my opinion that snake is a very nice example of the species.

Regards
John
Link

Although many, if not most, ratsnakes can be skiddish as babies, most can become very tame with age...At least the N Am ones I have dealt with and seen (including Tx rats!). Yesterday, my 9 year old had a birthday party & most of the kids observed and handled black rats, corns & tx rats. My bairds & greenish had just eaten the day before, so we didn't take them out.

Of the 10 ratsnakes (that includes the 4 corns) that I have, only one has ever bitten me...The leucistic tx rat was a biter when he was a baby. Now he never bites and I have no reservations handing him off to my 9 year old...Duffy

But if I were going to be working with the general public then to avoid even the slightest chance of a child being even slightly nicked I would go to great lengths to ensure that nothing could go wrong. Like you, I've let my own kids hold a variety of harmless snakes. But I regarded them as reasonably sensible kids. And I supervised the handling pretty closely. With the general public you never know. Some kids are pretty ornery and liable to do some pretty foolish and mean things. I couldn't be too surprised if a snake reacted to an unexpected and threatening movement or grab.

So when I give advice over the internet to folks whose background and intentions I'm only partially clear on I'm going to sound like a nervous old fogey. But I just don't want to give anyone any extra reason for considering us "crazy snake guys".

Regards
John

These are some very beautiful snakes and have a great temperament!
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)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

Mine is always a BIG hit with the kids. They love the coloring of him. Both the greenish and this one are Dwight Good stock.
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)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

The only thing with those two is that the amel there looks just like my corn snake does anyway, so visually it wouldn't be as interesting I think. As far as the greenish rat goes, how big do they get? I'm not finding much information on them using Google, unless it's the same thing as the green rat snake...is it? If so, then it only gets up to about 4 feet long?

I was looking at some beauty snake pictures awhile ago...those look nice and the information I was finding about their husbandry needs and temper weren't anything I can't handle. How about the red-tailed rat snake? I really like the look of that species, and the only thing I could find to deter me so far was that they get somewhat aggressive during feeding times.

But like I said, I don't want to hurt my animals or any people, so nobody comes anywhere near me whenever I'm out with the animals anyway. I'm comfortable enough with that that I can take one of our rabies-vector animals out in public without worrying too much about it biting anyone (it doesn't have rabies, but the species is known to carry it, so if it bit someone it would be an automatic death sentence for the animal so that it could be tested). I'm careful with things like that....so as long as the snake is docile (or can be) enough for me to safely hold or be around (if I left it in the enclosure), then I'd say that's fine.

Are a natural intergrade between black rats and yellow rats, so the size of those animals will give you the range...Larger than a corn, but only by a foot or so.

The one pictured above is a beautiful animal. There is much variation in the "greenish" ratsnake, so check with the breeder in terms of what you might expect. Dwight's animals are obviously very impressive, so that would not be a bad place to start. Duffy

First of all, redtailed greens are simply aggressive...lol Seeing as there are so few of us working to get captive bred stock, and with a lot of the problems we've encountered, I personally haven't seen an CB adults, so their temperments could be much differnt. These truly are, beautiful snakes, but they are very hard to keep, especially as WC specimens. I've been fortunate and have been able to successfully aclimate 3 out of 4, but I've heard of entire shipments falling out...very prone to parasite problems from the wild.

I've found the beauty snakes to very impressive snakes, especially when it comes to a display animal. One not mentioned yet, that would prbably fall into perfect suit for what you are looking for is a Kunisar Island Rat. Especially if you can find good specimens with lots of turquoise green/blue color.

Or another good display snake that could work for you, if you like the black/yellow offset, are tiger ratsnakes. Again, a very mobile snake, awesome threat displays, arboreal, reaches up to around 8ft, and very cool!

Just my two cents though...below is last year pic of my Kunisar female with her clutch...

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Conrad
Too Fast Reptiles
www.toofastreptiles.bravehost.com

Bairds have the most bang for your buck.lol..Paul

If you want a naturally colorful snake.I would suggest a bairds or everglades, but if you dont mind morphs. Black rats or texas rats are probably the way to go. I personaly like the texas rats better, but everyone has there own favorites.

Daniel Jarvis

lavender texas rat