Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a corn snake, a miami phase............
im thinking about getting a black rat snake, i am looking to find some info on them.

i have to say out of my snakes, my Black rat snake is one of my favorite. My guy's only about 2 years old, but very active. BRS love to climb a lot, so give them something to climb on. I have one that lives in the climbing structure, one that only goes up there occasionally. But they're definately used. They grow to be about 6-8 feet long on average. One of mine was docile as a baby from the time i got her, the other tried to run out of my hands a lot for the first week or so but calmed down rather quickly. neither have ever tried biting me or rattling their tails. one does enjoy musking, however.

pretty much the basic care is the same as a corn, however sometimes they will go off feed in the winter, even if you don't brumate them. thats about it......lemme know if you have any more specific questions.
-----
Chondros and colubrids... my 2 favorite snakes!

so if i am doing well with my corn snake i should do ok with a rat snake?

well a corn snake IS a rat snake. A corn is Elaphe guttata, a black rat snake is Elaphe Obsoleta.

Most all north american rat snakes are the same. You will get into more challanging rat snakes with more varation when you move to Asian rat snakes, such as beauties. Beautiful snakes (as their names infer), but are more challanging. I'd highly reccomend a black rat snake.

Look over in the classifieds for anything by Mike Jollif. Or email him at thesnakemachine@aol.com if you don't see any of his ads over there. I got both mine, hopefully this summer a third, from him. He is very knowledgeable about black rats, breeds a multitude of color morphs, and i'd highly reccomend him.
-----
Chondros and colubrids... my 2 favorite types of snakes!

"Life is hard. Life is harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne

the lady in the pet shop was calling the corns "red rat snakes"
i wasnt sure the black rat snakes needed special lighting.

No special lighting needed. As stated above...Great animals. Just as "easy" to care for as a corn. Some can be a little feisty as babies (mine never were), but most calm down with regular handling. A very good next choice. And, yes, Joliff has great black rats. I will probably see him this morning at the All Ohio Reptile Show. Duffy