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i bought a rat snake from a reptile shop he said it was a greenish rat snake but he also looks like ayellow. He was nice and easy to handle for about a month but now he will bite me as soon as i reach in the cage he even chases my hand any way i was just wondering his species i dont know how to put a pic on here but he is about 4.5 ft long he has two dark stripes down his back and his base color is a copper brown to a yellowish color. his tounge is red and he has orangis eyes with black pupils. any help would be appreciated thanks

Well if it is a greenish rat snake, its species would be obsoletus. A greenish is actually an intergade of two subspecies of obsoletus where their ranges overlap and they readily interbreed in the wild. A greenish is produced when a black rat and a yellow rat snake mate. So a greenish is not actually a subspecies of the rat snakes, just an intergrade of two subs. They are a very attractive snake though IMHO!!

The break down is:
Genus - Pantherophis
Species - obsoletus
sub-species - obsoletus (black rat)/quadrivittata (yellow rat)

So the correct scientific name is Pantherophis obsoletus obsoletus(black rat snake) X Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittata (yellow rat snake). Just much easier to say "greenish rat" than "black/yellow intergrade.

Hope this helps
Brian

>>i bought a rat snake from a reptile shop he said it was a greenish rat snake but he also looks like ayellow. He was nice and easy to handle for about a month but now he will bite me as soon as i reach in the cage he even chases my hand any way i was just wondering his species i dont know how to put a pic on here but he is about 4.5 ft long he has two dark stripes down his back and his base color is a copper brown to a yellowish color. his tounge is red and he has orangis eyes with black pupils. any help would be appreciated thanks
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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

When American Rat Snakes whent from the genus Elaphe to Pantherophis, the endings for some of the species and subspecies names changed.

Elaphe is a feminine noun while Pantherophis is a maculine one (you can tell this much of the time by their endings). Latin adjectives agree with their nouns in both number and gender.

Now for the corrections.:

A Yellow Rat Snake is a Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus.

The plural of obsoletus is obsoleti, as in "two subspecies of obsoleti".

Please note that you do not change the endings when the snake is named after a person, such as Pantherophis bairdi or Pantherophis gutattus emoryi.

Brian did a great job on what your Greenish Rat Snake most likely is.

Thanks for the correction on the quad ssp. I keep forgetting to change the ssp to feminine. Sooner or later it will sink in, and then my luck the names will change once again!! (Eastern, Midland, Western!!!)
Brian

>>When American Rat Snakes whent from the genus Elaphe to Pantherophis, the endings for some of the species and subspecies names changed.
>>
>>Elaphe is a feminine noun while Pantherophis is a maculine one (you can tell this much of the time by their endings). Latin adjectives agree with their nouns in both number and gender.
>>
>>Now for the corrections.:
>>
>>A Yellow Rat Snake is a Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus.
>>
>>The plural of obsoletus is obsoleti, as in "two subspecies of obsoleti".
>>
>>Please note that you do not change the endings when the snake is named after a person, such as Pantherophis bairdi or Pantherophis gutattus emoryi.
>>
>>Brian did a great job on what your Greenish Rat Snake most likely is.
-----

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