Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The Tiger Rat Snake also called the Tropical Rat / Chicken Snake (Spilotes pullatus pullatus) is one of largest species of Colubrid with specimens reaching 10 feet in length.

I love those snakes. They are beautiful but the face is just about as kiler as a snake can look. I got to hold a hatchling once and the way the tounge flicks was just like slow motion, very interesting snakes. Good luck with yours Tom Stevens

beautifull snake. Reminds me of a speckled king.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Road Hog"

Those are among my all time faves. Congrats.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

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I have to ask your opinion since you own one of these animals. I've been looking into tiger rats for about eight months now, and they seem to be all around outstanding snakes. Why do you think they aren't more popular? They really are beautiful, and I read that they're alert and active snakes, so it would seem like more people would be interested in keeping them. Are they mean? Or is it a size issue? That's another question - I've read that they get to be about eight feet long, and other sources say somewhere in the neighborhood of thirteen feet. Which is it?

At any rate, it's a great animal.

i'm not really sure why they're not more popular [yet], probably their rep. they can be nasty at first but do calm down over time and even wc's will switch to f/t rats fairly easily. technically speaking, they are not really ratsnakes but more likely associated w/ the coluber clan. they remind one of very large arboreal racers or coachwhips. super alert w/ keen vision, they make excellent display animals! they're pretty smart too......i have heard of animals exceeding 11' but they don't 'seem' it due to their athletic build. i have an unrelated high yellow pair [dean alessandrini/michelle smith] and the 03 male is over 8' already. the 04 female is about 4' and doing the leaning/ staring thing at me right now as i type this. guess what that means? i forgot to mention their appetites, it's real healthy esp. now that summer is here. they love this heat and humidity!!!.....

Well, I knew that they weren't really rat snakes, but I didn't know where to place them. I've seen posts about them on the racer and coacwhip forum, but there are people who post about them on the indigo board as well. Either way, they're near the top on my snake wish list. Any chance of you posting a pic of yours?

i can send you a recent pic of the male, it's a pretty good shot of him coiled in his favorite spot. i cannot post pics here as of yet though. send me an email and i'll shoot it to you. you can post it here if you'd like......

Interestingly enough, I remember seeing them for sale back in the late 70s. One just sat in a pet store for about 5 years. Not sure what the deal is, or why people arent really liking them. But they've been available for a long time.

I caught one near San Ramone in Costa Rica, it was about 6 feet of biting machine. Vey cool to see one in the wild and to see a snake that big crossing a road. Probably the coolest snake I saw there.