Reptile & Amphibian Forums

here he is my gray ratsnake i picked up about a week ago. hes about 2.5' and really tame.

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* Snow Cornsnake (tweak)
* Ball Python (cosmo)
* Columbian Boa (kilo)
* Gray Ratsnake

I'm sure you'll be happy with him. The whole Rat Snake complex is fun to work with.

A beautiful baby!

... it looks more like a Gulf Hammock Ratsnake (P. o. williamsi) to me. And a nice one too.

hmmm.... i did a search for "Gulf Hammock Ratsnake " and couldnt find any pictures but i read in an artical that the gulf hammock has 2 black stripes going from the head to down the neck atleast 4 blotches. THats kinda how mine is. ive never heard of this type of ratsnakes and wondering if any of yall have any pictures of one?
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* Snow Cornsnake (tweak)
* Ball Python (cosmo)
* Columbian Boa (kilo)
* Gray Ratsnake

>>... it looks more like a Gulf Hammock Ratsnake (P. o. williamsi) to me. And a nice one too.

I have to agree with Hermann in that it looks more like a Gulf Hammock to me as well. I always think of Grey Rats having much darker blotches and the Gulf Hammocks having more brownish blotches. Unfortunately I don't know if there's a scale count difference between the two or other distinguishing physical characteristics other than color, which truth be known can be quite variable. Nice looking snake either way though.
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Matt Campbell

Big animals, little animals, plants - right down to the sea itself. We need them, not just for their own sake, but because all this has to be here for everybody forever. Only one thing is certain: if we are to preserve our environment and save this priceless wildlife we need much, much more knowledge.
Harry Butler from 'In the Wild With Harry Butler' 1977

The snake in the picture is of a normal Gray Rat Snake. The Gulf Hammock morph of this subspecies has both saddles and stripes. what you see are two faint stripes that connect the saddles along the back. It was once considered a subspecies of E. obsoleta. Its old scientific name was Elaphe obsoleta williamsi, but now it is just considered a morph of the Gray.

Please note that it is not a cross between a Yellow and a Gray. This is a stable morph. I will see if I can get a good picture of the one that I have. I will try to post the picture this weekend.

Rick

(two normal Grays)

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* Snow Cornsnake (tweak)
* Ball Python (cosmo)
* Columbian Boa (kilo)
* Gray Ratsnake

If the snake originates from the Gulf Hammock region, then I think you should call it a Gulf Hammock Ratsnake. If you claim that the Gulf Hammock Ratsnake is just another Grey Ratsnake morph then that's fine with me, although officially it was synonimised with Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata by Dowling (1952). Whether Gulf Hammock Ratsnakes should be regarded as a Gray Ratsnake morph or not, really depends on which subspecies concept you wish to follow or wether or not you choose to consider Pantherophis obsoletus as a polytypical species at all. Personally, I think this rigid subspecies concept doesn't help us to fully appreciate the magnitude of geographical variation in Pantherophis obsoletus. The Gulf Hammock Ratsnake is a perfect example of this.