Just a follow-up on the black rat thread below. Here's a crummy pic of one from extreme eastern WVa (Hampshire Co, in the valley and ridge province):
Here's a couple pics of one from near Chapel Hill, NC:
The black rats from OH tend to have red, yellow, and yellow-green on the skin between the scales. When you go east of OH you tend to lose this and the skin is just grey. I felt the one from WVa above was very similar looking to those in OH, maybe a bit darker than average. The one from NC above is clearly black and gray, and you can also see the underlying pattern is tending towards longitudinal striping -- something you do not see in OH.
I might also add that one has to be careful with photos, the amount of pattern which shows up depends a lot on the lighting and if the skin is stretched due to the curve of the coils or a meal.
