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I got this snake over the summer from a family member who had bought him at a local pet store. He told me it was a corn snake, but I have no idea. From what I've read on them he dosen't look like a corn snake to me, but I'm no expert. Thanks for any help!

Looks a lot like a juvenile yellow rat snake, but it could also be some morph of corn snake. Certainly not a "normal" corn, but they come in a gabillion selectively bred colors these days.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

Definitely not a cornsnake of any type of morph. It is most certainly a juvenile N. American Ratsnake of the obsoletus complex. Juvenile Yellow rats do look very similar when youger, but I think the yellowish/red incandecent lighting is throwing the true coloration off a good bit. With the more solid gray head it has, I think it is a Texas Ratsnake(Pantherophis o.lindheimeri). These and other North American ratsnakes can be extremely variable looking depending on the areas where they occur in the country, and can have often have some genetic influences from other nearby subspecies close to their range. They can range from very drab gray and dark, to substantially yellow background with contrasting dark saddle blotching.

Here is a Texas Rat that looks similar to yours.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Hre is another one showing some of their variation as I mentioned above.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah I was kinda leaning towared rat snake, but wasent sure. I'm also not sure how old he is, but he was bought from a North Carolina pet store roughly a year and a half ago. At what point would he be a considered an adult? And also how can I tell if its male or female? Thanks!

Here are a couple more pictures of him. Like I said before he's roughly a year to a year and a half old. He's got a yellowish strip goin down each side of he's back. I don't remember them being there when he was younger, or at least no as noticable. Is that normal of a Texas Rat Snake?

Yes, that is most DEFINITELY a Texas Ratsnake, no question whatsoever now. Those pics are MUCH better in portraying it's true coloration and pattern than the earlier photos were..

Also, yes, the yellow coloration is simply it's background coloration, and not really a "stripe" per se.....and is very normal and typical of Texas Rats.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"Yeah I was kinda leaning towared rat snake, but wasent sure. I'm also not sure how old he is, but he was bought from a North Carolina pet store roughly a year and a half ago. At what point would he be a considered an adult? And also how can I tell if its male or female?"

Rat snakes can often be sexually mature just prior to their second year in the spring(18 months) if they have optimum conditions and husbandry, but anywhere between two and three years is very normal. many factors like temperatures, size of prey offered, and how often it is fed will of course be a huge factor in the rate of their growth rate and optimum size, as well as their individual genetic pre-disposition for size from the parents lineage. They grow at the fastest rate in their first two years of age, and after that it slows down more.

That snake had to have been bought as a new hatchling to be the size it is now that we are in November. It looks to be no more than somewhere around a year and a half old actually.

Anyway, if fed well, it will grow dramatically and next year it will be able to breed if it is a male with no problem, but if it is a female, I would hold off one more year to let it get some more size so it doesn't have any issues laying eggs. Since the breeding season is only 6 to 8 months away, it would be pressing it a bit to be good enough sized female. Over-feeding is not healthy either.

Male Ratsnakes have a much longer tail than females, and they also stay much thicker past the vent(cloaca). Females on the other hand have tails that are shorter and taper much more abruptly after the vent.

If you can provide a good quality photo of the entire tail pulled strait out, with no kingers in the way and keep it at a 90 degee angle straight in front of the camera to not change the length/depth perception any, I could tell you what sex it is if the pic is good enough.

Here is a comparison illustration of the male and female ratsnake tails.

cheers, ~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Great detailed response, Doug! I won't even ask you what a kinger is. Heehee. Seriously this whole thread is well done...intelligent question, and answers that were more than helpful..educational. And spot on as far as the identification goes. Y'all keep up the good work. ~~Greg~~

Thanks Greg,..

HAHA!!..... yeah, I felt like real idiot when I saw that I typed "kingers" and not fingers in the post...

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah Doug thanks a lot for the help! I'm gonna get some pictures of the tale today hopefully and post them. I looked at the tale myself but I haven't really seen enough male/female snakes to tell a diffrence in the sex just by looking at them.

Thanks again, -Matt

Well I got some pictures. Hopefully they're good enough to tell if it's male or female. It's very hard to get a snake to hold still and pose for a picture! lol!!!

Looks like a female to me. ~~Greg~~

Yeah, I agree with Greg, looks to be a female there.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Alright, cool! Thanks guys.