Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just over a year ago, I rescued a Black Ratsnake from a state-sponsored reptile rescue south of Seattle. The rescue owner recalled little about the snake's original donor, except that he lived near Kelso, Washington.

However, my snake is NOT black. He is very chestnut or chocolate brown. The upper third of his sides have high white speckling, and his belly has a salmon color like an Emory Ratsnake.

At first, I thought that he is a naturally occurring hypomelanistic specimen. Later, I learned more about George Miskimmons and his line of morphs. I now wonder if my snake is the result of a bad attempt to breed an Albino, or a High-white "Licorice" snake.

Main clues:

1) We are on the West Coast, nowhere near his home range.
2) Black Ratsnakes are uncommon in the pet trade, seldom sold online unless as an Albino or Licorice variety

Experienced herpers please reply and let me know which of these scenarios YOU vote for:

A) Wild-caught hypomelanistic snake that was later moved to the West Coast?
B) Captive-bred morph with Albino or Brindle genes?

Thanks for voting and sharing your opinions!

Desert Don
Vancouver, WA
 
1.0 Pantherophis obsoleta obsoleta
1.0 Lampropeltis getula splendida
1.0 Terrapene carolina carolina

(Photobucket link photos include some of when he temporarily got loose and raided local bird nests. My housemate got distracted and lost my snake in our yard, but he was later found. Long story, please don't ask. You have probably lost at least one snake yourself.)
Link

I vote rusty black rat

All I saw in the given link were seven pics of a Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata)and terrarium, not a Black Ratsnake of any kind??

I didn't see pics of the black rat either, just the nice rosy. In any case, black rats are often in the classifieds. Maybe not every week, but they do show up. Some white patterning on the first 1/3rd of the snakes is not uncommon. Also, there is a "rusty" morph which is a hypo.

A number of morphs in black rats exists actually. There is a large pet store in so cal that had some black rat adults of some different morphs. Really neat snakes. Get big.

I am very familiar with Eastern Black Rat Snakes. The ones I have seen in Virginia are for the most part always black with a white underbelly that contains grayish rectangular blotches starting a little way past the chin. They run about 1/3of the way down its body. At that point what you see is by then is just a gray color. I put up a link that will show you the typical pattern.

By the new classification system, there are Eastern Rat Snakes, Pantherophis alleghaniensis, Central Rat Snakes, Pantherophis spiloides, and Western Rat Snakes, Pantherophis obsoleta. On the East Coast, The Black, Yellow, and Everglades Rats are now considered one species.
Here are the Taxonomic Notes
Burbrink et al. (2000) and Burbrink (2001) examined genetic and morphological variation in Elaphe obsoleta and determined that the nominal subspecies do not represent evolutionary lineages and should no longer be recognized. Further, these authors identified three clades within E. obsoleta, corresponding to populations (1) west of the Mississippi River (western clade), (2) east of the Mississippi River and west of the Appalachian Mountains and Apalachicola River (central clade), and (3) east of the Appalachians and the Apalachicola River (eastern clade). Burbrink (2000) recognized the three clades as distinct species: E. obsoleta (western clade), E. spiloides (central clade), and E. alleghaniensis (eastern clade). In mapping the distribution of the species, Burbrink indicated a very large area of "taxonomic uncertainty" extending from New England to northern Georgia. In this region the distribution of E. alleghaniensis was deemed "somewhat questionable with regard to hybridization with members of Elaphe spiloides."
Va Black Rat