Names of snakes change greatly with localities. A "rat snake" in this area, it is usually a fairly stout black snake with a lot of white on its chin and belly, and sometimes on its body. They are similar looking to black racer snakes, but our black racers usually have white that doesn't go too far back from their chin. I think each of them have at last a dozen local different names. The juveniles of both look somewhat similar to juvenile the water snakes.
Rat snakes actually have a few different color phases. Check out the photos in the link I posted. The black with white chin phase is one of the pics. I have caught them like that in TN, but every single one I have ever caught in GA looks identical to the one Esshup posted.
They are amazing climbers. One time, I caught one climbing straight up a vertical concrete wall of a tunnel under the interstate. It was going after bats in the tunnel. Shortly after I grabbed him he threw up a bat.
wbuffetjr,
It would be great to have a serious hobbyist or professional herpetologist here on the Pond Boss site. Maybe you are that person. We get a lot of questions about snakes.
I'm not sure who started it -- probably (a trouble maker like one of my really good friends ...
) Dave Davidson. Since then, many of us long-time Pond Boss members have continued to identify most pond-related unidentified snake photos as those dreaded "copper-headed rattle moccasins".
I've seen one heck of a lot of different kinds of snakes in my 70 years. Growing up where I did, I could pretty much identify any snake that came across my path.
Since our Uncle Sam invited me to visit many places without ice and snow many years ago, I have become somewhat leery of the snakes I had not met in my non-native territory. My career took me to many places above and below the equator. Few of the snakes I met looked like those around the Lake Superior Basin. Many didn't look friendly. I knew that not all snakes are unfriendly. I've found that except for some very minor differences, way too many friendly vs. grouchy snakes all look very similar in their different stages of life.
It is kind of like differentiating a Texoma Texan from a Texoma Oklahoman. Then, throw in a ****** wannabe who tries to look and sound like one of them. It doesn't take long to find that somebody has just cut off a piece of someone's ear!
Anyway, snake identifying and description inputs like yours would be greatly appreciated. It could help to keep our legless neighbors from being harmed, while helping those of us with legs and arms from being harmed.
Regards,
Ken
