Monday, December 07, 2009

King Rat

So having shared some photos of, and raved about, Florida's beautiful corn snakes I must make a confession, the corns were not my favourite of the week's snakes (nor were the pythons), hell - they weren't even my favourite rat snakes of the week. Why? Well because from the moment I saw it, this was always going to be the top critter of the week.

ratsnake4

As you can probably guess from its size in comparison with the yellow lines; this was a pretty big snake. To be a little more specific this is a pretty big Everglades Rat Snake, Elaphe obsoleta rossalleni. I probably don't have to tell you that seeing a fat 5 foot bright orange snake in your headlights as you drive a quiet road is a pretty awesome sight. I think that is part of the reason I enjoyed this one so much - it was so spectacularly obvious as to be almost unbelievable which was how I felt about my first experience of proper roadcruising: I couldn't believe it was so easy and so much fun.

ratsnake

'Glades rats are (depending upon whose taxonomy you listen to) a subsepecies of the black rat snake and so are technically the same species as that monster grey rat snake that FC posts from time to time though it looks completely different. It would live a similar life too cruising the forest eating small rodents and reptiles and making the odd foray for nestlings or eggs. All the while looking absolutely spectacular. I would say that critters like this make me understand why so many amercians move to Florida but apparently for many of them these guys are absolutely not a reason to move home (at least not to move toward them!). People are strange. How could you not love this guy?

8 comments:

myamuhnative said...

I had one of these living in my mailbox one year!Even brought it inside on one of our rare cold winter nights,then took it back out when it warmed up :0
So were you cruising Research road to find all your snakes? That is our favorite road for night viewing of birds and herps...

tai haku said...

A regular rat snake? Lucky you!

this was on the main flamingo road actually (as was pretty much everything I've shown/am going to show). I did cruise research road a few times (I fancied it might produce an EDB to no avail) but to be honest I found very little on there compared to the main strip. I will have to give it more of a go next time.

myamuhnative said...

Actually the mailbox guy was an Everglades rat.
We do have the various colored corn/rat snakes in the yard as well.
Research road is hit or miss but it is untraveled compared to Main road.Best sightings tend to be the last part after you pass the Beard bldg and turn left to head to the missile base at end.
As for EDB, I'm told that the campsites in the '80s at Long Pine Key are the home of some large EDBs...Also check out Aerojet road area before you enter the Park.Good birding and herping there.
Next time you are up here,do post prior and maybe I can show you around.

Johnny Nutcase said...

what a beautiful snake! great photos of the guy and thanks for the info, too. I'm a snake fan but don't get to see them as often as I'd like.

ramblingwoods said...

That is a beautiful snake....

Here is my Hoh..

Exaggeration is to paint a snake and add legs

Liz said...

What a beauty! I like our Pacific Northwest snakes, but I do envy the color you get on snakes in tropical and semi-tropical places.

Kenton and Rebecca Whitman said...

Hello! We discovered your blog through House of Herps. We LOVE the snake! We've actually always wanted to see one of these, and whenever we're down south we've searched and searched, but so far no luck. Your photos have made us more excited than ever. Must plan trip to Florida . . .

Sweetwater,
Kenton and Rebecca

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