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Kojak   Wisema2297  
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 #1582326


Kojak
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 Help Identify please

I was recently given this little beauty by a friend. He was moving some mulch and found it, along with several ribbon snakes in the pile of mulch. The area this occurred was the Gainsville, or northern Florida region. I’m not sure if the snake(s) were from the area where the mulch was being worked, or if they were possibly stowaways from wherever the mulch originated.
At first I thought it to be a juvenile yellow rat snake, but after doing some comparisons, I am not so sure that is correct. I based my comparison on pictures and the actual yearling yellow rat snake that I caught back in the summer of 2007. As you will see, not only is the color very different, but alot of the markings are different as well.
I know that even in yellow rat snakes, it is sometimes difficult to see the striping until they start to mature. Even so, this new little rat snake does not display the same markings as the juvenile yellow rat snake. It doesn’t seem to have the faint stripes that my juvenile yellow had even when she was very small. Also the new girl has saddles or blotches that are joined, whereas the yellow does not. I know that it is possible that it just be a very dark yellow rat snake, but I’m not sure.
If anyone can ID it, please feel free to do so, or even give me your best guess. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be a hatchling grey or even black rat snake. And of course there is also the possibility that it is a regional variant of a yellow or other rat snake.
Here’s the new girl...







If you compare to my little yellow, you can see many differences, but some similarities as well. I’m still scratching my head on this one!
Here’s the yellow rat...
Last year after I had caught her...






And more recently...





And here’s my adult yellow male...




So as you can see, I’m not convinced one way or another. I’m open to input, particularly from anyone familiar with Florida’s variants of rat snakes. Thanks in advance, and hope you enjoyed the pics if nothing else!
01/17/08  02:48pm

 #1582490


Wisema2297
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   Message To: Kojak   In reference to Message Id: 1582326


 Help Identify please

I’d still go with yellow rat. Babies can be variable. Or it’s an intergrade with a grey rat. They do cross breed in the north western part of Florida.
01/17/08  04:15pm


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