Rat Snake

The rat snakes are also commonly known as the corn snake. The two varieties of the rat snake are the Yellow Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta spiloides), Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata guttata). These snakes are commonly found across the United States. They are also very common in Canada, China, Italy and Japan. They adapt to any kind of habitat but prefer old barns and abandoned buildings.

Appearance

The Rat Snakes are ranked along some of the largest snakes and a full-grown snake can reach a length of over six feet. The newborn hatchlings are about 9 to 11 inches.

The body color of an adult snake ranges from shades of brown to yellow and sometimes even orange. The newborn snakes have a grayish background, are covered with brown blotches and have a pattern that is shaped like an arrow on their head. These snakes change color as they grow older and their patterns become more subdued while the blotches become almost indistinguishable. Further, in a full-grown snake, the color on the top of the head also changes and the heads are slate gray or blackish on the top and white underneath. This is one of the indications used to identify the snake.

Diet

As the name itself implies, the primary diet of the rat snake are mice and rats. This is the reason that these snakes are very commonly seen in fields and country homes. However, as these snakes pose no threat to human life, they are often used as a natural form of rodent control. Farmers prefer having the rat snakes in their farms as they help get rid of all the rodents that destroy their crops and grains.

The rat snakes are also frequently seen in chicken coops and poultry farms. People make a mistake by thinking that the snake is after the eggs or the chickens but the fact is that these snakes are actually scouting for the rodents that live in this area. However, if the population of the rodents is scarce, then the rat snakes are known to eat small birds. Incidents have been reported when the rat snakes have climbed trees as high as 30 feet to get to a bird's nest.

The rat snakes are constricting snakes, meaning that they first kill their prey by suffocating them before swallowing those head first. The suffocation is caused by squeezing its body very tightly around the body of the prey.

Behavior

The rat snakes are rather ill-tempered and aggressive by nature and are always ready to defend themselves. Their defense mechanism includes coiling up, raising their head, striking continuously at anything that they can get their fangs to and vibrating their tail. This vibrating nature of the snake often leads to the misidentification that these are rattlesnakes.

The rat snakes are mostly nocturnal and come searching for their food at night or during the twilight hours. In the colder regions, the rat snakes are known to hibernate while in tropical regions, these are seen soaking up the sun.

The rat snakes are completely non-poisonous and when they bite, they hardly break into the skin. The area that is bitten can be cleaned with an anti-bacterial soap and water and that is the only form of treatment that is required.

Reproduction

The rat snakes reach sexual maturity at 18 - 24 month of age if they are well fed. The mating season begins in winter and can last right through spring depending on the temperature. These snakes lay their eggs in clutches among rotten logs. There can be up to thirty eggs in a clutch. The young snakes hatch in about two months and look very similar to the adult snakes.

Rat Snakes as Pets

As the rat snakes are completely non-poisonous, these snakes are very often kept as pets. They can be tamed very easily and form excellent pets when bred in captivity. However, it is important to remember that the personality of rat snakes can change over a period of time and hence one always has to be very careful around them. If bred and kept in captivity, then these snakes can live up to 25 years while out in the wild, the average life span of the rat snakes is 15 years.