Where are rat snakes located?
Range and Habitat: Rat snakes are found throughout every southeastern state and most of the eastern and midwestern states as far north as southern New England and southern Michigan. In our region, black rat snakes are found in the mountains and Piedmont regions of central Georgia and South Carolina.
What states do black rat snakes live?
Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta (Black Rat Snake) is the most widely distributed common rat snake with a range from New England south through Georgia and west across the northern parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and north through Oklahoma to southern Wisconsin.
Where do black snakes like to live?
They may occupy many types of habitats ranging from deep woods to forest edges, overgrown fields and meadows. They often enter abandoned or little used buildings, barns and even attics and wall spaces in search of rodents, making these snakes valuable but often unwelcome guests as they feed on destructive pests.
Where are black snakes found?
Pantherophis obsoletus – also known as the western rat snake, black rat snake, pilot black snake, or simply black snake – is a non-venomous species of Colubridae found in central North America.
Where do black snakes hibernate?
When snakes brumate in the wild, they typically go into warm places such as dens made by squirrels, rodents, other snakes. They will also burrow in tree stumps, caves, and deep caverns.
Do rat snakes live in the ground?
Scarlet kingsnakes (Lampropeltis elapsoides) like to live under the bark of dead pine trees, while black rat snakes (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) live in the holes of hardwood trees high above the ground.
Where do black snakes lay their eggs?
The female usually lays her eggs in a pile of rotting vegetation or manure or in a rotting log. After a period of around 60 days, baby black snakes measuring around 12 inches in length hatch from the eggs.
Where do rat snakes lay their eggs?
The eggs are deposited under logs, in compost, manure or sawdust piles, and in hollow trees. Females about to lay eggs are found in the ecotone components of their habitats more frequently than are non-gravid females.
What is the life span of a black rat snake?
These diurnal snakes are sometimes mistaken for rattlesnakes in the wild, but are not venomous, and are in fact docile and easy-to-care-for pets. Names: Black rat snake, Western rat snake , pilot black snake, black snake, Pantherophis obsoletus. Size: About 3 to 8 feet in length. Lifespan: 10 to 30 years in captivity.
Can black snake eat other snakes?
The diet of red-bellied black snakes primarily consists of frogs, but they also prey on reptiles and small mammals. They also eat other snakes, including those of their own species. Fish are hunted in water.
Are black rat snakes nocturnal?
During the spring and fall, the black rat snake is diurnal, but becomes nocturnal during the hot summer months. Like all reptiles, it is cold blooded. Rat snakes will hibernate with other snake of different species including the timber rattlesnake and copperhead . There is a myth that in times of danger the black rat will steer,…
What is the difference in rat snake and King Snake?
While rat snakes are generally larger , they always seem to wind up on the losing end of wrestling matches with kingsnakes. Once the rat snakes are vanquished, the kingsnakes have little trouble swallowing their foes whole. A Florida kingsnake eats a rat snake. On paper, however, the two snakes should be equal matches.