Great Plains Ratsnake

vanderkm · 11-23-03, 02:31 PM

Purchased this snake as a great plains ratsnake as a hatchling and it is now 3 years old. Had placed it in a pet home and have it back this season for cooling and breeding into a creamsicle project. It probed at 4 scales so I guess we will determine gender by behaviour when breeding starts. It is about 42 inches long and to me still looks quite different from anery corns I have seen - quite brownish in tone - but I have nothing for comparison. Would definately be interested in opinions,

mary v.

Oliverian · 11-23-03, 02:50 PM

What a beauty! I like the third shot. Very nice snake, and big too by the looks of it.

MouseKilla · 11-23-03, 10:22 PM

I would say that could be the twin of my GP Rat if it weren't for the one broken saddle on that one. Colours are identical, pattern too. Yours is a bit shorter if I've measured correctly but I'd say it's definitely a GP. What does yours weigh? Mine is about 1200g, which is much heavier than any corn I've ever seen but I'm told that is how it is with rat snakes. I personally know jack about rat snakes so I wouldn't know. Sounds like we'll both be turning out creamsicles at about he same time then. Now what I wanna know is what exactly that is in your avatar? That thing glows! It looks like a king or something....

vanderkm · 11-24-03, 12:29 AM

Thanks MouseKilla - glad to hear this one is pretty similar to yours. The complete lack of yellow, the brownish tinge to saddles fit well with GP Rat but I guess breeding trials will tell us for sure. I have had it confirmed that GP Rats of normal coloration are not anerythristic and genetially are the same as normal corns - so we should be able to distinguish this one from an anery or charcoal by breeding to those colors. I don't have a weight on it yet - was going to get weights before everyone went into brumation this year, but haven't snagged a scale yet.

If this is a female (which it was supposed to be but probed a bit long) it will be paired with one of our male creamsicles, likely this one

If it turns out to be a male, I will breed it to our striped corn and then breed those back to creamsicle lines with the intent to get striped creamsicles down the road. Will be looking forward to hearing how your breeding works out and maybe we can trade some hatchlings at some point.

The snake in my avitar is our newest arrival - he is a tangerine albino honduran milksnake. I have wanted one since I first saw a photo of one and was finally able to get this little guy. He is incredible - even brighter in person - absolutely unreal coloration - still can't believe we have him - bred by Terry Dunham, Albino Tricolors - great breeder and terrific guy,

mary v.

MouseKilla · 11-24-03, 10:01 AM

You've got some cool creatures Mary V. I still haven't had a chance to unload the pics on my camera but when I do I'll get some pics of my GPR posted (seems I'm a slow learner at doing this but I'll figure it out eventually) so you can see just how simillar they are.

It must be frustrating not being certain of the sex even after probing. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to learn or what equipment is needed but it would be nice to be able to go the blood test route and be absolutely sure with every snake without having to pay a vet to do it. Good luck back at you on your projects, if I manage to get this breeding stuff right on the first go I'd be more than happy to swap hatchlings with ya. Hopefully I'll hatch out enough so I can sell a few too, then I'll have some cash to put toward getting one of those super-natural looking honduran milks.

Weather1 · 11-29-03, 03:49 AM

Great looking cream Mary. In another year I'll be breeding my creamsicle corns. My female looks like yours, but my male is red, where the dark orange is suppost to be. So it will be interesting to see the outcome of that.

Weather1 · 11-29-03, 03:56 AM

Oh ya. Super GPR also..

Simon · 11-29-03, 06:30 AM

It looks like a GPRS to me.
The colors on it doesn't really match too much with most of the anery corns that I have seen and that it kind of looks like my hatchling gprs before. So I'd say a rat.

4 scales sounds like a female to me. Males usually go a bit further down. So I'd say a female~

Great looking snake there!
I'd love to see it in person someday. Maybe I can sell you a male albino emory later on when I am able to produce the albinos in 2005.

Great looking snake!

vanderkm · 11-29-03, 06:50 PM

Concensus from several people seems to support that it is a great plains ratsnake - likely south Texas and I am hoping it is a female. This is the first snake I have probed that was 4 scales depth. All our females are only about 2 and the males are typically over 7 so I am hoping it is a female, but never know.

Simon I would love to get some of the albino emoryi when you are producing them - definately need to be on your wait list! They are such a different looking albino - very pretty.

mary v.

Smilts · 12-13-03, 03:59 PM

nice GPR slighlty darker than my gp rat and mine has several v shaped markings. But mine was wild caught .

dobbsy2k4 · 12-13-03, 06:59 PM

Nice snake mate

Katt · 12-14-03, 12:01 AM

At four scales, I'd say female. Most male rats are pretty deep. Unless it's a very shallow male.

TheRedDragon · 12-14-03, 08:58 PM

Nice rat snake.