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I seem to always miss the "morph" in the wild!

crotalis40741 said:
I would love to see it put over some of the calico black rats from Ky.
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That's was the first thing I thought. Even it isn't the same thing, I'd take a pair of double hets :*)

10 years ago there were several guys and gals you could get various black rat morphs from; now :shrugs: Never understood why they don't get the love corns do...
 
Their base color is black. That's the only reason I can think of. With corns, you can isolate so many colors and the pattern morphs also "last." Black rats are bigger, and seem to be on average about equally docile. A big 6+ foot "chocolate chip" rat is going to be impressive!
 
chris68 said:
That's was the first thing I thought. Even it isn't the same thing, I'd take a pair of double hets :*)

10 years ago there were several guys and gals you could get various black rat morphs from; now :shrugs: Never understood why they don't get the love corns do...
Click to expand...

I'd like to see a whitesided version of this new palmetto-ish morph. Black rats (and many other North American rats) are very undervalued as far as I'm concerned. Maybe new morphs like this one will revive some of the interest in black rats. Someone in MD recently posted pics of a strange WC black rat morph-white and orange with normal looking eyes.
 
elrojo said:
Their base color is black. That's the only reason I can think of. With corns, you can isolate so many colors and the pattern morphs also "last." Black rats are bigger, and seem to be on average about equally docile. A big 6+ foot "chocolate chip" rat is going to be impressive!
Click to expand...

I think you hit the nail on the head. Fewer colors, mostly just a big black snake, which I am totally okay with. I think they are very neat critters.

Well played on chocolate chip as a name. :laugh:
 
Kevin S. said:
I'd like to see a whitesided version of this new palmetto-ish morph. Black rats (and many other North American rats) are very undervalued as far as I'm concerned. Maybe new morphs like this one will revive some of the interest in black rats. Someone in MD recently posted pics of a strange WC black rat morph-white and orange with normal looking eyes.
Click to expand...

As the story goes the first whitesided black rat was caught in MD (Harford Co?) by a guy named George Miskimmon (sp). Also was mentioned by a member years ago there was a population containing amelanistics from a certain area in MD...
 
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This is what I would like to see it crossed to. I know I said earlier but a pic is so much better than words.
 

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DYK I just woke up from a dream that I found a similar looking snake. LoL, there are no black rats around here! I was so happy though...
 
That thing is very neat looking! I agree that Black Rats are undervalued and I hope this helps gets them noticed more.
 
Kevin S. said:
I'd like to see a whitesided version of this new palmetto-ish morph. Black rats (and many other North American rats) are very undervalued as far as I'm concerned. Maybe new morphs like this one will revive some of the interest in black rats. Someone in MD recently posted pics of a strange WC black rat morph-white and orange with normal looking eyes.
Click to expand...
Link to the new morph?
 
El Jefe said:
Thanks! It'll be interesting to see what hatches.
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Forgive me for getting further off topic, but while I've got your attention Jeff, I just thought I'd let you know I ended up with a female leucistic black rat that used to be yours. My only male is still small, so it'll be a while before I get a chance to breed her, but I am looking forward to having a black rat breeding project of my own.
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Well, a morph project anyway. I have a bunch of eggs from a big NC locality pair already. It's good to see I'm not the only one who appreciates black rats around here.
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Leucy's were my favorite!!! I loved those things. I really enjoyed doing educational programs where I pulled out a black snake (black rat) and then pulled out the leucy and called it a black snake. People used to get a kick out of that!
 
Black Rats have always been one of the most gentle wild snakes I encounter. I love them!
 
knox said:
Black Rats have always been one of the most gentle wild snakes I encounter. I love them!
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Up here, they are iffy can be nice or want to rip your face off lol Had a huge one invade my house last year. It was pretty laid back. the one the year before not so much.
 
chris68 said:
As the story goes the first whitesided black rat was caught in MD (Harford Co?) by a guy named George Miskimmon (sp). Also was mentioned by a member years ago there was a population containing amelanistics from a certain area in MD...
Click to expand...

Actually, the first white-sided black rat came from a local biology teacher in Harford County, MD (whose name escapes me at the moment), George got that original animal from him and did the breeding to actually create the initial captive population of them. If I recall correctly, George originally named them "Licorice Black Rat Snakes".

There was also a population of black rat snakes coming from the Lock Raven, MD, area that were brownish in color and called "Rusty Rats". Larry Rouch (who was living in Virginia at the time) worked with those, and it's said that a line of leucistic black rat snakes came out of that stock. But the details are hazy at this late date.
 
Thanks Rich for the correction :). Dwight Good from KY had "rusty" black rats that were het leucistics...
 
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