Help ID Florida Wild Hatchlings

[Nanci]

Hi, These little guys hatched at a friend's property. Just northwest of Gainesville, Florida. Any idea what they are? They are 7-9" in length.

 

[Nanci]

Oops, had to make that smaller...

 

[Joejr14]

I'd assume they're grey rat snakes.

 

[Fenderplayer108]

Those would be Elaphe obsoleta spiloites, common name Grey Rat Snake.

Ryan

 

[Nanci]

Thanks. I've never seen an adult. Does anyone keep them as pets?

Nanci

 

[Joejr14]

Thanks. I've never seen an adult. Does anyone keep them as pets?

Nanci

Some do. In my experience, they were pretty mean.

 

[cornmorphs]

wow, i;d love to see natural hatchlings like that

 

[Nanci]

I caught a gravid Red Belly a long time ago, who laid eggs right away. I incubated them on top of a gas stove- over the pilot light, in a container of soil. (This was way before the days of the Internet- like 1980) When the eggs hatched, the babies were _so_ tiny- like toothpick-sized- I couldn't imagine what live food would work. I released them. And mom. That's the only newly-hatched babies I've ever seen.

I have baby snake fever _so_ bad right now- from looking at everyone's photos. I guess I'd release my Glass Lizard to make room for the right baby. I'm trying to hold off until the Daytona show next year.

 

[gwb8568]

Thanks. I've never seen an adult. Does anyone keep them as pets?Nanci

if you do a search.........you will find quite a few caresheets as a few people do keep them. here is a little more info:

http://www.educationcentral.org/sandalwood/herpetology/classroomanimalsgreyratsnake.htm

 

[nhaislip]

These could be grey rat snakes, But they may also be black rat snakes. Black rat snake juveniles look exactly like grey rat snakes until they get older.

 

[mbdorfer]

But they may also be black rat snakes.

Not in Florida :wavey:

 

[Jay@PJCReptiles]

We have 1 Grey Ratsnake in our collection. We were in our local PetCo and she happened to be there one day. She is not the typical snake you would find at our PetCo (Cornsnakes, Boas, Ball Pythons) and we thought she would be a good addition to our collection. We didn't think the price was that bad either at $25.00. She is about a year old now and growing quite readily and is longer and a little heavier then some of our Cornsnakes that are the same age. Her temperament is quite docile and she doesn't seem to mind being handled. We have noticed if we approach her from the top she gets a little flighty and gets into a strike pose but never bites but if we let her know we are going to pick her up by coming from underneath her she does just fine. Well this is a Cornsnake forum and this is enough of my post but here are a couple pictures of her.
Jay & PJ

 

[mbdorfer]

Gorgeous white oak PJC!

 

[nhaislip]

good point mbdorfer, forgot about that. I was just basing it off of the picture

 

[rad2217]

They also could be yellow ratsnakes,All three(grey,black,&yellow) look a lot a like as hatchlings.Most likely they are greys.

 

[Tyger9791]

I had a white oak ratsnake. Shadow was actually pretty docile...more docile than my hatchling cornsnakes. he never bit me or rattled his tail at me. i traded him only because i was having a hard getting him to eat consistently and i didnt want him to become a non-feeder.
he's eating live or freshly killed mice. which are hard for me to come by. i work alot and sometimes i wasnt able to get off work to get the live feeders before the store ran out. and as hard as i tried he wouldnt take f/t

 

[SnakeAround]

I thought oak greys where much lighter then the one on the pic...