Need Some Expert Help / Advise

[Spurticus]

Long story that started this morning. I am a moderator on a Gamecock
Message Board, and from my time on that board, the members know that
I am as fascinated with Snakes as I am with Gamecock Sports....Anyway,
I get an Email from a guy who is a long time member there this morning
Desperately asking me to help Identify a snake he has on his property. He
sends me some Cell Phone Photos, and I realize this thing is a LARGE
Constrictor not native to this country. I immediatly think this guy is from
South Florida, and I tell him from the dark photos it looks like a Python, but
wasn't sure about the species. African Rock, Reticulated etc... I said
Just guessing, I'm betting you're in South Florida... He goes NO, I'm in
Columbia SC not far from where you are Now !! ... This thing is every bit
of 15 feet or better. I told him this has to be someone's escaped pet, or
a snake that was dumped out by a deadbeat owner who got tired of
keeping it up. The area where he lives is near the same swampy area where
I see a lot of snakes, and have posted about here before. .. I told this guy
to call the local Animal Control and Police Immediately to get this thing out
of there before a child or at least a family pet comes up missing.... Dude
calls the Police and Animal Control and they tell him "We don't do snakes
Of Any Kind" ?!?! .. I told him to call the Riverbanks Zoo to either get someone
out there to get it, or let him know where to go with this thing. He left a
message there, but got no return call. .. I then told him to call the
Savannah River Project in Aiken SC, and advised him that he should call
some of the local press to get some kind of Evidence this thing is lurking
around a heavily populated area. .... He finally gets a call from WIS TV
in Columbia to come out and do an interview with him.. They do, and run
it on the news at 6M, and it has gotten out there now due to facebook,
and the local news. He has done interview with Fox News and has some
conversations with CNN wanting to talk to him about it tomorrow.... But
here's the kicker. WIS called The DNR, and Riverbanks Zoo, and they told
him they heard about the calls this guy has made today, but told the
WIS Reporter that it's nothing more than a large Black Rat Snake, and
they won't come get it because it's helpful to the local enviornment ?!?!?!
Nobody belives him, and now he's being accused of photoshoping the
pictures, or exaggerating the size and type of snake. Meanwhile this thing
is out there somewhere near him still roaming around loose.

Here is a link to the Thread on Cockytalk where this story originated,
and a link the the WIS news story on it.

ORIGINAL REPORT

WIS ARTICLE

There's a couple of Good Pictures in there of this monster, and I have a
couple more he sent me. This is the best of the bunch... the local news
only showed the top part of this picture, which also added to the stream
of resposes saying it's not a Python

I'm not an expert (especially with "imports") but I told him from what I
can see of the pattern, and from looking around on the net, it appears
to be a Burmese Python. .. If not, I know one thing for a FACT, this isn't
a Black Rat Snake. ... Any help IDing this snake, or advise you can lend
to help this guy get rid of the snake would be greatly appreciated. .. He
does not want it killed, but I told him if all avenues are exhusted, and he
can't get anyone to take him seriously and come find it and remove it, He
needs to destory it if he sees it again. ... People's lives are at risk if this
thing is allowed to stay there.

 

[Spurticus]

^^
Some reason, the links to the stories did not work. I can post
more pics if needed

 

[dave partington]

Looks like a rather large boa constrictor. Probably someone's escaped pet. Check the Lost & Found? Here's one in Columbia that's available, maybe this guy could offer some advice. http://columbia.craigslist.org/wan/2986268549.html
He takes unwanted pets in your area

 

[Kate]

WOW, that is NOT okay, and you are right, definitely isn't a rat snake, we just had a beautiful girl out here the other day that we had to move so she wouldn't eat our baby chicks. She was too pretty to kill.

 

[Spurticus]

I haven't seen it yet, but they're saying now that Fox News had a clip
of his interview today, and it's also made the Drudge Report. Guys
there are saying a large Boa as well. However, some guys on WIS
Website are saying it's a Black Mamba !

:roflmao:

 

[Spurticus]

WOW, that is NOT okay, and you are right, definitely isn't a rat snake, we just had a beautiful girl out here the other day that we had to move so she wouldn't eat our baby chicks. She was too pretty to kill.

I really think the Black Rat snake thing that came from The DNR Agent
and the Riverbanks Zoo person the TV called today, were just saying
Black Rat Snake because they didn't return the guy's calls, and are
probably covering their tracks without having to tell the New guys
"No we didn't come out to check it out" ... They're just assuming the guy
saw a large snake, and decided the guy was scared and saw it as a Huge
snake, and they didn't want to be bothered by it..... If it's on FOX NEWS
Nationally, and if it's going to be mentioned and shown on CNN, eventually
Someone is going to have to admit now that "Yeah, we heard about it
but didn't check it out". ... This is no Rat Snake

 

[Spurticus]

This is another picture of a portion of it's body

 

[Spurticus]

Looks like a rather large boa constrictor. Probably someone's escaped pet. Check the Lost & Found? Here's one in Columbia that's available, maybe this guy could offer some advice. http://columbia.craigslist.org/wan/2986268549.html
He takes unwanted pets in your area

Thanx Dave. I'll pass this along to the guy.
They finally sent some guy out to look under his utility building and
tell him again it was a black Rat snake. When AC (guy who found it) asked
him if he'd ever heard of a Rat Snake that was in Excess of 12', the guy
told him, "well, it apparently has survived a long time, and has eaten well"

:shrugs:

They also said on the 11:00 news that they showed the picture to a guy
at the Riverbanks Zoo who says it is definitely nothing more than a
Large Black Rat snake.

 

[AliCat37]

Looks like a rat snake to me...
I think the picture is distorted because the camera is so close, there is nothing to judge size by. The second pic REALLY screams rat snake to me.. the pattern is way off for a boa. I really looked at the first pic and don't see anything that makes me think it's a boa.

 

[dave partington]

Looks like a rat snake to me...
I think the picture is distorted because the camera is so close, there is nothing to judge size by. The second pic REALLY screams rat snake to me.. the pattern is way off for a boa. I really looked at the first pic and don't see anything that makes me think it's a boa.

I'm thinking it's a ratsnake after seeing the second pic. It's large alright, whatever it is. Looks like a 12 inch tree trunk in the first pic and a 4 inch trunk in the second. And someone doesn't seem to be too thrilled about her picture being taken.

 

[Shiari]

That snake is NOT in "excess of 12 feet". Maybe 6 or 7, but absolutely NOT 12 feet. The pattern definitely says ratsnake, as does the girth. Not a boa or a python of any type.

 

[airenlow]

It looks like a big black rat to me too...

 

[Allison]

I agree judging by the pattern that it appears to be a black rat. However, could it also be a black pine? I believe they are also native to South Carolina, and could explain the large size.

 

[Spurticus]

I appreciate the help by everyone here. Once it got on the local news
here in Columbia, it has blown up. Fox News, CNN.. Heck there was even
a site in Australia that had a blog about it. After he couldn't get anyone
from Riverbanks Zoo to come out, and DNR turned down the orginal
request for someone to come look for the snake, he called WIS in
Columbia and they ran his story, and called the SCDNR and The Zoo
and "experts" from both places told him it was a Black Rat snake.
However, they told him he was exaggerating the length and it was
probably no more than 5 or 6 feet. That got him more upset than just
brushing him off on the phone.

:laugh:

Anyway, the story was the biggest thing that hit WIS TVs web site this
year, and they have sent guys out to his house to look for the snake, and
yesterday even sent four people to look for it yesterday. They still claim it was not
10-12 feet or longer as he originally said, and he still argues with them that
it was. I think the local news is helping him out not in order to ride the
publicity it got when it hit their website. At this point, I think it is probably
an interbreed of rat snake, or maybe even a wild hybrid. I still think it's not
a typical Black Rat snake, but even if it is, it is the biggest I've ever seen
in my life. Not ruling out the possibility that he has stumbled upon the
largest recorded Black Rat Snake, but no way to verify it unless they
do catch it. ... Anyway, Thank you all again for your help. It is greatly
appreciated, and the search for the monster black rat snake from the
Midlands SC continues

 

[Buzzard]

6-7 foot Black Rat snake. No doubt in my mind. We get the Grey rat snake here. Black rats and greys both start out looking the same. As Black rats get older they tend to get more dark/ to black pigment. Here is a grey rat caught this year.....For comparison. We have caught larger greys up to 6 feet.

 

[tspuckler]

It's a Black Rat Snake. I have seen many of them. And it is average size. Without measuring the snake just saying it's "12 feet" or whatever is an estimate. And it's an estimate that is way off.

When a snake of "record size" is being considered, it's taken to a natural history museum and independently verified as to its size. This is not the case with the snake you're taking about.

Black Pine Snakes do not live in SC and don't climb trees.

The DNR is right. It's a native snake and should be left alone. It poses no harm to anyone. Black Rat Snakes have a record length of 101 inches, but I'd say that's an average-sized snake in the 4-6 foot range.

Claiming a snake is a certain length does not make it that length and there is a tendency to exaggerate. Zoos and the DNR get calls all the time about wildlife. They know how to identify snakes. They are right about the ID of this snake. They are also right not to come out a catch a snake in it's natural habitat that poses no threat to anyone.

Measuring the diameter of the tree trunk that the snake was on would clearly show that the snake is nowhere near 10 or 12 or 15 feet long and definately not a record sized Black Rat Snake.


Ohio Black Rats:

Illinois Black Rats:

 

[Shiari]

They still claim it was not
10-12 feet or longer as he originally said, and he still argues with them that
it was.

The size appears to keep shrinking.

First you said it was 15+ feet long.

Then it was 12 feet long.

Now it's 10-12 feet long. And that's still not correct. Frankly, that snake looks around the length of my yellow rat, who is about 6 1/2 feet long.

 

[AggielandReptiles]

I'm just gonna go ahead and agree... I keep large boas and pythons, and this is not one of them. Its a colubrid for sure.

 

[bitsy]

Are Black Rats territorial? I think someone who knows what they're talking about should catch/release it into an area where it isn't about to get a spade through its head.

Clearly the person reporting the snake is panicked by it (hence the size exaggeration) and is likely to harm it for no apparent reason. If the snake keeps hanging around visibly (and let's face it, at that size it's probably been living quietly in the vicinity for many years) then it's likely to die or be scooped up by some twit who thinks they've bagged themseves a free lost pet or worse, a trophy.

 

[Spurticus]

It's a Black Rat Snake. I have seen many of them. And it is average size. Without measuring the snake just saying it's "12 feet" or whatever is an estimate. And it's an estimate that is way off.

When a snake of "record size" is being considered, it's taken to a natural history museum and independently verified as to its size. This is not the case with the snake you're taking about.

Black Pine Snakes do not live in SC and don't climb trees.

The DNR is right. It's a native snake and should be left alone. It poses no harm to anyone. Black Rat Snakes have a record length of 101 inches, but I'd say that's an average-sized snake in the 4-6 foot range.

Claiming a snake is a certain length does not make it that length and there is a tendency to exaggerate. Zoos and the DNR get calls all the time about wildlife. They know how to identify snakes. They are right about the ID of this snake. They are also right not to come out a catch a snake in it's natural habitat that poses no threat to anyone.

Measuring the diameter of the tree trunk that the snake was on would clearly show that the snake is nowhere near 10 or 12 or 15 feet long and definately not a record sized Black Rat Snake.


Ohio Black Rats:

Illinois Black Rats:

Actually there are Pine Snakes in SC. I haven't seen one live, but have
seen two DOR pines within the last two years here in the Columbia area.
One was a large (excess of 5 feet), and had just been run over within
minutes of my seeing it. The tail was still twitching.

I have caught a lot of Black Rats snakes ranging back from the time I was
in my early teens. I see more of those (and black racers) than any other
kind of snake since moving to the Columbia area ten years ago. I have a
lot of pictures of Black Rat snakes that I've taken here in the last 4-5
years. Mostly Juvenile, but a couple of 4-5 foot snakes. The ones here in
SC that I've seen closely resemble the Illinois BR you posted. The majority
I've seen that are bigger than 3-4 feet, are mostly all black on the upper
half . I have caught some where you can still see a ghost ( slight) image
of the pattern, but even those are not visible unless you are very close
to it to examine it. We have no Gray Rat snakes here, and all the Black
Rat snakes are from the midlands up to the northern part of SC. Likewise
the Yellow Rats are from the midlands Southward to the coast, and none
found in the piedmont or upstate of SC. The only other Rat snake in SC
is the Corn Snake and it's found throughout the state. That's why I feel
like it's an interbeed of Rat snake. The color is much lighter than any I've
seen.