Common Name: Black Ratsnake
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Elaphe
Species: obsoleta
Observer(s): Dawn Hazen; Sydne Record; Noah Charney
Notes: These large dark snakes with variable patterns have been reported often lazing about on stone walls near gardens in the neighborhood. The taxonomy has been through a lot of revisions recently, and many now call these in our neighborhood all Gray Ratsnakes (Pantherophis spiloides). The snake on the left was noted behaving like a hognose snake; so there is some debate about the identity of this snake. Advocates of the ratsnake hypothesis for this photo point to the mottled sides; tapered head; long thin body and square blotches on back as evidence that this is a young ratsnake. See this video for hognose behavior: http://www.fws.gov/cookeville/video/hognose_snake3.wmv - thanks to Dawn for this link."