Black Rat Snake

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Black Rat Snake

Common names: black rat snake, pilot black snake, black snake.

Elaphe obsoleta is a non-venomous colubrid
Colubrid

A colubrid is a snake that is a member of the family Colubridae. It is a broad classification of snakes that includes about two thirds of all snake species on earth....
species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
found in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. It prefers heavily wooded areas and they are known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches. No subspecies are currently recognized.

ts can become quite large and are known to reach up to eight (8) feet, being the largest snake found in Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.

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Encyclopedia

Common names: black rat snake, pilot black snake, black snake.
Elaphe obsoleta is a non-venomous colubrid
Colubrid

A colubrid is a snake that is a member of the family Colubridae. It is a broad classification of snakes that includes about two thirds of all snake species on earth....
species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
found in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. It prefers heavily wooded areas and they are known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Description
Adults can become quite large and are known to reach up to eight (8) feet, being the largest snake found in Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
. The record length is , making it (officially) the longest snake in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. Unofficially, indigo snakes (Drymarchon corais) are known to exceed them, and one wild caught pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus
Pituophis melanoleucus

Pituophis melanoleucus is a harmless colubrid species found in the United States. Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here....
) with a portion of its tail missing measured .

Behavior
When startled, they may freeze and wrinkle themselves into a series of kinks. If they feel further threatened, they may flee quickly or vibrate their tails in dead leaves (a form of mimicry, to make it sound like a rattlesnake
Rattlesnake

Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snake snakes, genus Crotalus and Sistrurus. They belong to the subfamily of venomous snakes known commonly as Crotalinaes....
).

Feeding
This species is a constrictor
Constrictor

Constrictor may refer to:Biology:* Any snake that kills its prey by constriction* A taxonomic synonym for Boa , a.k.a. boas, a genus of non-venomous boas found in Mexico, Central and South America, Madagascar and on Reunion Island....
, meaning it suffocates its prey, coiling around small animals and tightening its grip until they can no longer draw breath, before eating them. Though they do consume mice and rats, the Black Rat Snakes will also hunt other snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, and bird eggs.

Reproduction
The male snake wraps its tail around the female with their vents nearly touching. Males then erect their sex organ, hemipenes and insert it into the female sex organ, cloaca
Cloaca

In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the alimentary tract and urinary tract of certain animal species....
. The mating lasts about a few minutes or a few hours. The female lays about 12 to 20 egg
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
s after five weeks and they hatch
Hatch

Hatch may refer to:* Hatching, also called "cross-hatching", an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects using closely spaced parallel lines...
about 65 and 70 days later.

Taxonomy
Utiger et al. (2002) argued that North American Rat Snakes of the genus Elaphe are a monophyletic group and thus separate from Old World members of the genus. They therefore resurrected the available name Pantherophis Fitzinger for all North American taxa (north of Mexico). In addition, they change the spelling for the specific name to obsoletus.

Crother et al. (2003) rejected the taxonomic change to Pantherophis, preferring to retain the current concept of Elaphe and the spelling obsoleta.

Further reading

External links

at . Accessed 25 October 2008
at . Accessed 2 June 2008.
at . Accessed 2 June 2008.
Accessed 17 October 2008.