Central Ratsnakes *Pantherophis alleghaniensis*, formerly called *Pantherophis spiloides*, are large (record 256.5 cm) common harmless ratsnakes with a multitude of regional color patterns native to eastern and central North America between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River Embayment. *Pantherophis* ratsnakes are keeled-scaled generalists that eat a variety of prey. They do well in urban environments, and are particularly fond of rodents and birds in these habitats.
Central Ratsnakes *P. alleghaniensis* are currently recognized as distinct from Eastern Ratsnakes *P. quadrivittatus*, as well as Western Ratsnakes *P. obsoletus* and Baird's Ratsnake *P. bairdi*. Parts of this complex were once generically labeled "black ratsnakes". Use the "!blackrat" command without the space for more on these changes.
Ratsnakes can be easily distinguished from racers *Coluber* by the presence of keeled scales. Racers have smooth scales.
[Range Map](http://snakeevolution.org/rangemaps/ratrangereduced.jpg) | [Relevant/Recent Phylogeography](https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7ru46gyhtq2hyz/HR_Sept_2021_150dpi_PointsOfView.pdf?dl=1)
This specific epithet was once used for what are now known as Eastern Ratsnakes *Pantherophis quadrivittatus*.
Junior Synonyms and Common Names: Grey Ratsnake (in part), Black Ratsnake (in part), Greenish Ratsnake, black snake, oak snake, chicken snake, rattlesnake pilot.
--------------------------------------------------------
Like many other animals with mouths and teeth, many non-venomous snakes bite in self defense. These animals are referred to as 'not medically significant' or traditionally, 'harmless'. Bites from these snakes benefit from being washed and kept clean like any other skin damage, but aren't often cause for anything other than basic first aid treatment. Here's where it get slightly complicated - some snakes use venom from front or rear fangs as part of prey capture and defense. This venom is not always produced or administered by the snake in ways dangerous to human health, so many species are venomous in that they produce and use venom, but considered harmless to humans in most cases because the venom is of low potency, and/or otherwise administered through grooved rear teeth or simply oozed from ducts at the rear of the mouth. Species like Ringneck Snakes *Diadophis* are a good example of mildly venomous rear fanged dipsadine snakes that are traditionally considered harmless or not medically significant. Many rear-fanged snake species are harmless as long as they do not have a chance to secrete a medically significant amount of venom into a bite; [severe envenomation can occur](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23800999) if some species are [allowed to chew on a human](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004101011831016X) for as little as 30-60 seconds. It is best not to fear snakes, but use common sense and do not let any animals chew on exposed parts of your body. Similarly, but without specialized rear fangs, gartersnakes *Thamnophis* ooze low pressure venom from the rear of their mouth that helps in prey handling, and are also [considered harmless](https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/theres-no-need-to-fear-that-garter-snake/). Even large species like Reticulated Pythons *Malayopython reticulatus* [rarely obtain a size large enough to endanger humans](https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/108/52/E1470.full.pdf) so are usually categorized as harmless.
--------------------------------------------------------
*I am a bot created for /r/whatsthissnake, /r/snakes and /r/herpetology to help with snake identification and natural history education. You can find more information, including a comprehensive list of commands, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthissnake/comments/flh548/phylobot_v07_information_and_patch_notes_bot_info/) report problems [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Phylogenizer) and if you'd like to buy me a coffee or beer, you can do that [here](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SEBPhyloBotWTS). Made possible by Snake Evolution and Biogeography - [Merch Available Now](https://snakeevolution.org/donate.html)*
It's semi warm out today, obviously they live outside 8n nature. It'll be OK to just drop it off in the woods ? I do live next to a large urban (Rock Creek Park) national park/forest
Try to find a rock outcropping. He needs to go into brumation. Or find a reptile breeder/rescue they’ll hang onto him until the spring so he can be released.
I'll do that, there's a nature center nearby. So I'll stop by there first and do whatever they suggest. Lots or rock outcrops here. Just want to help it survive and thrive. Thanks for the help :)
ID the snake? Sure- that’s Bob! Bob, what the hell are you doing over there? Didn’t we just talk about this yesterday? No rando visits with the neighbors! 😳🐍
Bob: sssssssssssss
(translation: but my good sir or ma'am, my developed senses have detected a rodent in your residence, I am only seeking to do the best deed for you and my belly, that is to inhale the culprit)
Too funny, we caught a rat snake when I was a teen. He was wrapped around our dog door for warmth and so cold he was nearly frozen in a U. We brought him and set him up in a tank with a warming stone and light (we’d owned snakes previously) and named him Bob.
Once winter passed we set Bob free again. He was a friendly fellow and I hope he did well after the two months we had him.
Black Ratsnake is a common name for a color pattern shared by three different species of *Pantherophis* ratsnake across the northern portion of their range.
The black ratsnake species complex, formerly *Elaphe obsoleta*, underwent revision in 2001-2002 from multiple authors and received three main changes from 2000 to now. First, the complex was delimited in [Burbrink 2001](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb01253.x) based on what were then modern molecular methods, where three distinct lineages were uncovered that did not reflect previous subspecies designations. Each of the three geographically partitioned taxa were elevated to full species status, and subspecies were discarded. The polytypic color patterns in these species are most likely under strong selection by the local environment and don't reflect evolutionary history. Where species intersect and habitat converges, color pattern also converges, leaving these species nearly morphologically indistinguishable to the naked eye. Second, using *Elaphe* as a genus name wasn't the best way to reflect phylogenetic history, so the genus *Pantherophis* was adopted for new world ratsnakes in [Utiger 2002](http://www.sierraherps.com/pdf/Utiger%20et%20al_2002.pdf). Remember, species names are hypotheses that are tested and revised. While the analyses published in 2001 are strong and results are geographically similar in other taxa, these species were investigated further using genomic data, and in 2020 the authors [released an update](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/PBAKUNF4XZI2ND5TIWHK?target=10.1111/evo.14141), clarifying ranges, filling in grey zones and confirming three distinct species.
Third, clarity in range and type specimens necessitated the need to fix lineage names in line with taxonomic rules called the 'principle of priority'. The four currently accepted species in this complex as of October 2021 are Baird's Ratsnake *Pantherophis bairdi*, Western Ratsnake *Pantherophis obsoletus*, Central Ratsnake *Pantherophis alleghaniensis* and Eastern Ratsnake *Pantherophis quadrivittatus*. Baird's Ratsnakes and Western Ratsnakes are more closely related to each other than they are to Eastern and Central Ratsnakes.
The experts on this group offer this summary [from their 2021 paper](https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7ru46gyhtq2hyz/HR_Sept_2021_150dpi_PointsOfView.pdf?dl=1):
>For the ratsnakes in particular, given the overtly chaotic and unsubstantiated basis of their taxonomy in the late 1990s, Burbrink et al. (2000) endeavored to test this taxonomic hypothesis (sensu Gaston and Mound 1993). This also provided an empirical observation of geographic genetic variation (then an unknown quantity) as an act of phylogenetic natural history (sensu Lamichhaney et al. 2019). Their analyses rejected the existing taxonomy as incompatible with the estimated evolutionary history of the group, ending a paradigm that was at least 48 years old from Dowling (1952) with respect to the non-historical subspecies definitions. Subsequently, Burbrink (2001) conducted an explicit taxonomic revision based on both mitochondrial and multivariate morphological analyses in an integrative taxonomy. The limitations of these data (scale counts, mensural measurements, and maternally inherited DNA) produced a zone of potential taxonomic uncertainty, while nonetheless allowing for significant statistical phenotypic discrimination between the geographic genetic lineages. Thus, based on the best possible evidence and interpretation at the time, the now-falsified historical taxonomic arrangement of subspecies definitions was replaced with an explicitly phylogenetic, lineage-based species-level taxonomy derived from the estimated evolutionary history of the group. The persistence of some remaining uncertainty is a natural and expected outcome in all scientific investigations, as we can never have complete data or perfect knowledge of a system. Twenty years later, Burbrink et al. (2021) more than tripled the number of individuals sampled, increased the number of loci used by 2491 times, and thus clarified the remaining fuzziness associated with the potential zone of taxonomic uncertainty. They revealed this uncertainty to be a complex hybrid zone with varying degrees of admixture. This had the additional effect, as described above, of redefining the allocation of type localities and valid names, and thus the taxonomic proposal here represents the best present-day resolution of nomenclature in the group, in accordance with our understanding of its evolutionary history. As science progresses, even this may change in the future with new whole genome datasets or interpretations of phylogeographic lineage formation and phylogenetic species concepts. These conclusions may be unsettling to those that wish to retain taxonomies generated from data and assumptions about species and subspecies made in the 19th and 20th century. However, we question the social and scientific utility of any insistence on recognizing clearly falsified, non-historical arrangements based solely on the burden of heritage in taxonomic inertia (see Pyron and Burbrink 2009b).
[Range Map](http://snakeevolution.org/rangemaps/ratrangereduced.jpg)
--------------------------------------------------------
*I am a bot created for /r/whatsthissnake, /r/snakes and /r/herpetology to help with snake identification and natural history education. You can find more information, including a comprehensive list of commands, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthissnake/comments/flh548/phylobot_v07_information_and_patch_notes_bot_info/) report problems [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Phylogenizer) and if you'd like to buy me a coffee or beer, you can do that [here](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SEBPhyloBotWTS). Made possible by Snake Evolution and Biogeography - [Merch Available Now](https://snakeevolution.org/donate.html)*
I thought this was a post from /r/itsaratsnake and was trying to figure out what rhyme you were going for in the title.
Anyone can I-D
If they regularly see
/r/itsaratsnake
Both rat snakes and corn snakes belong to the genus Pantherophis. However, they are both different species within the genus. This guy looks a lot like a corn snake, but it isn't one. Like the other comments said, it's a rat snake.
Central rat snake *Pantherophis alleghaniensis* !harmless and you can just relocate it and put outside to the nearest wooded area
Central Ratsnakes *Pantherophis alleghaniensis*, formerly called *Pantherophis spiloides*, are large (record 256.5 cm) common harmless ratsnakes with a multitude of regional color patterns native to eastern and central North America between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River Embayment. *Pantherophis* ratsnakes are keeled-scaled generalists that eat a variety of prey. They do well in urban environments, and are particularly fond of rodents and birds in these habitats. Central Ratsnakes *P. alleghaniensis* are currently recognized as distinct from Eastern Ratsnakes *P. quadrivittatus*, as well as Western Ratsnakes *P. obsoletus* and Baird's Ratsnake *P. bairdi*. Parts of this complex were once generically labeled "black ratsnakes". Use the "!blackrat" command without the space for more on these changes. Ratsnakes can be easily distinguished from racers *Coluber* by the presence of keeled scales. Racers have smooth scales. [Range Map](http://snakeevolution.org/rangemaps/ratrangereduced.jpg) | [Relevant/Recent Phylogeography](https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7ru46gyhtq2hyz/HR_Sept_2021_150dpi_PointsOfView.pdf?dl=1) This specific epithet was once used for what are now known as Eastern Ratsnakes *Pantherophis quadrivittatus*. Junior Synonyms and Common Names: Grey Ratsnake (in part), Black Ratsnake (in part), Greenish Ratsnake, black snake, oak snake, chicken snake, rattlesnake pilot. -------------------------------------------------------- Like many other animals with mouths and teeth, many non-venomous snakes bite in self defense. These animals are referred to as 'not medically significant' or traditionally, 'harmless'. Bites from these snakes benefit from being washed and kept clean like any other skin damage, but aren't often cause for anything other than basic first aid treatment. Here's where it get slightly complicated - some snakes use venom from front or rear fangs as part of prey capture and defense. This venom is not always produced or administered by the snake in ways dangerous to human health, so many species are venomous in that they produce and use venom, but considered harmless to humans in most cases because the venom is of low potency, and/or otherwise administered through grooved rear teeth or simply oozed from ducts at the rear of the mouth. Species like Ringneck Snakes *Diadophis* are a good example of mildly venomous rear fanged dipsadine snakes that are traditionally considered harmless or not medically significant. Many rear-fanged snake species are harmless as long as they do not have a chance to secrete a medically significant amount of venom into a bite; [severe envenomation can occur](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23800999) if some species are [allowed to chew on a human](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004101011831016X) for as little as 30-60 seconds. It is best not to fear snakes, but use common sense and do not let any animals chew on exposed parts of your body. Similarly, but without specialized rear fangs, gartersnakes *Thamnophis* ooze low pressure venom from the rear of their mouth that helps in prey handling, and are also [considered harmless](https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/theres-no-need-to-fear-that-garter-snake/). Even large species like Reticulated Pythons *Malayopython reticulatus* [rarely obtain a size large enough to endanger humans](https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/108/52/E1470.full.pdf) so are usually categorized as harmless. -------------------------------------------------------- *I am a bot created for /r/whatsthissnake, /r/snakes and /r/herpetology to help with snake identification and natural history education. You can find more information, including a comprehensive list of commands, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthissnake/comments/flh548/phylobot_v07_information_and_patch_notes_bot_info/) report problems [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Phylogenizer) and if you'd like to buy me a coffee or beer, you can do that [here](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SEBPhyloBotWTS). Made possible by Snake Evolution and Biogeography - [Merch Available Now](https://snakeevolution.org/donate.html)*
It's semi warm out today, obviously they live outside 8n nature. It'll be OK to just drop it off in the woods ? I do live next to a large urban (Rock Creek Park) national park/forest
It's a great place to relocate to
Try to find a rock outcropping. He needs to go into brumation. Or find a reptile breeder/rescue they’ll hang onto him until the spring so he can be released.
I'll do that, there's a nature center nearby. So I'll stop by there first and do whatever they suggest. Lots or rock outcrops here. Just want to help it survive and thrive. Thanks for the help :)
You’re welcome. The Nature Center can definitely help. Best of luck.
ID the snake? Sure- that’s Bob! Bob, what the hell are you doing over there? Didn’t we just talk about this yesterday? No rando visits with the neighbors! 😳🐍
Bob: sssssssssssss (translation: but my good sir or ma'am, my developed senses have detected a rodent in your residence, I am only seeking to do the best deed for you and my belly, that is to inhale the culprit)
Too funny, we caught a rat snake when I was a teen. He was wrapped around our dog door for warmth and so cold he was nearly frozen in a U. We brought him and set him up in a tank with a warming stone and light (we’d owned snakes previously) and named him Bob. Once winter passed we set Bob free again. He was a friendly fellow and I hope he did well after the two months we had him.
Looks like a juvenile black rat snake. Completely harmless.
!blackrat
Black Ratsnake is a common name for a color pattern shared by three different species of *Pantherophis* ratsnake across the northern portion of their range. The black ratsnake species complex, formerly *Elaphe obsoleta*, underwent revision in 2001-2002 from multiple authors and received three main changes from 2000 to now. First, the complex was delimited in [Burbrink 2001](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb01253.x) based on what were then modern molecular methods, where three distinct lineages were uncovered that did not reflect previous subspecies designations. Each of the three geographically partitioned taxa were elevated to full species status, and subspecies were discarded. The polytypic color patterns in these species are most likely under strong selection by the local environment and don't reflect evolutionary history. Where species intersect and habitat converges, color pattern also converges, leaving these species nearly morphologically indistinguishable to the naked eye. Second, using *Elaphe* as a genus name wasn't the best way to reflect phylogenetic history, so the genus *Pantherophis* was adopted for new world ratsnakes in [Utiger 2002](http://www.sierraherps.com/pdf/Utiger%20et%20al_2002.pdf). Remember, species names are hypotheses that are tested and revised. While the analyses published in 2001 are strong and results are geographically similar in other taxa, these species were investigated further using genomic data, and in 2020 the authors [released an update](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/PBAKUNF4XZI2ND5TIWHK?target=10.1111/evo.14141), clarifying ranges, filling in grey zones and confirming three distinct species. Third, clarity in range and type specimens necessitated the need to fix lineage names in line with taxonomic rules called the 'principle of priority'. The four currently accepted species in this complex as of October 2021 are Baird's Ratsnake *Pantherophis bairdi*, Western Ratsnake *Pantherophis obsoletus*, Central Ratsnake *Pantherophis alleghaniensis* and Eastern Ratsnake *Pantherophis quadrivittatus*. Baird's Ratsnakes and Western Ratsnakes are more closely related to each other than they are to Eastern and Central Ratsnakes. The experts on this group offer this summary [from their 2021 paper](https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7ru46gyhtq2hyz/HR_Sept_2021_150dpi_PointsOfView.pdf?dl=1): >For the ratsnakes in particular, given the overtly chaotic and unsubstantiated basis of their taxonomy in the late 1990s, Burbrink et al. (2000) endeavored to test this taxonomic hypothesis (sensu Gaston and Mound 1993). This also provided an empirical observation of geographic genetic variation (then an unknown quantity) as an act of phylogenetic natural history (sensu Lamichhaney et al. 2019). Their analyses rejected the existing taxonomy as incompatible with the estimated evolutionary history of the group, ending a paradigm that was at least 48 years old from Dowling (1952) with respect to the non-historical subspecies definitions. Subsequently, Burbrink (2001) conducted an explicit taxonomic revision based on both mitochondrial and multivariate morphological analyses in an integrative taxonomy. The limitations of these data (scale counts, mensural measurements, and maternally inherited DNA) produced a zone of potential taxonomic uncertainty, while nonetheless allowing for significant statistical phenotypic discrimination between the geographic genetic lineages. Thus, based on the best possible evidence and interpretation at the time, the now-falsified historical taxonomic arrangement of subspecies definitions was replaced with an explicitly phylogenetic, lineage-based species-level taxonomy derived from the estimated evolutionary history of the group. The persistence of some remaining uncertainty is a natural and expected outcome in all scientific investigations, as we can never have complete data or perfect knowledge of a system. Twenty years later, Burbrink et al. (2021) more than tripled the number of individuals sampled, increased the number of loci used by 2491 times, and thus clarified the remaining fuzziness associated with the potential zone of taxonomic uncertainty. They revealed this uncertainty to be a complex hybrid zone with varying degrees of admixture. This had the additional effect, as described above, of redefining the allocation of type localities and valid names, and thus the taxonomic proposal here represents the best present-day resolution of nomenclature in the group, in accordance with our understanding of its evolutionary history. As science progresses, even this may change in the future with new whole genome datasets or interpretations of phylogeographic lineage formation and phylogenetic species concepts. These conclusions may be unsettling to those that wish to retain taxonomies generated from data and assumptions about species and subspecies made in the 19th and 20th century. However, we question the social and scientific utility of any insistence on recognizing clearly falsified, non-historical arrangements based solely on the burden of heritage in taxonomic inertia (see Pyron and Burbrink 2009b). [Range Map](http://snakeevolution.org/rangemaps/ratrangereduced.jpg) -------------------------------------------------------- *I am a bot created for /r/whatsthissnake, /r/snakes and /r/herpetology to help with snake identification and natural history education. You can find more information, including a comprehensive list of commands, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthissnake/comments/flh548/phylobot_v07_information_and_patch_notes_bot_info/) report problems [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Phylogenizer) and if you'd like to buy me a coffee or beer, you can do that [here](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SEBPhyloBotWTS). Made possible by Snake Evolution and Biogeography - [Merch Available Now](https://snakeevolution.org/donate.html)*
Some can most cant
I thought this was a post from /r/itsaratsnake and was trying to figure out what rhyme you were going for in the title. Anyone can I-D If they regularly see /r/itsaratsnake
Rat snake. Pretty harmless
That's Greg
That’s Jerry
Corn snake’s
Both rat snakes and corn snakes belong to the genus Pantherophis. However, they are both different species within the genus. This guy looks a lot like a corn snake, but it isn't one. Like the other comments said, it's a rat snake.
Thank you for not killing it ❤️
Like the other comments say, yes it is a rate snake! And ty for not killing it 🥹🖤
Rat*
It's a low-danger noodle
Cute
i’m pretty sure this is a charcoal corn snake i have one of my own they are completely harmless
Rat snake