"The Black Rat Snake"
by L. Jonas
The Piedmont Virginian
by L. Jonas
The Piedmont Virginian
The climbing abilities of this snake are almost unbelievable. George and Meg Coleman, who live near a timbered hill west of Marshall, told of watching one climb the side of their home, by pressing its body against the angle where one piece of siding overlapped the one lower down, and move horizontally for a foot or so, then move up to the next one. This was smooth, painted aluminum siding!
You might get an idea of how highly I regard the Coleman's honesty, when I say that if most other people had told me of that, I wouldn't have believed it.
However, I have seen black rat snakes, or pilot black snakes, as they are also called, about as frequently up in the rafters, as on the ground. they are reported as sometimes "establishing residence in cavities high up in hollow trees."
The black rat snake might be confused with the black snake, or black racer, which is much slimmer, and faster. The rat snakes are shaped like a loaf of bread in cross section, while the black racers are round.
This snake has a peculiar habit of "freezing" with its body bent at such sharp angles, that it looks like a car had run over it. This is especially noticeable when you surprise one on the road.
This snake has some enemies, of course, besides the farmer who might kill it because he thinks it is after his chickens, when it is really more apt to be catching rats and mice.
Foxes eat it, and red-tailed hawks are perhaps its greatest peril. It is amusing to see farmers kill hawks of all kinds to "protect the quail," when the hawk could easily be benefiting them, by keeping the snake population down where it isn't much of a menace to nesting quail.
Snakes play an important part in the ecology of the Piedmont, but when the balance is disturbed too severely, they might multiply to the point where they keep the bluebird population too low. It is interesting to watch rat snakes, and they do a real service in keeping the mouse population down, but it would be great to also have some bluebirds around.
There is a superstition we've heard emanating from those persons who feel that every wild animal is a menace. This story says that black rat snakes should be killed, because "they cross with copperheads, and then their babies are poisonous!" I will pay $100 to any person who can bring me a hybrid ratsnake-and-copperhead. If they cross, what do the offspring look like?
The long, black forked tongue of snakes is one of the reasons many people fear them. They even call it the snake's "fangs." The reason for the thrusting out of the tongue is that this is the way the snake picks up molecules of scent. Then the tongue is thrust into special organs inside the mouth, where the information is received.
Snakes don't hear well; they get vibrations from the ground instead. Most of the see fairly well when close up. They see, and smell, well enough so that Black rat snakes mate with their own kind, and if they hybridize, it is with other species of rat snakes, where their ranges cross.
You might get an idea of how highly I regard the Coleman's honesty, when I say that if most other people had told me of that, I wouldn't have believed it.
Photo courtesy of Lynn Wilson, A Mother's Journal
However, I have seen black rat snakes, or pilot black snakes, as they are also called, about as frequently up in the rafters, as on the ground. they are reported as sometimes "establishing residence in cavities high up in hollow trees."
The black rat snake might be confused with the black snake, or black racer, which is much slimmer, and faster. The rat snakes are shaped like a loaf of bread in cross section, while the black racers are round.
This snake has a peculiar habit of "freezing" with its body bent at such sharp angles, that it looks like a car had run over it. This is especially noticeable when you surprise one on the road.
This snake has some enemies, of course, besides the farmer who might kill it because he thinks it is after his chickens, when it is really more apt to be catching rats and mice.
Foxes eat it, and red-tailed hawks are perhaps its greatest peril. It is amusing to see farmers kill hawks of all kinds to "protect the quail," when the hawk could easily be benefiting them, by keeping the snake population down where it isn't much of a menace to nesting quail.
Snakes play an important part in the ecology of the Piedmont, but when the balance is disturbed too severely, they might multiply to the point where they keep the bluebird population too low. It is interesting to watch rat snakes, and they do a real service in keeping the mouse population down, but it would be great to also have some bluebirds around.
There is a superstition we've heard emanating from those persons who feel that every wild animal is a menace. This story says that black rat snakes should be killed, because "they cross with copperheads, and then their babies are poisonous!" I will pay $100 to any person who can bring me a hybrid ratsnake-and-copperhead. If they cross, what do the offspring look like?
The long, black forked tongue of snakes is one of the reasons many people fear them. They even call it the snake's "fangs." The reason for the thrusting out of the tongue is that this is the way the snake picks up molecules of scent. Then the tongue is thrust into special organs inside the mouth, where the information is received.
Snakes don't hear well; they get vibrations from the ground instead. Most of the see fairly well when close up. They see, and smell, well enough so that Black rat snakes mate with their own kind, and if they hybridize, it is with other species of rat snakes, where their ranges cross.
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