Yellow ratsnake

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Species of snake

title: "Yellow ratsnake" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["pantherophis", "reptiles-of-the-united-states", "reptiles-of-canada", "reptiles-of-ontario", "taxa-named-by-john-edwards-holbrook", "reptiles-described-in-1836"] description: "Species of snake" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_ratsnake" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of snake ::

| name = Yellow ratsnake | image = Yellow Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata) (24209659368).jpg | image_caption = Adult eastern ratsnake McIntosh County, Georgia | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = | status2 = G4 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = | genus = Pantherophis | species = quadrivittatus | authority = (Holbrook, 1836) | synonyms = *Coluber quadrivittatus Holbrook, 1836

  • Scotophis alleghaniensis — Baird & Girard, 1853
  • Elaphis alleghaniensis — Hallowell, 1856
  • Pantherophis alleghaniensis — Garman, 1892 --
  • Coluber obsoletus — Boulenger, 1894 (part)
  • Elaphe obsoleta — Stejneger & Barbour, 1917 (part)
  • Elaphe alleghaniensis — Burbrink, 2001
  • Scotophis alleghaniensis — Collins & Taggart, 2008
  • Pantherophis alleghaniensis — Pyron & Burbrink, 2009
  • Pantherophis quadrivittatus — Burbrink, 2021

Pantherophis quadrivittatus, commonly called the yellow ratsnake or eastern ratsnake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America.

Etymology

The generic name Pantherophis, meaning "panther-like snake", is from : pánthēr, "panther" and : óphis, "snake".

The specific name name quadrivittatus, meaning "four-striped," refers to the four stripes on the species in the southern part of its range.

Common names

Additional common names for Pantherophis quadrivittatus include black rat snake, pilot snake, pilot black snake,{{cite web | url= http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/nhesp/species-and-conservation/nhfacts/pantherophis-alleghaniensis.pdf | title=Eastern Ratsnake: *Pantherophis alleghaniensis * | author= | website=Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife | location=Westborough, MA | access-date=2015-07-08}} chicken snake; and in Florida, yellow rat snake and Everglades rat snake.{{cite web | url=http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-snakes/list/pantherophis-alleghaniensis | title=*Pantherophis alleghaniensis * | author= | website=Florida Museum of Natural History | location=Gainesville, FL | access-date=2015-07-09}}

Geographic range

Pantherophis quadrivittatus is found in the United States east of the Apalachicola River in Florida, east of the Piedmont in Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and south to the Florida Keys. On the western and northern edges of its range, it readily hybridizes with the central ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis). The two species wide hybrid zone of up to 256 km (159 miles) in width and encompassing much of the northeastern United States and Piedmont, making species-level identification in these regions difficult.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Pantherophis_alleghaniensis_ssp._quadrivittata_03.JPG" caption="Yellow rat snake, ''Pantherophis quadrivittatus'' in Florida"] ::

Adult eastern rat snakes commonly measure 90 to in total length (including tail), with a few exceeding 200 cm. The longest recorded total length to date for an eastern rat snake is 228 cm. A further adult weighed 833 g.

Adults in the north of its range are shiny black dorsally, with a cream or white chin and throat. White areas of skin can appear between scales. The belly has an irregular black-and-white checkerboard pattern, becoming uniformly slate gray towards the tail. Juveniles have 28 to 40 dark dorsal blotches on a grayish ground color. The ventral pattern in juveniles is the same as in adults. The eyes are round with a black pupil, with particularly in juveniles, but not always present in adults, a distinct white margin.

In the Florida Peninsula, adult rat snakes can be yellow, orange, tan, or gray, with four dark, longitudinal stripes.

In cross section, the bodies of rat snakes are not round, but instead resemble a loaf of bread.

The dorsal scales are weakly keeled, and are arranged in 23 to 27 rows at midbody.

Males and females have the same coloration. Males have proportionally longer tails (16–19% of total body length) compared to females (14–18% of total body length).

Habitat

The eastern rat snake occurs in a variety of habitats, including farmlands, hardwood forests, forested wetlands, thickets and fields adjacent to forests, isolated urban woodlots, and backyards that support populations of prey species. The eastern rat snake does especially well in early successional and edge habitats. An arboreal species, it can get into human residences, where it may live in attics undetected. At the northern limits of its range, distribution appears to be restricted by the availability of suitable hibernating sites. In these climates, it requires southern exposures to receive maximal thermal benefit from the winter sun and to provide basking areas in early spring and late fall.

Behavior and ecology

The eastern rat snake is primarily active at night during the summer, and diurnal in the spring and fall. It is a terrestrial burrower and an excellent climber, and it may enter water. It is found under rocks and boards, and in trees under bark and within knotholes and palm fronds. Eastern rat snakes have been found using water-filled cavities in trees, with many using the cavities at the same time. Gravid females were also four times more likely to use the water cavities than non-gravid females or male ratsnakes. Gravid females prefer edge habitat more extensively than males and non-gravid females, this is because of the need for gravid females to retain higher body temperature. The snake is a constrictor, and adults eat mainly endotherms, while young eat mainly ectotherms. The diet includes rodents, lizards, frogs, and birds and their eggs. The snakes can also eat young chickens and chicks, hence the common name chicken snake.

Rat snakes are most vulnerable to predators as juveniles. Predators of P. quadrivittatus include hawks (Buteo spp.), great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), foxes, raccoons, and domestic cats. Adult eastern rat snakes have few known predators other than humans. When frightened, a rat snake will freeze. If harassed, it will produce a foul-smelling musk to deter predators. If provoked further, it may coil, shake its tail, and snap at its attacker.

Eastern rat snakes hibernate during the winter underground or in deep crevices. They may congregate in the same dens with other species of snakes, such as copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix), eastern racers (Coluber constrictor) and timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). In northern climes, the snakes are active from late April to October and mate in May or June. They are active earlier in the south.

Reproduction

Eastern rat snakes are oviparous, and gaining nutrients for eggs is facilitated by the female maintaining her body temperature. The snakes start to breed in May and June, earlier in the south. Males approach females to initiate breeding, and may fight other males before breeding. About five weeks after mating, the female lays five to 27 eggs in hollow standing and fallen trees, compost and mulch heaps, sawdust piles, and decomposing logs. Incubation is about two months, and eggs hatch from July through September. Hatchlings are usually just over a foot long at birth, with the distinct gray-and-black pattern characteristic of juveniles.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Juvenile_ratsnake_crop.jpg" caption="Juvenile yellow ratsnake showing its grey base color with dark blotches"] ::

Taxonomy

Pantherophis quadrivittatus has sometimes been considered a subspecies of P. obsoletus, to which it is closely related.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Yellow_Rat_Snake_377.jpg" caption="Opportunistic yellow ratsnake looking for prey atop [[live oak]] tree"] ::

This species has often been placed in the genus Elaphe, but recent phylogenetic analyses have resulted in its transfer to Pantherophis.

Previously, the eastern rat snake was assigned the binomial Pantherophis alleghaniensis and was thought to occupy the entire eastern seaboard north to Massachusetts. In 2021, genetic analysis found that the holotype for P. allegheniensis belongs to the species then known as Pantherophis spiloides, commonly called the gray or central ratsnake. The Central ratsnake species is now known to occupy a range between the Mississippi River in the west and the Piedmont in the east, north to New England. Due to the principle of priority, P. spiloides was reassigned to P. alleghaniensis. Therefore, the yellow ratsnake, the species distributed east and south of the Piedmont and on the Florida Peninsula, was reassigned to what had been the junior synonym Pantherophis quadrivittatus.

References

References

  1. Hammerson, G.A.. (2019). "''Pantherophis alleghaniensis''".
  2. [[Spencer Fullerton Baird. (1853). "Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents". Smithsonian Institution.
  3. (1856). "Notice of a collection of reptiles from Kansas and Nebraska, presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences by Dr. Hammond". U.S.A. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci..
  4. Garman S. (1892). "The Discoboli. Cyclopteridæ, Liparopsidæ, and Liparididæ". Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College.
  5. [[George Albert Boulenger. Boulenger GA]] (1894). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (''Coluber obsoletus'', pp. 50-51).
  6. [[Leonhard Stejneger. Stejneger L]], [[Thomas Barbour. Barbour T]] (1917). ''A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 125 pp. (''Elaphe obsoleta'', p. 83).
  7. Burbrink FT. (2001). "Systematics of the eastern ratsnake complex (''Elaphe obsoleta'')". Herpetological Monographs.
  8. (2008). "An alternative classification of the New World Rat Snakes (genus ''Pantherophis'' [Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae])". Journal of Kansas Herpetology.
  9. Boundy, Jeff. (31 March 2025). "Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, With Comments Regarding Confidence in our Understanding". Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
  10. Burbrink, Frank T.. (2021). ["The Corrected Taxonomic History of the North American Ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus Complex)"](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Corrected-Taxonomic-History-of-the-North-(-OF/82c8c2caf7befca5c948b7c6315c7b6111151656). [[Herpetological Review]].
  11. Burbrink, Frank T.. (February 2021). "Resolving spatial complexities of hybridization in the context of the gray zone of speciation in North American ratsnakes ( Pantherophis obsoletus complex)". Evolution.
  12. Penning DA. (2017). "The king of snakes: performance and morphology of intraguild predators (''Lampropeltis'') and their prey (''Pantherophis'')". Journal of Experimental Biology.
  13. Veilleux J. (2020). "Diagnosis, treatment and post-release monitoring of an eastern black rat snake (''Pantherophis alleghaniensis'') with ophidiomycosis and traumatic injuries". Veterinary Record Case Reports.
  14. "Black Ratsnake".
  15. "Eastern Ratsnake".
  16. "Black Ratsnake".
  17. "''Pantherophis alleghaniensis''".
  18. (1979). "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
  19. (2020-02-14). "Venous hematology, biochemistry, and blood gas analysis of free-ranging Eastern Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) and Eastern Ratsnakes (''Pantherophis alleghaniensis'')". PLOS ONE.
  20. (2001). "HABITAT USE BY BLACK RAT SNAKES ( ''ELAPHE OBSOLETA OBSOLETA'' ) IN FRAGMENTED FORESTS". Ecology.
  21. . ["''Pantherophis alleghaniensis ''"](http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Pantherophis+alleghaniensis).
  22. . ["Black Rat Snake"](http://www.marylandzoo.org/animals-conservation/reptiles/black-rat-snake/).
  23. . ["Eastern Ratsnake (''Pantherophis alleghaniensis'')"](http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/eastern-ratsnake/blackrat_snake.php).
  24. (1963). "Natural History of the Black Rat Snake (''Elaphe o. obsoleta'') in Kansas". Copeia.
  25. "''Pantherophis''".
  26. [[species:Urs Utiger. (2002). "Molecular Systematics and Phylogeny of Old and New World ratsnakes, ''Elaphe'' Auct., and related genera (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae)". Russian Journal of Herpetology.
  27. (2007). "How and when did Old World ratsnakes disperse into the New World?". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
  28. [[species:Robert Alexander Pyron. (2009). "Neogene diversification and taxonomic stability in the snake tribe Lampropeltini (Serpentes: Colubridae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

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pantherophisreptiles-of-the-united-statesreptiles-of-canadareptiles-of-ontariotaxa-named-by-john-edwards-holbrookreptiles-described-in-1836