The Common Rat Snake

To admit, after seeing the big skink at my neighbours backyard, the next thing I saw was this, and not all those butterflies. But I thought that it would be rather nice to keep some waiting. Anyway, just a few metres from the giant skink was a small tank that had a hollow area below the ground. It was a very old one, and had vegetation and dead leaves in and all over it. The tank was also covered in moss, making it rather difficult to figure it out as a man-made item.

I was slowly walking by, and out of curiosity I just looked into the tank. Something, frightened by my arrival, slithered into the hollow part underground, where it contained clear water. My neighbour, who had a good sense of what it was, backed off five metres in lightning speed. It was a snake, no doubt, but the question was, what snake was it? Was it a highly venomous Spectacled Cobra, or was it a Harmless yet fierce Rat Snake? But whatever it was, I quickly took 2 shots, but unfortunately, the vegetation and the sticks and twigs around were blocking it and I could not get any clear pictures of the snake. But, there was still hope. The only exit from the tank was the entrance that we were through. So we waited. We stood on the far end of the tank, slowly waiting, often peeking in to see if the snake was out. And during one of the peeks, it showed up and I managed to get two clear shots of the snake, but I could not get its head in the picture. I managed to identify it as the Common Rat Snake, a very common species there.

-

-

In a few seconds, after sensing our presence again, it retreated to the underground area. We waited again, and in a few minutes it was back, and this time, it was near the entrance peeking from the underside of a bucket. What did we do? My neighbour tossed the bucket and I immediately took a snap. And I got it! Here are the pictures of it with its head peeking out from the blue bucket, and the second one is the photograph that I took after having my neighbour to move the bucket. But I can't find the head in that picture anyway.

-

-

We waited like this for a few more times and got more and more pictures. Check out the first picture in here where it looked out from the water in the hollow underground area.

-

-

A few more pictures of the Rat Snake out on land. I only heard from my neighbour that it climbed out and slithered away out of the tank a few minutes after my leave.

-

-

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Yellow morph of the Common Rat Snake.
It is a species that inhabit a variety of forest types, and is abundant in agricultural fields, which have a plentiful supply of rodents, as well as forests, deserts, scrubland, mangroves, parks and cities. Combat dances of this species are frequently reported, when 2 males are seen partially entwined, with the forebodies raised. Diet comprises frogs, rats, bats, birds, lizards, turtles, other snakes and bird eggs. It produces a variety of sounds, from a hiss, to a low growl.

-