page_title: Rat snake
section_title: Old World rat snakes
hierarchical_section_title: Rat snake / Species / Old World rat snakes
caption_attribution_description: Yellow Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata -- Family Colubridae). STA-5, south of Clewiston, Hendry Co., Florida. Photographed during the first Clewiston/STA-5 Christmas Bird Count 12/15/2007
context_page_description: Rat snakes are members – along with kingsnakes, milk snakes, vine snakes and indigo snakes – of the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. They are medium to large constrictors and are found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere. They feed primarily on rodents. Many species make attractive and docile pets and one, the corn snake, is one of the most popular reptile pets in the world. As with all snakes, they can be defensive when approached too closely, handled, or restrained, but bites are not serious. Like nearly all colubrids, rat snakes pose no threat to humans. Rat snakes were long believed to be completely nonvenomous, but recent studies have shown that some Old World species do possess small amounts of venom, though the amount is negligible relative to humans.
  Previously, most rat snakes were assigned to the genus Elaphe, but many have been since renamed following mitochondrial DNA analysis performed in 2002. For the purpose of this article, names will be harmonized with the TIGR Database.
context_section_description: Coelognathus spp.
  Philippine rat snake, C. erythrurus (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)
  Black copper rat snake or yellow striped snake, C. flavolineatus (Schlegel, 1837)
  Trinket snake, C. helena (Daudin, 1803)
  Copperhead rat snake, C. radiatus (F. Boie, 1827)
  Indonesian rat snake, C. subradiatus (Schlegel, 1837)
  Elaphe spp.
  Twin-spotted rat snake, Elaphe bimaculata Schmidt, 1925
  King rat snake, Elaphe carinata (Günther, 1864)
  Japanese rat snake, E. climacophora (H. Boie, 1826)
  David's rat snake, E. davidi (Sauvage, 1884)
  Dione rat snake, E. dione (Pallas, 1773)
  Japanese four-lined rat snake, E. quadrivirgata (H. Boie, 1826)
  Four-lined snake, E. quatuorlineata (Lacépède, 1789)
  Red-backed rat snake, E. rufodorsata (Cantor, 1842)
  Eastern four-lined snake, E. sauromates (Pallas, 1811)
  Russian rat snake, E. schrenckii Strauch, 1873
  Euprepiophis spp.
  Japanese forest rat snake, E. conspicillatus (H. Boie, 1826)
  Mandarin rat snake, E. mandarinus (Cantor, 1842)
  Gonyosoma spp.
  Green trinket snake, G. frenatum (Gray, 1853)
  Celebes black-tailed rat snake, G. jansenii (Bleeker, 1858)
  Red-tailed green rat snake, G. oxycephalum (F. Boie, 1827)
  Oreocryptophis spp.
  Mountain rat snake, O. porphyracea (Cantor, 1839)
  Orthriophis spp.
  Cantor's rat snake, O. cantoris (Boulenger, 1894)
  Hodgson's rat snake, O. hodgsoni (Günther, 1860)
  100 flower rat snake, O. moellendorffi (Boettger, 1886)
  Beauty snake, O. taeniurus (Cope, 1861)
  Ptyas spp.
  Keeled rat snake, P. carinata (Günther, 1858)
  P. dhumnades (Cantor, 1842)
  Sulawesi black racer, P. dipsas (Schlegel, 1837)
  White-bellied rat snake, P. fusca (Günther, 1858)
  Chinese rat snake, P. korros (Schlegel, 1837)
  P. luzonensis (Günther, 1873)
  Oriental rat snake, P. mucosa (Linnaeus, 1758)
  Green rat snake, P. nigromarginata (Blyth, 1854)
  Rhadinophis spp.
  Green bush snake, R. prasinus (Blyth, 1854)
  Rhynchophis spp.
  Rhinoceros ratsnake, R. boulengeri Mocquard, 1897
  Zamenis spp.
  Transcaucasian rat snake, Z. hohenackeri (Strauch, 1873)
  Italian Aesculapian snake, Z. lineatus (Camerano, 1891)
  Aesculapian snake, Z. longissimus (Laurenti, 1768)
  Persian rat snake, Z. persicus (F. Werner, 1913)
  Leopard snake, Z. situla (Linnaeus, 1758)
caption: Yellow rat snake Pantherophis sp. (formerly Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata) from Florida
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D50", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2008:02:18 12:14:03", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.4.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "248", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "634", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "1994", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "13", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:12:15 13:28:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:12:15 13:28:31", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "2/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "882", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "222", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area"}