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Posted by Dwight Good on January 14, 2003 at 22:34:27:
In Reply to: Mystery Snake posted by reptileszz on January 14, 2003 at 06:21:22:
Carole,
I believe it is definitely elaphe obsoleta of some type, but could possibly be a 'blend' of subspecies. It is certainly not a corn snake and doesn't resemble any corn X rat snake crosses I have seen. Although it could be a gopher X rat snake cross it doesn't appear to be that either. Granted it is very hard to say with any degree of certainty but by the looks of your pics here are my guesses.
1) Albino black rat snake. The body color says albino black rat but the really yellow head is where some doubt sets in. But I have seen a few albino black rats with peach/orange and yellow highlights.
2) Albino 'greenish' rat snake. These are intergradient blends of the black rat and yellow rat snake. In the albino phase they can be similar to either form depending on parental lineages. Some might appear more albino black rat looking, white and pink/red with orangish yellows while others tend to look like albino yellows but with distinct red highlights in the form of bold red H-shaped saddle markings.
3) Albino 'bubblegum' rat snake. These are 3 way blends of the black, yellow, and everglades rat snake in the albino form. Most of the adults I've seen (less than 30) have had more of an intense orange coloration but babies often vary tremendously ocurring in shades of orange, yellow, pinks, reds, etc. Your snake could very well be a pinkish form in the adult stage.
If I were you, I would probably refer to the animal as an albino bubblegum rat snake. Since there is really no way to be 100% certain, this would prevent any further confusion. That way if you decided to breed it you could use an albino bubblegum of the opposite sex and not worry about polluting black rat snake bloodlines and the babies could accurately labeled as 'albino bubblegums.' Just a suggestion. I have added a link below to Kathy Love's CornUtopia website. There you will find photos of her albino bubblegums. As I mentioned they are much oranger than your snake, but you can see the general coloration. Compare the pics to your snake, especially around the upper neck near the head. I noticed some typical 'bubblegum' type blotching (white blotch on orange background) in that area.
Good luck,
dg
