Snake ID required
- Thread starter Bigfoot
- Start date
If you can get some more pics and let me know the location it was found in the UK, I could be 100% positive. Albino snakes are a nightmare to ID. It would also be highly unusual for a wild snake to have lived as long as that one is without being predated.
Anything of another angle of the head so I can see the scalation between the nasal cavity and eye?
Where was it found?
Where was it found?
It's scales don't look like they are keeled which would mean it's not an Adder, Grass or Aesculapian snake, the only British snake without keels is the Smooth Snake. Albinos are also bred by owners and very sought after pets, most likely and escapee.
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Strangely, albino's do have less defined keels. I need a good shot of the rostrals to get a good ID.
Based on the scalation patterns I can see and the robust ventral articulation, I'm pretty certain (97%) it's Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta or black rat snake. Obviously a captive bred albino morph of some kind. The scalation is wrong for any Pantherophis.
No matter. I'm sure it's a black rat snake. I'm on my PC now and not on my phone and it's quite clear. I should have confirmed it right away just by the posture. But sometimes you can look so hard at the minutiae that you miss the big and quite obvious tell.
A non native American snake bred for the pet market. You don't see these in the wild and it is a morph or hybrid. Bred for the unique colouration.
A non native American snake bred for the pet market. You don't see these in the wild and it is a morph or hybrid. Bred for the unique colouration.
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