Photo Gallery

More Links
Greg's Reptiles
Black Ratsnakes

Here's a baby snake that still has some food in its stomach to absorb. Notice of course, that black ratsnakes aren't black at all when they are born. They kind of look like a bland, cornsnake when they first hatch. It takes some time for them to turn black.

Here's another shot of the first snake to start hatching.

The first egg to hatch was this cute little guy. I looked like this when I left for work in the morning and still had his head out this much when I came home. That's when I realized that he was stuck! The shells on these were all hard and he couldn't get his head back in or his body out. So I took some small tweezers and peeled the shell back just a little bit and he popped out like one of those toys with paper snakes that jump out of a can.

I bred the larger female and the male together for just two or three weeks during the spring of 2003. That's all it took. During the middle of July, the female laid these five eggs. Two of them hatched during September. Notice how long these eggs are.

I used to have a trio (1.2) of black ratsnakes. The male (Snap) and one of the females (Crackle) are small adult size but this other female (Pop) is just a youngster at 170 grams. This picture was taken during the winter of 2001-2002 while I was cooling the other two down in the basement. When Pop eats and swells up you can see the skin between her scales and make out her juvenile pattern better. (And yes, I hate it when the picture is not focused properly too. I assure you, it's my digital camera, not me. :)

Here's a baby snake that still has some food in its stomach to absorb. Notice of course, that black ratsnakes aren't black at all when they are born. They kind of look like a bland, cornsnake when they first hatch. It takes some time for them to turn black.
Here's another shot of the first snake to start hatching.
The first egg to hatch was this cute little guy. I looked like this when I left for work in the morning and still had his head out this much when I came home. That's when I realized that he was stuck! The shells on these were all hard and he couldn't get his head back in or his body out. So I took some small tweezers and peeled the shell back just a little bit and he popped out like one of those toys with paper snakes that jump out of a can.
I bred the larger female and the male together for just two or three weeks during the spring of 2003. That's all it took. During the middle of July, the female laid these five eggs. Two of them hatched during September. Notice how long these eggs are.
I used to have a trio (1.2) of black ratsnakes. The male (Snap) and one of the females (Crackle) are small adult size but this other female (Pop) is just a youngster at 170 grams. This picture was taken during the winter of 2001-2002 while I was cooling the other two down in the basement. When Pop eats and swells up you can see the skin between her scales and make out her juvenile pattern better. (And yes, I hate it when the picture is not focused properly too. I assure you, it's my digital camera, not me. :)