Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta)

The Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta) is a non-venomous colubrid species found in North America. It prefers heavily wooded areas and they are known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches. Adults can become quite large and are known to reach up to eight (8) feet in lenghta. The record length is 101 inches (2.6 m), making it (officially) the longest snake in North America. Unofficially, indigo snakes (Drymarchon corais) are known to exceed them, and one wild caught pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) with a portion of its tail missing measured 111 inches (2,8 m).

When startled, they may freeze and wrinkle themselves into a series of kinks. If they feel further threatened, they may flee quickly or vibrate their tails in dead leaves (a form of mimicry, to make it sound like a rattlesnake).

This species is a constrictor, meaning it suffocates its prey, coiling around small animals and tightening its grip until they can no longer draw breath, before eating them. Though they do consume mice and rats, the Black Rat Snakes will also hunt other snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, birds and bird eggs.

Reproduction: the male snake wraps its tail around the female with their vents nearly touching. Males then erect their sex organ, hemipenes and insert it into the female sex organ, cloaca. The mating lasts about a few minutes or a few hours. The female lays about 12 to 20 eggs after five weeks and they hatch about 65 and 70 days later.

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