Yellow on Green

Eastern (yellow) rat snake.
Elaphe alleghaniensis.
January 4th, 2007.
State Road 40; Volusia county, Florida.
Nikon D70s.
~~~~~

I found this yellow rat snake a few dozen yards past the spot where I had just found a young Florida cottonmouth a couple of days prior. It was a productive early January along State Road 40!

There's a bit of a fuss/debate about the Eastern rat snake and its classification. Given that I'm not a professional herpetologist, much less a biologist or even a scientist, I have given myself to the mercy of the CNAH posted classifications. Therefore, I chalk up the yellow rats (the most common of the Eastern rat snakes in peninsular Florida) as Elaphe alleghaniensis - despite the debate.

Yellow rats are sweet snakes. Strong, alert, decisive, and quite elegant, most of the individuals I've come across seem to be quite cooperative as well. I never grow tired of these animals.

The color in this photo was enhanced a bit. I spiked the contrast to draw out the dark green in the background. As a result, there's a bit more graininess than I usually prefer, but that was just a price to pay for the color match.

~ janson.