I was fishing yesterday in the new kayak I bought, and after a full day, I was getting ready to leave as the sun was setting. My friend Mike was with me, fishing about 50 yards from me in his kayak. The water is very high for this time of year, and much of what is usually land along the shoreline was covered in 5 feet of water. As I was reeling in for the last time, I saw something in the water about 30 feet from me, swimming along a group of flooded trees. I assumed it was a muskrat or a turtle, so I went over to check it out. I couldn't find it at first, until I looked up one of the trees. There was an approximately 6 foot long black rat snake staring right at me, wrapped around the tree about 2 feet up.
After calling mike over to see it, I proceeded to grab it and prepared to be bit. I was surprised however, when he made no attempt to bite and didn't seem scared. In my kayak I couldn't really get good pictures of it, so I put it in the storage compartment of my kayak because I forgot my normal snake bag that I carry. I got back to shore and took him out, and I was again amazed at his calmness. I determined that it was a male, which made me break my usual rule for field herping, and I took this particular specimen home because I fell in love with it. I wouldn't have taken a female of this size. It was only the third snake I have ever taken from the wild with the intent to keep it, the other two being a large unique patterned garter snake and a very large northern water snake, and I successfully transitioned both onto F/T mice without too much difficulty.
This has instantly become one of my favorite snakes I have ever owned, and with all of the herps I have seen over the years, this is the first black rat I've seen, despite them being fairly common. I have seen 3 Timber Rattlesnakes before this, and they are really rare in upstate NY due to the bounty hunting in the past.
Here are some pics of him in his QT cage, currently being treated with prevent-a-mite to remove any external parasites.
During the trip, in addition to catching several nice pike, bass and the ratsnake, we also saw over 50 eastern painted turtles and easily over 100 common map turtles. I also had a 2.5-3 foot bowfin try to bite my hands off when I was cleaning my sunglasses. He swam right up to me in my boat and only turned when I jumped back after he scared the crap out of me. I'm thinking that he saw a flash of light off of my glasses and that got his attention. He was an awesome fish to see in the wild. We saw several others as well, but they wouldn't take our lures.
Anyway, it was a great day. I have to get him out tomorrow to get some pics of his size, but these will have to do for now. He's a great looking snake, and the camera flash does no justice to his colors.
After calling mike over to see it, I proceeded to grab it and prepared to be bit. I was surprised however, when he made no attempt to bite and didn't seem scared. In my kayak I couldn't really get good pictures of it, so I put it in the storage compartment of my kayak because I forgot my normal snake bag that I carry. I got back to shore and took him out, and I was again amazed at his calmness. I determined that it was a male, which made me break my usual rule for field herping, and I took this particular specimen home because I fell in love with it. I wouldn't have taken a female of this size. It was only the third snake I have ever taken from the wild with the intent to keep it, the other two being a large unique patterned garter snake and a very large northern water snake, and I successfully transitioned both onto F/T mice without too much difficulty.
This has instantly become one of my favorite snakes I have ever owned, and with all of the herps I have seen over the years, this is the first black rat I've seen, despite them being fairly common. I have seen 3 Timber Rattlesnakes before this, and they are really rare in upstate NY due to the bounty hunting in the past.
Here are some pics of him in his QT cage, currently being treated with prevent-a-mite to remove any external parasites.
During the trip, in addition to catching several nice pike, bass and the ratsnake, we also saw over 50 eastern painted turtles and easily over 100 common map turtles. I also had a 2.5-3 foot bowfin try to bite my hands off when I was cleaning my sunglasses. He swam right up to me in my boat and only turned when I jumped back after he scared the crap out of me. I'm thinking that he saw a flash of light off of my glasses and that got his attention. He was an awesome fish to see in the wild. We saw several others as well, but they wouldn't take our lures.
Anyway, it was a great day. I have to get him out tomorrow to get some pics of his size, but these will have to do for now. He's a great looking snake, and the camera flash does no justice to his colors.
