Since gopher and corn snakes can be bred together, do you think an Eastern rat snake would be able to have viable babies with one? I have a unique albino striped black rat snake (I have never seen anything else like her). If I can’t find a male once she is recovered from her RI the breeder sent her to me with, I might try my hand at making a hybrid if you think it would work.
Here is a picture of her. She is a big girl at 6’1" (185cm). Corn snakes are close cousins with Eastern rat snakes, so I imagine it would work but am not sure. It would give me an excuse to get a gopher snake at least lol.
@ashleyraeanne yes gophers, bull snakes, and pine snakes can breed and produce healthy offspring with any north American rat snake, king snake, or milk snake as far as I am aware. Keep in mind that hybrids can be difficult to move at times as they recieve a lot of hate. I would advise you if you choose to make hybrids think very carefully about what you want to accomplish in the long term by doing so and consider the species carefully as to what traits you’re looking for. Most importantly if you do move the babies onward to ok ther homes make sure you are very clear to the new owners what they are. Also, it’s slightly easier to trick the two species into breeding if you have a pair of each so you can use them to scent one another when pairing. Switching the bedding from one female to the other and rubbing her down with sheds from the other as well as the males helps to convince them they are being introduced to another of their own kind. Lastly, take into consideration the care of the species as often those with drastically different environmental needs have problems. Me personally, if I was going to hybridize that particular rat snake to a Pituophis I’d make it a bull snake and an albino or het albino one at that.
You’re very welcome. That is just an amazing clutch you produced from that pair. I believe hybrids, especially in the colubrid family, have a very bright future in this hobby.
I’d be very proud of producing a clutch like that, and they really are stunning sir.
I’ve always wanted to try and pair a Bairds rat snake with a Barrons racer. In your experience with hybrids, do you think that would have a good chance of producing viable eggs?
Unfortunately new world and old world species are not compatible. The north american species cannot cross at all with most asian species, and the few that have have proven to be sterile.
I have some new crosses coming in as soon as they’ve had a few meals from a friend in Socal. They are Florida king (brooks phase) X Blotched king aka goini. I’ll be getting 1 normal 100% het albino possible het hypo, 1 normal 100% ht hypo, and one hypo. Those will eventually be crossed to an albino Honduran and my kingdurans and who knows beyond that. I’ve got projects for years to come with these guys. I’m also acquiring 2 Cass county locale bulls from massive parents. The male will be used for both pure bulls (with the matching female) and hybrids though I won’t decide exactly how until I get closer to that. Next year I’ll be looking for a male Honduran milk. I already have a female and it’s easier to trick them in to making hybrids with one of each sex available for scenting.
Storm my albino jungle corn was cruising around her bin today after having shed, fed, and a good BM lol. So I gave her a little spritz and hung out with her for a few minutes.
Another stunner you got there @thebeardedherper! Since you like your share of hybrids have you ever thought about getting into pythons or boas at all? Whether it was to make hybrids or just to breed normally?
Once upon a time I had a small but respectable ball python collection that i had planned to breed. At some point I decided that ball pythons weren’t for me. They’re too slow and inactive for me personally. There are a few species I’d like to work with and try my hand at breeding like Savu pythons, spotted pythons, macklotts and maybe carpets some day. I’ve had most of those in the past but never tried to breed. I’m so over trying to keep giant snakes like burms and retics though superdwarves are still a possibility and I really like the retic x Timor phthons I’ve seen.
As for boas I currently have 7 boas of which 2 are breeding size. I paired them early this year with no luck as far as I can tell. I have been debating on whether I will continue down the boa path or not. I may only end up keeping my true redtails.
Oh my gosh I never realize that was a black ratsnake! Such a beautiful animal again, definitely considering it now that I see that they’re a little bit heavier bodied than corn snakes
My suggestion with a black rat would be to ask the seller about the personality or if you can pick one out in person. Some are really easy going but many are like mine, total buttheads lol
In my experience even the wild ones are surprisingly calm and I have only been musked twice by the wild ones. Babies/juveniles can have a higher tendency to be defensive but not all the time and usually calm down pretty quickly. Now Texas rat snakes? Those guys are evil and even the adults can be a handful. I hear the wild ones are vicious too. Though the seller said my girl was a sweetheart and was already as tame as a rat snake can get, and that seems to hold up. But once she is in food mode she stays in it for a while like many other colubrids. She will try to eat everything that moves at that point.
All I know is I’ve had a handful over the years and while they can be really docile, when they’re bad they’re really bad lol. Just one of those species I think is better to pick out in person if you can.
