Here is the info from the guy who found it in Eatonton, GA.
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> It's definitely Elaphe. A couple of things I've noticed...
1. It was very well fed and in a business district nowhere near where it should be (concrete sidewalks and manicured lawns)
2. No markings on top of the head shouldn't exist at all.
3. No post-ocular stripe indicates guttata
4. Striped tail indicates guttata
5. If it were obsoleta it would be solid black by the time it was this size ... this one has no black.
6. When you hold a black rat it tends to wrap around your hand, while guttata tends to stay straightened out and just try to crawl. This one behaves more like guttata in that sense, it doesn't hold onto your arm like a tree branch the way obsoleta does... (I know, that's not scientific, but I think worth noting)
I'm gonna guess it's either:
1. black rat x corn cross (which should still have some head markings)
2. escaped great plains rat?
3. escaped texas rat?
4. some anerythristic or mixed up guttata?
5. *insert your guess here*
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
After spending most of the day running through every book we have and looking at every feature, it is very hard to tell. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
[addsig]
