| 1 | All-powerful on the east coast |
The eastern ratsnake is a common species of the eastern USA, which has no venom whatsoever, and kills its prey via constriction instead. It’s a fairly long snake, with an all-time maximum of 228cm, and a fairly thick body as well, in order to allow for its squeezing hunting methods.
Eastern ratsnakes cover a huge chunk of the US east coast, and are abundant wherever they live. Their southern reaches stretch to the tip of Florida, as this species covers the entire state, from the northern Panhandle to the glitzy central areas near Orlando. Eastern ratsnakes then move northwards through Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and more, before only coming to a halt in Vermont.
While eastern ratsnakes don’t quite reach frosty Canada, they inhabit virtually every east coast state, with the exceptions of Maine and New Hampshire. This is a patient snake rather than an aggressive charger, as eastern ratsnakes tend to move around their domains slowly and deliberately. After capturing a mouse or bird, they apply a couple of loose coils, before applying a deathly squeeze, and swallowing their prize headfirst.
Eastern ratsnakes are completely non-threatening to human beings, and there’s no cause for panic if you meet one. But they do have one great speciality – being one of the USA’s top urban snakes.
| 2 | A regular urban snake |
The eastern ratsnake is by far one of the most comfortable US snakes in towns and cities, especially along the east coast. There’s nothing extreme about seeing this species slithering through a backgarden, across a wooden porch, or even crossing a busy road, before possibly ending up as roadkill.
In a natural world, the eastern ratsnake’s habitats include deciduous forests and a mixture of thickets and tree clumps near fields. Yet somehow, this species is extremely adaptable to manmade environments, barely suffering when human beings move in and take over.
Eastern ratsnakes appear in major cities such as Raleigh, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Gainesville, as well as countless smaller towns in the eastern USA. If you want to find a snake simply by walking out your front door and not travel to the countryside or wilderness, this is one of the easiest species to find. You might not need to leave your house, as an eastern ratsnake could easily slither through your garden as you sit peacefully drinking a beer in the evening.
Another advantage of eastern ratsnakes is being thick-bodied and slow-moving, making them much easier to spot, whether in a park or leafy suburb. Another common urban snake is Dekay’s brown snake, but this species is much shorter (30cm), and has a tendency to hide under disguising cover objects.
| 3 | Master of nest raiding |
Eastern ratsnakes are longer than the vast majority of US snakes, with an all-time record of 228cm, and an average of 100-180cm. Another of this snake’s specialities is its tree-climbing skills, as eastern ratsnakes can ascend vertical tree trunks with ease. They ascend trees relatively slowly, rather than zipping up like a maniac, but they always accomplish their goal in the end.
Eastern ratsnakes slither up brick walls as well, before nestling themselves in peoples’ dark attics, amid cobwebs and wooden rafters. The reason is their dietary preferences: birds and bats. The eastern ratsnake is the top bird-eating snake of the entire eastern USA. Confirmed prey include American robins, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, house finches, blue jays and red junglefowl.
Bats are confirmed as well, specifically the southern myotis bat. Eastern ratsnakes also prey heavily on bird eggs, and it’s perfectly normal to find one resting by your garden fence with a round bulge moving slowly down its throat.
One bizarre incident took place in Brevard County, Florida, when a ratsnake was found to have swallowed a table-tennis ball by accident, mistaking its round smoothness for an egg. This ratsnake had casually invaded the owner’s garden, showing no fear of brick walls, wooden fences, or sharp backgarden tools.
| 4 | Pretends to be aggressive |
As well as birds and bats, eastern ratsnakes derive a large chunk of their calories from small, scurrying mammals, such as rats and mice. Another prey in scientists’ logbooks is eggs of the American bullfrog, although amphibian meals are very rare for this species.
When confronted with large predators or perhaps even a human, eastern ratsnakes are unable to deliver any venom, because they don’t possess a single drop. But they do possess the dark arts of intimidation.
The eastern ratsnake’s strategy when confronted is to throw its entire upper body into the air, and shift itself into a tight S-coil. Its next move is a piercing hiss, followed by several mock lunges, designed to convince the predator that this snake is deadly serious.
When coiled into an S-shape, eastern ratsnakes always face the predator head on – see the image above. The one weakness of this species is a tendency to lose all aggression when gripped. If its bluff fails, then the eastern ratsnake will go completely floppy in your hands. Eastern ratsnakes are perfectly safe to pick up, unlike the black racer, another non-venomous Florida species, which is not just viciously nippy, but aims for the face preferentially, often drawing blood.
| 5 | Hibernates with other snake species |
Eastern ratsnakes are semi-communal in nature, as underground hibernacula have been discovered containing several unrelated species: eastern ratsnakes, black racers, and even venomous species like copperheads and timber rattlesnakes. These species coexist perfectly peacefully, without even snapping at each other or growing nervous in each other’s presence.
Don’t bother trying to find this snake in mid-winter, as eastern ratsnakes typically enter their hibernation dens in October, and only emerge in March or April. Their favourite areas are shadowy underground chambers, often in rock formations within woodlands. The copperhead also favours these rocky outcrops, which is why the two species are often found side by side.
South-facing slopes are also hotspots for hibernating eastern ratsnakes, in order to maximize the sun’s warmth during its weaker months. Like many snakes, eastern ratsnakes are somehow able to sense precisely which slopes face a certain direction. In Virginia or North Carolina, there’s a legitimate chance that a sheer rock face in a hilly woodland contains a few hibernating eastern ratsnakes, perhaps a rocky outcrop which you walk past every day, as leaves crunch underneath your feet.
Obviously, there’s one thing we never recommend – poking your arm in. Eastern ratsnakes may rarely attack human beings, but that doesn’t mean their secret hibernation buddies feel the same way.
| 6 | Two morphs: black and yellow |
Eastern ratsnakes lay eggs, typically in batches of 5-27. Their favourite stash zones include sawdust piles, compost heaps and decomposing logs. These eggs hatch from July to September, unleashing a fresh batch of baby eastern ratsnakes into the world, not all of which survive.
One characteristic of this species is that at birth, eastern ratsnakes look very different to adulthood. They’re stony grey with darker blotches, more closely resembling a grey ratsnake (found further west).
Into adulthood, the grey vanishes and is replaced with either yellow or grey, which are morphs found within the same species. The yellow morph is most common in Florida, and is an orange-yellow overlaid with parallel lengthways stripes. The tongue always remains black, regardless of body colour.
The more common morph, especially further north, is a pure black – hence the alternative name of black ratsnake. This version is interspersed with occasional white markings, which is actually skin visible between its scales.
Eastern ratsnakes always have round pupils, with medium sized eyes. Like the corn snake, their body is adapted for tree climbing. In a cross section, their body is not round, but shaped like a loaf of bread, with a flattened belly, which has keeled scales to enable gripping in soft tree bark.
| 7 | Resting place: underwater logs |
The forest is full of possibilities, and eastern ratsnakes have many places they can take shelter. Overgrown brush, cracks in tree trunks and hollow logs are all likely. But they have one favourite above all: hollowed out branches submerged in water.
Eastern ratsnakes are especially common in thick branches which have detached from their parent tree, landed near water, then rotted away starting with the core. They can rest peacefully in these watery shelters for 1 day, 10 days, or up to 34 days. Some of these branches have had an opening just 5cm thick.
Eastern ratsnakes often rest inside these flooded branches with fellow species members, whereas they share space less commonly in dry refuges. This included males with females. and females with females. Scientists have noticed that pregnant females are the most likely to rest in submerged branches, hinting that they offer some advantage of childbirth, perhaps superior shelter against roaming predators, given the tiny 5cm openings.
When scientists created 56 artificial submerged cavities, and left them around woods in South Carolina, the ratsnakes ignored them. Only one ratsnake entered a fake shelter over 2 years, whereas when 45 eastern ratsnakes were tracked over 4 years, 22 of them rested in submerged logs. Eastern ratsnakes aren’t idiots, and have very specific natural characteristics they search for. Summer was the most likely time to find them in submerged logs.
| 8 | Nest-raiding tactics |
In 2015, a study compared the three main nest-raiding snakes of the eastern US: eastern racers, corn snakes, and the unrelated black racer (Coluber constrictor). The site was Savannah River country in South Carolina, right in the heart of eastern racer territory.
All 3 were skillful at slithering directly up tree trunks and raiding nests. Only black racers ate adult birds, but all three favoured nestlings above all, sometimes just 6 days old.
Black racers preyed on nests exclusively during daylight, while corn snakes were exclusively nocturnal. Eastern ratsnakes were the only species to raid nests during both day and night, though their peak hours were 20:00 and 22:00. Corn snakes raided their nests later in the night, including as late as 02:20.
Ratsnakes were also were less aggressive than their cousin. In 11 cases, corn snakes approached defensive adult birds closely enough to make contact. In 6 cases, they actually shoved the parent aside to access the nestlings beneath. Meanwhile, eastern ratsnakes only struck at adult birds 3 times, and never made actual contact with adults.
Overall, eastern ratsnakes were the highest ranked bird predator, accounting for 28% of nest failures, versus 15% for corn snakes, and 12% for black racers. Coachwhips contributed a small share at 5%. Eastern ratsnakes preyed on 6 eggs and 32 nestlings across the study.
| 9 | Prefers forest edges to centres |
The eastern ratsnakes almost always (96%) ate their nestlings at the nest, as did corn snakes. Black racers often dragged nestlings away from the tree before swallowing (36% of the time). This is probably because black racers are much nimbler and faster, whereas ratsnakes are slower.
Failure was common, as eastern ratsnakes apparently fell from branches sometimes while creeping up on nests, landing on the ground below. In an April 2012 incident, scientists heard the distress call of a white-eyed vireo. They discovered an eastern ratsnake fleeing from a nest, with three adult vireos in hot pursuit and launching aggressive attacks. The nest contained 4-5 nestlings.
The nestlings were apparently saved, but later that day (20:05), a different eastern ratsnake arrived and ate them. The parents had apparently let their guard down and left on a hunting trip.
There were difference in habitats too. While black racers and eastern ratsnakes hunted nests primarily along forest edges, corn snakes raided nests deeper within forests. Additionally, black racers were more likely to hunt birds when close to a secure retreat structure, such as a log, tree stump or overgrown brush. This may be a cagier, more cautious snake, because black racers didn’t care about refuges at all. Occasionally, both corn snakes and eastern ratsnakes pinned nestlings with their bodies, which black racers never did.
| 10 | Uses bird feeders for ambush |
Eastern ratsnakes are the top bird-ambushing snake of the eastern seaboard, and they get inventive in pursuit of their morbid goals. The location was a garden in James City County, Virginia, containing an iron pole 1.25 metres high with two arms at the top: one with a bird feeder dangling and another holding a flower pot.
Scientists watched as a black ratsnake entered the garden, coiled around the pole like a piece of spaghetti, and wound its way slowly upwards over 16 minutes. All the while, hummingbirds were coming and going. The snake clambered onto the flowerpot, then turned its attention to the plastic bird feeder opposite, with its tongue flecking.
The hummingbirds noticed the hungry snake, as they stopped dead when 10cm in front of its face. Yet this didn’t faze them, and they continued to pick up sugar water from the feeder. Apparently, their decision was wise, as the ratsnake made several lunges but failed.
The ratsnake then grew impatient, and slithered directly over the iron arms of the pole, bringing it closer to the bird feeder. Finally, it gave up after 57 minutes of failed hunting, and retreated to the grassy ground. While this ambush was a failure, hummingbirds are confirmed prey for eastern ratsnakes. This was a manmade bird feeder, so rather than waiting by flowers, eastern ratsnakes are intelligent enough to simply identify areas where they’re congregating.
| 11 | A relatively weak constrictor |
Meanwhile, a 2017 study compared ratsnake constriction powers to 3 kingsnakes’, with all 6 species originating in the USA. Eastern ratsnakes were one of 3 ratsnakes used, along with corn snakes, which they were significantly stronger than, and western ratsnakes, which they were slightly stronger than. However, all 3 were dwarfed for raw constriction strength by the kingsnakes.
When ratsnakes and kingsnakes applied equal numbers of coils to their prey in the laboratory, the kingsnakes also exerted greater constricting force. This was in spite of the ratsnakes’ larger length. The eastern ratsnake reaches a confirmed maximum of 228cm, while California kingsnakes peak at just 142.2cm. Rather than brute size, it’s all in their superior muscle fibres, and finely tuned instincts for arranging the utmost crushing coil. For example, kingsnakes were found to have a more uniform coil posture than ratsnakes.
It was found that the ratsnakes and kingsnakes had similar cross-sectional muscular area, and in both groups, this scaled similarly when the body sizes of individual snakes increased. It wasn’t raw muscle quantity that made kingsnakes superior. The test was fair, as both groups were given the same prey: the globally widespread house mouse (Mus musculus), which both kingsnakes and ratsnakes regularly prey on in the wild.
| 12 | Hawk wars |
Eastern ratsnakes not only constrict their prey, but use constriction defensively against predators. On 24 April 1998, a battle was observed with a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), which is probably the most snake-addicted bird in the entire USA, with a particular tendency to prey on gopher snakes. Scientists were exploring a forest access road in South Carolina, when they found a ratsnake and bird interwined in a struggle on the ground. The ratsnake had visible talon wounds, and its lower body was wrapped tightly around the hawk’s neck and chest.
The scientists knew that the ratsnake hadn’t initiated the battle, as it was blue-eyed and therefore shedding its skin, a time when snakes rarely hunt. The hawk was also far too large to be a meal.
As the ratsnake squeezed, the bird’s beak opened and its tongue protruded. The longer the struggle continued, the more the hawk lost strength, and it gradually sank to the ground. The ratsnake continued to squeeze and constrict even 10 minutes after the bird was clearly dead. Furthermore, the ratsnake noticed the human observers and struck at them several times.
Their western ratsnake cousin has also been seen fighting off a red-shouldered hawk, again coiling immediately around the neck, this time in Monroe County, Arkansas.
| 13 | The confusing family tree |
The Pantherophis ratsnake genus is constantly chopping and changing. Overall, the clan has 8 members, including the corn snake, which inhabits the whole eastern US and is easily distinguishable from the others. The confusion lies with three closely related species, which were long switched between subspecies, one giant species, and completely independent.
As of 2024, the species are divided as so. Western ratsnakes (Pantherophis obselatus) lie exclusively west of the Mississippi river. Eastern ratsnakes (Pantherophis alleghensis) inhabit all of Florida, and the rest of the eastern seaboard up to Vermont, closely hugging the coast. Grey ratsnakes (P. spiloides) lie inbetween, beginning at the western panhandle in Florida, and covering all states on the eastern shores of the Mississippi.
According to a 2020 study, grey and eastern ratsnakes are estimated to have diverged 0.65 million years ago. It’s theorised that eastern ratsnakes became stranded in Florida by rising sea levels, diverged, then recolonized the north when global temperatures cooled. The Appalachian mountains may also have acted as a barrier; these hills spread from Georgia all the way through Maine. Meanwhile, the western ratsnake and the grey/eastern pair diverged 1.08MYA.
Because of the seperating Mississippi, the eastern two species are most easily confused. Grey ratsnakes and eastern ratsnakes sometimes intermingle in Georgia and northern Florida, but the former is obviously grey, while eastern ratsnakes are either dense black or striped yellow.