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rat snake

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rat snake: see black snake black snake, name for several snakes, not all closely related, that are black in color. In the United States the name is applied chiefly to the black racer and to the black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta), both partly arboreal in their habits.
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rat snake

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Aesculapian snake (Elaphe longissima).
(credit: Anton Thau-Bavaria Verlag)
Any of 40–55 snake species in the genus Elaphe (family Colubridae) and similar forms, found in woodlands and barnyards in North America, Europe, and Asia. Nonvenomous, they kill rats and mice by constriction, and also eat eggs and poultry. Some hunt birds in trees. These egg-laying snakes are normally slow and docile, but in self-defense they vibrate the tail, discharge a foul liquid, and strike from an upreared position. The black rat, or pilot black, snake (E. obsoleta obsoleta) of the eastern U.S. may exceed 8 ft (2.5 m).
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Zai Whitaker's Kali And The Rat Snake (1933605103, $15.
Kane/Miller by Children's Bookwatch
In reptiles, the distribution of these enzymes has been assessed only in two species, the yellow rat snake (Ramsay and Dotson 1995) and the green iguana (Wagner and Wetzel 1999).
Associations between organochlorine contaminant concentrations and ... by McClellan-Green, Patricia D. / Environmental Health Perspectives
He practiced for months with a harmless but cranky black rat snake.
Viper heat sensors locate cool spots. (Snake Pits) by Milius, S. / Science News
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