‹ Compare two snakes
Gray Ratsnake vs Western Ratsnake
(c) Dominic Gentilcore, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Gray Ratsnake
Pantherophis spiloides
Non-venomous(c) Francis, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Western Ratsnake
Pantherophis obsoletus
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Mostly go by where it was found. Western Ratsnakes live west of the Mississippi River, and Gray Ratsnakes live east of it. The young look very alike, and adults of both can be black or blotched.
Where it lives ★ This settles it
Appalachians west to the Mississippi: Florida panhandle, Alabama and Mississippi north through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan to Wisconsin and Ontario.
Central US west of the Mississippi River: southeastern Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas south through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas.
Head
Narrow head barely wider than the neck; white to cream chin.
Narrow head only a little wider than the neck; white to gray chin and throat.
Pattern
Dark gray or brown blotches on a gray to brownish back; some northern adults turn nearly black.
Adults black in the north, blotched on yellowish or gray in Texas; young boldly blotched.
Eyes
Round pupil, fairly large dark eye; no heat-sensing pit.
Round pupil, fairly large dark eye; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Tapers evenly; no rattle.
Tapers evenly; no rattle - but it vibrates the tip in dry leaves.
What it does
An excellent climber; bluffs with a tail buzz in leaf litter.
Kinks its body and rattles its tail in leaves as a bluff; climbs to escape.