Finally: A four-lined rat snake!

I can’t remember in what book I first saw a picture (a colored drawing, not a photo) of a European four-lined rat snake, but I do remember that I was still in elementary school when I learned of this snake.

The picture was of a large adult --pale body, the namesake striping dark and precisely defined. I thought the snake, although quietly colored, was a thing of beauty. And somehow, through a subsequent lifetime that has involved herps, invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals, whenever rat snakes were discussed, at some point in the conversation a vision of this species, Elaphe quatuorlineata, has always popped up.

Despite the memories, it was actually about 65 years after seeing the drawing that I first saw this taxon in life -- in 2011, to be exact. After having tried and failed to acquire a pair of this European beauty over the years, I finally succeeded in getting three hatchling males from a German breeder.

As with many of our American rat snakes, the hatchling four-lines were very strongly blotched and gave no indication of the future lineate pattern. Today, the snakes are about three-and-a-half feet long, and the juvenile blotches are much less evident, the stripes are easily visible.

I have been promised a captive-hatched female from the German breeder in the spring of 2014 and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.

More photos under the jump...

European four-lined rat snake juvenile: At 2 years of age, the snake's stripes are visible but not fully defined:

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.