Metallic
Rat Snakes have a color scheme that defies easy
description. These animals have to be examined, turned
this way and that way, contemplated, and then revisited
on a regular basis to make sure what you’ve seen wasn’t
all in your imagination. Their color scheme is
complicated, subtle and takes a little time to fully
appreciate. And when you add in the great variability
that occurs between individuals, the situation becomes a
bit mind boggling. Pinks, reds, oranges, yellows,
purples, white—all overlaid with a metallic sheen
resembling brushed aluminum. What did Nature have in
mind when she created a snake of such sophisticated,
subtle beauty?
Vivid Reptile’s Metallic Rat Snakes are descended from
locality specific individuals of the far eastern race of
bairdi.
Fortuitously, Vivid Reptiles is located in the very
heart of this range. The locality from which these
animals originate produces specimens with a far greater
breadth of both color and pattern variation than seen in
the western or Mexican populations. The environment that
produced the Metallics is disappearing at an alarming
rate due to habitat destruction and lack of intelligent
range management. Wild individuals are increasingly
harder to come across—often years will go by without
seeing a wild snake. It’s taken many years of hard work
to be able to offer the extraordinary Metallic Rat Snake
lines at Vivid Reptiles. If their beauty weren’t enough,
our Metallic Ra Snakes are the most relaxed of rat
snakes and make superior captives. |
