uninjured, released. bright coloration





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Comments & Identifications
That's a very light black rat. Possible, but I'm not willing to pin it down to subspecific level myself.
Western rat snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus) only occur west of the Mississippi river, and can actually be argued to be a different species using Burbrink (2001 Herpetological Monographs 15: 1-53). The eastern/aka common/aka northern black rat snake that occurs in Ohio is the most widely varied snake in pattern and color here. This is a wild alleghaniensis found with several others, only this one was much lighter.
SSAR split off P. spiloides as its own species.
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