Great Plains ratsnake

Description:

This uncommon, medium-sized snake is grayish-brown with a series of large, alternating, chocolate-brown blotches. These blotches are often bordered in black. It has a spearhead marking on the head. The belly is checkered black and white, giving it an appearance of maize. (Its close relative, the Cornsnake, gets its namesake for this belly pattern!) This snake was long considered a subspecies of the Cornsnake, but it has recently been elevated to species status along with the newly recognized Slowinski's Cornsnake. These three sister-species are probably best delineated in Arkansas by simply consulting a range map, given that their ranges in the state do not overlap. While superficially this species resembles the Prairie Kingsnake, the spearhead marking present on the head of the Great Plains Ratsnake is usually sufficient for identification. An imaginary cross-section of this species, as with all of the Ratsnakes, would be shaped like "a loaf of bread" (i.e. rounded top, steep sides, and flat belly). As young, this species can be distinguished from the Western Ratsnake by considering the dark bar that runs through each eye. In the Great Plains Ratsnake, this bar extends through the jawline and onto the neck whereas in the Western Ratsnake the bar extends only to the jawline where it stops abruptly. (information from herpsofarkansas.com)

Habitat:

Deciduous forest