Corn Snake
Adult Size: 76-122cmRecord: 182.9cm
Otherwise known as the Red Rat Snake, the Corn Snake has an orange and red repeating pattern going down its body. Primary coloration may vary darker shades to look nearly brown or lighter shades to look more gray. The division of these colors (red and orange, in most cases), will be divided by black. The first blotch on the neck of the animal will push to a point between the eyes of the animal. On the ventral side, the body will be predominantly white with black divisions described as checkerboard.
At hatching: Dark blotches which are reddish or brown. Patches of orange will be present between said blotches. Stripes starting at the eye will have dark boarders and continue past the mouth and onto the neck (Conant and Colins 354-355)
Center for North American Herpetology
Conant and Joseph T. Collins. A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians: Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Image: Troy Hibbits