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...