How to Identify the Everglades Rat Snake (Identification Guide)

Key identifying features

The Everglades Rat Snake is a large, slim constrictor typically 4 to 5.5 feet long, distinguished by a base color ranging from bright orange to reddish-orange, sometimes with a faint striped or blotched pattern. It is considered part of the broader eastern rat snake complex and represents one of its most vividly colored forms.

Coloration & pattern

Adults display an orange to salmon or rust-colored body, occasionally showing faint dusky striping reminiscent of the yellow rat snake form, though the pattern is often much less distinct and can appear almost solid-colored in some individuals. The intensity of orange coloring varies, with some snakes leaning toward a duller tan-orange and others a striking, saturated orange-red. The belly is pale yellow to orange, generally unmarked or only lightly patterned.

Head, eyes & scales

The head is narrow and only slightly wider than the neck, with large round pupils. Dorsal scales are weakly keeled, giving a slightly rough feel, while the sides and belly are smoother. The orange coloration often extends onto the head, sometimes giving the whole snake a fairly uniform warm-toned appearance.

Size & body shape

This is a long, slender snake with a body shape well suited to climbing, having a flattened belly and slightly angular sides. Juveniles hatch gray with dark blotches, much like other members of the rat snake complex, and gradually transition to the adult orange coloration over their first one to two years of growth.

Range & habitat where you'll see it

The Everglades Rat Snake is restricted to extreme south Florida, particularly the Everglades region and surrounding wetland and hammock habitats. It is often found near sawgrass marshes, tree islands, and canal edges, and it readily climbs into shrubs and low trees.

How to tell it apart from look-alikes

Its orange coloration sets it apart from the yellow-and-striped form found elsewhere in Florida and from the gray blotched rat snakes of more northern regions, though intergrades between these forms occur where their ranges meet. The corn snake, which shares part of its Florida range, has a much more strongly blotched pattern with distinct black-bordered orange-red saddles rather than a more uniform or faintly striped orange body. Juvenile Everglades rat snakes closely resemble juveniles of other regional rat snake forms and can only be reliably distinguished by knowing the specific locality where they were found.