Emory ratsnakes (aka Great Plains Ratsnakes) are the "other" cornsnakes that everyone talks about.  Emory ratsnakes are highly variable in body size, color, pattern, clutch size, etc.  This is mainly because they occur from Mexico up to Nebraska at varying altitudes and in various habitat types.  Regardless of the locality of the founding stock, Emory ratsnakes make excellent pets for the beginner and more experienced herper alike.  With all of the new, pure, morphs being developed, Emory ratsnakes are quickly moving to become one of the more popular ratsnakes out there!  The rumors that they make less docile pets than cornsnakes are, well, just rumors.  Our Emory ratsnakes are as docile as any of the other snakes in our collection!  Since they are much larger as hatchlings than cornsnakes, they tend to make better pets for younger hands (always supervise kids around pet snakes!) and can take larger pinks.  This can be a big benefit if you buy pinks from your local pet store that frequently lacks small pinks that are perfect for smaller cornsnakes!

Adult sizes range from being smaller than typical cornsnakes (less than 3' in total length) to being larger than the typical cornsnake (slightly over 5' in total length).  Clutch sizes range from 5 or 6 eggs per clutch to 12-17 eggs per clutch, but the babies generally start feeding on unscented pink mice MUCH easier than many cornsnake hatchlings.  Overall, adults and hatchlings are much stockier, heavy-bodied, animals than cornsnakes of the same length.  This means that the babies are generally hardier than the typical cornsnake - believe it or not!

A few years ago, we were privileged enough to purchase Don Soderberg's entire Emory ratsnake colony.  Combining his colony with the animals and projects we already had, we were able to form the most complete and extensive Emory ratsnake collection in the United States.   Through strict culling, hold-backs, and additional acquisitions, we have what we believe to be the best colony of Emory ratsnakes in the world!  When it comes to our Emory ratsnakes, expect only the highest level of quality and cutting edge projects in the upcoming years.

Emory ratsnakes are also one of the snakes that almost gave me a nervous breakdown.  We don't like man-made hybrids.  However, the Elaphe emoryi complex (formerly Elaphe guttata emoryi) has been in an upheaval for the last couple of decades.  Snakes that are okay one day to cross are getting called hybrids the next day.  Although I don't agree with the Elaphe emoryi emoryi/Elaphe emoryi meahllmorum split, that split was the recognized taxa in the US for a period of time.  Now it is back to being only Elaphe emoryi with no subspecies.  (Correction: it has been changed back to separate subspecies again!)  Elaphe guttata intermontana (which would be Elaphe emoryi intermontana now) hasn't been recognized officially for decades, but it is the most isolated and distinctive of all of the E. emoryi populations.  We still consider that a color phase in herpetoculture, though.  That is exactly how I'm going to have to interpret all of the different pseudo-groups of E. emoryi if I plan to keep my sanity.  That is how we are managing our colony, even though I like to use the subspecies terminology while out in the field.  Localities are given, when appropriate, in case another split is forthcoming in the next couple of decades.  (If anyone is interested, the middle half of Texas is considered a natural intergrade between the two subspecies.  All of the Bend Area of West Texas is considered an intergrade.  In other words, MANY of the E. emoryi entering captivity from the wild are intergrades that are bred freely, through ignorance, to pure subspecific specimens without any of us even knowing it.) 

On a final note, I am aware of the hypothesized taxonomic name change from Elaphe to Pantherophis (or even Pituophis).  Furthermore, I agree that a name change is warranted.  However, hobbyists have jumped on the name change - ignoring the fact that taxonomy is nothing more than a hypothesis of relationships - while ignoring the glaringly obvious problems with that study and the problems with prematurely accepting such a drastic name change.  Although I agree that a split is warranted, I'll await further developments before making a decision to use the newly hypothesized nomenclature. 

My Intermontane ratsnakes are descended from Colorado stock where they occur in semi-isolated valleys.  These snakes are semi-isolated from each other and completely isolated from the main population of Emory ratsnakes further east.  This is the reason for their very unique appearance.  This also means that each valley has Emory ratsnakes that are unique in appearance from the other valleys due to this "pocket habitat."  Because of this, Intermontane ratsnakes can go from looking like a typical northern Emory ratsnake to being something distinctly unique like the ones in our colony.  Don't judge our Intermontane ratsnakes by what you've seen in other colonies from other valleys and always be sure of what you are getting regardless of where you purchase your Intermontane ratsnakes. 

These are VERY hard to produce, and very few will be available over the next couple of years.  All of the original wild collected stock leading up to this morph came from southeast Kansas, so they are E. e. emoryi if you consider that nomenclature to be valid.

We are in the process of heavily outcrossing the hypo line since it seems to appear that some of the currently established lines of hypo Emory ratsnakes are suffering from problems associated with inbreeding.  We have as our #1 goal with this line all intents to heavily outcross it BEFORE those problems develop in out breeders here.

The only way to improve on the coloration and pattern of south Texas Emory ratsnakes is to combine it with the reverse striped gene.  Our reverse striped Emory ratsnakes were all produced by animals from the Hebbronville/Freer area of south Texas.  They have black, distinctive, blotches on a silver-grey background with no yellow or brown colors in them, but the blotches tend to be split along the spine to show a unique "reverse" stripe pattern.  This entire bloodline was sparked by one wild-caught male that demonstrated the reverse stripe pattern.  This pattern is definitely inheritable, but we aren't positive that it is a simple recessive trait yet.  It acts similar to one, though!  The degree of "reverse striping" is variable, with the later generations being more pronounced thanks to selective breeding.  These take our favorite natural coloration of the south Texas Emory ratsnakes and add even one more row of blotches to the top.  Without a doubt, they look great.  We plan to cross this into some of the other Emory ratsnake morphs to see what interesting color and pattern morphs will be developed.  We also produce some normal animals out of this bloodline that should be carriers for the reverse striped trait.  Although some are being crossed into other bloodlines, we will try to continue to maintain a pure south Texas group for those interested in the E. e. meahllmorum possible subspecies.