Reptiles

Rat Snake

Pantherophis and relatives · also called rat snakes, chicken snake

Least Concern → carnivore Temperate forest Temperate grassland Rivers & wetlands

A rat snake is the snake most likely to be found in a barn, an attic, or a hedge, doing a quiet job: eating rats and mice by the dozen, in the burrows and wall cavities where traps and cats cannot follow. It is non-venomous, it climbs like it has treads, and when it is scared it does a passable impression of a rattlesnake — a bluff that gets far too many harmless rat snakes killed.

Overview

“Rat snake” is a loose label for medium to large non-venomous constrictors of farmland and forest across the Northern Hemisphere — North American species in Pantherophis, European ones like the Aesculapian snake, and a big diversity of Asian rat snakes. They are rodent specialists, also taking birds and eggs, all killed by constriction. Genetics has shown the New World and Old World rat snakes are not each other’s closest relatives, so the group is not natural.

Climber and bluffer

A squared belly with a ridged edge grips bark and brick, so rat snakes climb tree trunks and walls, raid cavity nests, and turn up in lofts. Cornered, a rat snake flattens, buzzes its tail in dry leaves, and strikes — a convincing rattlesnake or copperhead imitation. In several species the blotched young look like young rattlesnakes and darken to plain black adults.

The pet one

The corn snake is a rat snake (Pantherophis guttatus) — one of the world’s most popular pet snakes for its calm temperament, manageable size, and hundreds of captive colour morphs. Grey, yellow, and Asian beauty rat snakes are kept too.

Status

Most rat snakes are Least Concern and often thrive around people, though many are killed on sight as suspected venomous snakes, and Asian species are heavily collected for skins, meat, and the pet trade. Road mortality affects them everywhere near traffic.

Rat Snake: common questions

Are rat snakes venomous or dangerous?

No. Rat snakes are non-venomous constrictors, and they are harmless to people and pets. A large rat snake that is cornered or grabbed may musk, hiss, rattle its tail, and bite, and the bite from a big one can produce a row of small scratches and a little blood, but there is no venom and no medical concern beyond cleaning the wound. Most rat snakes calm down quickly once they realise they are not about to be eaten, which is part of why several species make good pets. The real danger a rat snake faces is being killed by a person who assumes any snake is dangerous, since a defensive rat snake putting on its rattlesnake bluff is very convincing.

Why is a rat snake called a chicken snake?

Because of its habit of raiding poultry runs for eggs and chicks. Rat snakes are excellent climbers and readily enter hen houses, where they will swallow eggs whole, sometimes several at a sitting, and take young chicks, then lie coiled and conspicuously lumpy while they digest. This makes them unpopular with people who keep chickens, even though the same snake is also removing the rats and mice that raid the feed and spread disease. The name chicken snake is applied loosely in the American South to several rat snake species, and the fix for egg raiding is a well-sealed coop rather than killing the snake.

Is a corn snake the same as a rat snake?

Yes. The corn snake, Pantherophis guttatus, of the southeastern United States is one of the rat snakes. It was long grouped with the other North American rat snakes in the genus Elaphe and is now placed in Pantherophis alongside the black, grey, and yellow rat snakes, all close relatives. The corn snake gets a separate common name and a huge following in the pet trade because it is one of the most attractive, docile, hardy, and easy-to-breed snakes there is, and captive breeding has produced hundreds of colour and pattern morphs. Behaviourally and ecologically it is a typical rat snake, a rodent-hunting semi-arboreal constrictor.

Are rat snakes good for a garden or farm?

Generally yes, and they were traditionally welcomed around barns and grain stores for exactly this reason. A resident rat snake is an efficient, self-maintaining rodent control that hunts mice and rats in the burrows, wall cavities, woodpiles, and roof spaces where they breed, reaching them in ways that traps and cats cannot, and it costs nothing and uses no poison. The trade-offs are that a rat snake will also take songbird eggs and nestlings and raid a poultry coop for eggs, and that finding a large snake in the shed alarms some people. On balance, tolerating a rat snake around outbuildings does more good than harm, and if one must be moved it can be gently encouraged into a bin and released nearby.

Sources & further reading

Written by HideShark Editorial Team · reviewed by HideShark Science Desk. Published September 10, 2026. Last updated September 10, 2026.

Quick facts

Scientific name: Pantherophis and relatives
Diet: Rodents above all, with mice, rats, voles, and chipmunks making up the bulk of the diet, plus birds and their eggs, taken by raiding nests and hen houses, along with lizards, frogs, and other small animals, all killed by constriction and swallowed whole
A rodent control service: A single adult rat snake living around a farm, barn, or garden can eat dozens of rodents a year, and because it hunts them in the burrows, walls, and roof spaces where they hide, it reaches pests that traps and cats often miss, which is why rat snakes were traditionally tolerated or even encouraged around grain stores
An accomplished climber: Rat snakes have a squared-off belly with a ridge along each side that grips bark like the tread of a tyre, letting them climb straight up rough tree trunks and brick walls and move along branches and rafters, so they routinely raid tree-cavity bird nests and turn up in attics and barn lofts
The blacksnake bluff: When cornered, a rat snake often flattens its body, vibrates its tail against dry leaves to produce a rattling buzz, raises its head, and strikes, a convincing imitation of a rattlesnake or copperhead that gets many harmless rat snakes killed by people
Dramatic colour change with age: In several species the young look nothing like the adults, with juvenile black rat snakes strongly blotched grey and brown so that they resemble young rattlesnakes, and the pattern gradually darkening until the adult is plain glossy black, an ontogenetic change that has caused decades of taxonomic confusion
The corn snake is a rat snake: The corn snake, one of the most popular pet snakes in the world, is a rat snake, Pantherophis guttatus, and several other rat snakes, including the grey, yellow, and Everglades forms and the Asian beauty rat snakes, are also kept, valued for a calm temperament, a manageable size, and, in captivity, an enormous range of colour morphs
A tangled family tree: What was once a single sprawling genus, Elaphe, containing rat snakes from North America, Europe, and Asia, has been split into many genera as genetics revealed the New World and Old World rat snakes are not each other's closest relatives, so rat snake is now a loose label for similar-looking snakes across the Northern Hemisphere rather than one natural group
Range: Across the Northern Hemisphere, with North American rat snakes from southern Canada through the eastern and central United States into Mexico, European species such as the Aesculapian and four-lined snakes across southern and central Europe, and a large diversity of Asian rat snakes from the Middle East and India through China and Southeast Asia to Japan, in deciduous and mixed forest, forest edge, farmland, hedgerows, rocky hillsides, marsh borders, and suburban gardens and outbuildings.
Conservation status: Least Concern → ≈ Most rat snake species are common, widespread, and assessed as Least Concern, and several thrive in farmland and around buildings, so the group as a whole is secure. Rat snakes are still killed in large numbers by people who mistake them for venomous snakes or simply dislike snakes near the house, and they are heavily collected for the pet trade in Asia and for skins, meat, and traditional medicine, which has reduced some Asian species. A few, such as the Baja California rat snake and some island forms, have small ranges and are of conservation concern, and road mortality affects rat snakes everywhere they occur near traffic in the wild