Red rat snakes are a common sight throughout Florida and the First Coast is no exception. These are a few captive-hatched red rat snakes photographed at hatching and shortly afterward. These colors will change to brighter reds and oranges at the snake matures.
Completely harmless, they frequent urban areas and their juveniles feed largely upon small lizards and newborn rodents. Adults feed mostly on rodents, lizards, and to a lesser extent, small birds.
Pictured here, you can see a few of them emerging from the leathery egg that they slit open with an “egg tooth” on the tip of their snout that falls off shortly after using it to open the egg.
