Scales: Keeled

Anal Plate: Divided

Texas Rat Snakes are one of the more common large snakes, especially in urban areas. Large specimens can be as long as six feet. This species is found throughout Central and East Texas. They are excellent climbers that can scale buildings and trees in search of food items or hiding stops. Once up a tree and curled up, they blend in very well. Prey items include birds, bats, rodents, lagomorphs (rabbits), eggs, lizards and amphibians. Even Cliff Swallows are not safe from this snake, Texas Rat Snakes will often crawl into bridge infrastructure and gain access to Cliff Swallow nests underneath the bridge. In an urban setting, this species is a serious predator of squirrels and pigeons. This species is fairly aggressive, they will face their enemies and defend themselves.

Texas Rat Snakes and other subspecies have this unique behavior where they "kink" themselves while not moving, they usually do this when an unsuspecting hiker walks up to them. Roger Constant(1997) described this behavior in two different subspecies. Maybe this behavior helps to break up their outline and helps with camouflaging.

This subspecies was named in honor of Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer, who was known as "The Father of Texas Botany."