The Texas ratsnake is covered dorsally with scales that are smooth on the sides and weakly keeled near the spine, and the young are laid in a clutch of 5-20 white, non-granular shelled eggs (Werler & Dixon, 2000, p.121), usually in hollow logs or stumps, mounds of sawdust or decayed vegetable matter, and manure piles. The young are 10-16 inches long on emergence from the eggs usually in August or September. [...]