#3015 "Black Rat Snake Friend"

   #3015 "Black Rat Snake Friend"    
36 x 12 inches
April 15th, 2026

As a kid (maybe 8 years old), I once stopped a friend of my brother from mindlessly stomping on ant hills and killing the colonies. Ernie was a bully with no respect for nature of any kind. My brother probably stopped him from retaliating, but I do not recall that part of the story. Ernie was much bigger than me and had a vice-like grip which hurt my arm, but right is right. Might is typically wrong. 

Snakes of all kinds are another typical victim of abusive people. As a youngster, I recall adults using all sorts of weapons to kill any kind of snake on sight. My protests were ignored. They feared the snakes, no matter how harmless they might have been. 

As adults, our properties have always been sanctuaries for all creatures. I am not fond of ticks and the diseases that they spread, but lots of creatures enjoy eating them, including the possums, which are migrating northward with the climate crisis. 

The Singleton Sanctuary in the very heart of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere is very special. We are blessed with all varieties of nature. The 2010 BioBlitz established a baseline for the species that shared the uncut and virgin Carolinian ecosystem with us. We hope those numbers have increased since then as a result of our ongoing activities. 

The Gray Ratsnake is a particularly popular resident.  This beautiful 6-foot-long Gray Ratsnake was on the former endangered species list, but is no longer protected. The logic and motives of politicians simply elude me. Deeds speak louder than their hollow, hypocritical political promises and sound bites. 

Gray Ratsnakes eat up to 100 rodents a year, helping to curtail the spread of Lyme disease by removing the disease vector. Politicians do not care... don't know... don't bother with anything but getting re-elected. 

The long, dark snakes with creamy bellies that climb trees can be unnerving for sure. We make special efforts to ensure that they are safe and secure and prospering within the Singleton Sanctuary. I maintained special snake nesting boxes for several years, but the resident snakes preferred the natural, undisturbed hibernacula, which are plentiful along the rocky ridges of Singleton. 

A few of the Gray Ratsnake nesting boxes were deployed in various locations at Singleton.

Black Ratsnakes (formerly Elaphe obsoleta) were officially reclassified in 2001 after genetic studies revealed they were three distinct species rather than one single, widespread species. 

The single Black Ratsnake was split into three distinct, geographically separated species: 

• Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) 
• Central Ratsnake (Pantherophis spiloides) - Singleton ratsnake species
• Western Ratsnake (Pantherophis obsoletus) 

It is easy to get confused. With the split, our Central Ratsnake is a Gray Ratsnake. They aren't actually gray, and Central Ratsnakes become black when they are adults. With the above split, there are no longer any formally called Black Ratsnakes, even though I used that as the title of my painting. I am not certain that the reference texts have all of this sorted out yet... the details only really matter to the experts. We protect all sankes anyway. 

We teach Singleton visitors to respect all nature... bears, snakes and even the ticks. The snakes will even crawl under my easel while I paint. 

Gray Ratsnakes are quite at home at Singleton, and we strongly encourage them. Unsurprisingly, these very impressive creatures do not appreciate being measured for prosperity. Sometimes they leave behind their shed skins for me and my Great Crested Flycatcher friends to enjoy. The Great Crested Flycatcher uses snake skins as building material in their nests. One shed measured out at more than 6 feet long with my tape measure. 

An Ontario Gray Ratsnake requires 15 to 20 years to grow to a length of over 6 feet in the wild. Canada's cool climate drastically limits their growth rate while ratsnakes in warmer, southern parts of North America grow much faster.

The following maps summarize Gray Ratsnake observations in Ontario. Singleton is located at the red star on the maps to the right. 

Sometimes nature might seem cruel. A group of three large Gray Ratsnakes once discovered nesting Tree Swallows in one of my bird houses that lacked the protective metal cone. The intelligent snakes appeared to communicate and collaborate. They dined well that afternoon, and that is nature. 

I have many memories and photos of Gray Ratsnakes from the Singleton Sanctuary. Images are worth thousands of words. The snakes know us, and I can imagine that some almost smile to see us. 

The Gray Ratsnake was already assessed when the Endangered Species Act took effect in 2008.

In 2025, the Ontario Conservative Government tabled Bill 5 called “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act.” Amidst reducing environmental and heritage protections and proposing Special Economic Zones that bypass all protective legislation, the Ontario Government repealed the Ontario Endangered Species Act, replacing it with the "Species Conservation Act" on March 30, 2026. The misappropriately named Species Conservation Act offers much less protection to species at risk of extinction. Essentially, business and money override the environment and nature. Shame. Shame. Shame.

The wording of these political documents reminds me of "doublespeak" and the writings of George Orwell in his 1949 dystopian social science fiction novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four". George was absolutely right. His forecast only missed the mark by forty years, more or less. Not bad for an author, but not nearly close enough for a meteorologist. 

To summarize, the misdeeds of the world's leaders have resulted in the escalation of the climate crisis to the point that the Earth is now in the verification stages of the dire predictions made by oil companies' own scientists in the 1960s and 1970s. A few people have become incredibly wealthy at the expense of everything else in the past sixty years, when preventative action was still a possibility.

As well, the planet is racing through the Sixth Mass Extinction, the ongoing, rapid decline in global biodiversity driven entirely by human activity. Species are currently disappearing at rates 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural pre-human background rate. This catastrophic loss is primarily caused by climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, and the overexploitation of natural resources. Ontario politicians are actively aiding and abetting these extinctions using Bill 5 as a slash-and-burn tool.

Sadly, bullies grow up and typically do not or can not mature or develop wisdom with age - their personalities being rigidly cast in stone by the age of ten. Sometimes, glad-handing, smooth-talking psychopaths even get elected into positions of great authority. The above is the result. Stomping on all of nature as if everything were insignificant anthills. Power does corrupt, fueled by greed and the insatiable lust for more, ever more. 

I continue to advocate for what I believe is the good fight, but must admit that I find solace only in front of my easel, as pictured above or out in the Singleton forest. Nothing will change until those responsible for their misdeeds are actually held responsible for their crimes against nature and the environment, which are, in effect, "crimes against humanity". If they only understood that we are all just a part of nature.  

For this and much more art, go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint Collection. Thank you for reading, and stay well!

Warmest regards, and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick