Squamata suborder
Serpentes
Coluber constrictor -- Eastern Racer
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Purple shade indicates vouchered specimens. Light blue (cyan)
shade indicates photographic records. Yellow shade indicates verified
sighting. Slanted hatch indicates pre-1980 records only
NOTE: Not all specimens upon which these maps are based have been verified.
Key Characters: Plain black or bluish black; smooth scales; divided anal plate; juveniles heavily marked with small blotches.
Similar Species: Adults resemble the rat snake, coachwhip, and plainbelly water snake; juveniles resemble young of rat, coachwhip, fox, prairie king, milk, and water snakes.
Subspecies: Blue racer, C. c. foxii; southern black racer, C. c. priapus.
Description: Adult long (up to 150 cm TL) and slender with shiny, uniformly blue, blue-green, or black back. Belly yellowish white to slate gray. Throat distinctly lighter (yellow in northwest, white elsewhere). Hatchling and juvenile up to about 80 cm TL, blue-gray with 55-85 reddish brown blotches on back that become less distinct toward tail, and small dark spots along sides and belly.
Habitat: A variety of habitats including forests, open areas, and edges of forests near open fields.
Natural History: Alert and agile, often raises its head above the ground to look around, and reacts to disturbance by moving away quickly. If cornered, vibrates the tail tip and can be counted on to strike repeatedly. Mates in May and June and female lays 10-20 eggs in late June or July. The young, 20-35 cm TL, hatch in September. Eats a variety of animals, including arthropods, worms, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. Main predators are other snakes and raptors.
Status: Locally common in some parts of the state.