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Black Racer Snake
(Coluber constrictor)
Photo by permission of SUNY-ESF
Seasons in Walnut Creek: Year-round resident hibernates in winter
The Black Racer is similar in appearance to the Black Rat Snake. Black Racers have a white chin but differ from the rat snake by having a dark belly. The species is alert, active and very fast. The Black Racer is not a threat to people but may strike if cornered.
Key Field Marks:
- Reach up to six feet in length
- Sometimes freeze and wrinkle up into a series of kinks when startled
- Color- gray and yellowish with blue-black or brown blotching
- Red coloration between scales
- Length when babies hatch is 8-13 inches in length
Key Behaviors:
- Usually shy and quick to flee, but will vibrate their tail and strike if provoked
- Black Racers can climb trees using spiny belly scales grab the tree trunk
- Good swimmers
- Eat insects, eggs, mice, frogs, and lizards
- Hibernates in the winter in tree stumps, holes, and on rocky hillsides
Habit and Range:
- Common in North Carolina
- Found from the Canadian border of New York to the southeast corner of Minnesota and throughout the Southern U.S.
- Habitats are mostly rocky ledges, pastures, overgrown fields, dry or moist woodlands, and on the edges of wetlands
- They mate in the spring and females deposit up to 25 eggs in small mammal burrows, under rocks or logs, or in mulch piles or rotting logs
- Eggs laid in June or July and normally hatch in August and September
Walnut Creek Sighting: Seen along State Street near boardwalk on a warm, sunny September day.
Photo by permission of J. Davis
Photo by permission of Randy Newman
This page prepared by 8th grader Hasmin G.
Exploris Middle School - Fall 2008
