The Blue Racer is a long, fairly slender snake with back, sides and belly colored plain black. Usually there is some white color on the chin and the throat. The scales are smooth, without keels, and the anal plate is divided.
Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxi)
Description: A large gray or blue snake with smooth scales. The head is usually darker than the body, though the chin and throat are white. The belly is light blue or white.
Blue Racer
Black Racer
Both the black racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor) and its larger relative, the blue racer (Cohther constrictor foxi), occur in Ohio.
I think the blue racer I have cannot be Bascanion constrictor (black snake). It may be the young. But I hope I've got something interesting in it.
This serpent is also referred to as the Blue Racer. Range The Racer is found in southeastern and some of southcentral Minnesota in suitable habitat along much of the Mississippi and parts of the Minnesota River Valleys.
Three of the nine subspecies of racer usually recognized in the United States occur also in Canada: the blue racer (Coluber constrictor foxi), which once occurred in extreme southwestern Ontario, ...
Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxii), Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis): Bachynski & Kadlec (2003)
^ E.g. American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata): Bachynski & Kadlec (2003)
^ E.g.
Couple this with the fact that their skin has an irridescent blueish sheen to it in the sun, and you can see how this snake is often called in error a 'Blue Racer.
North American Racer (Blue racer) *RSG
Northern water snake
Plains garter snake
Plains hog-nosed snake *RSG
Ratsnake *RSG
Redbelly snake
Ringneck snake
Smooth green snake (Grass snake)
Western Fox snake ...
Some may appear indigo, taking on a decidedly bluish tint (and may be referred to by locals as a "Blue Racer"). Others are more of a dullish olive green to dark brown.
Relatives in same Genus
Buttermilk Racer (C. constrictor anthicus)
Eastern Yellow-belly Racer (C. constrictor flaviventris)
Blue Racer (C. constrictor foxi) ...
priapus, is uniformly black in color above and below with a pale white chin, while the Blue Racer, C. c. foxii, is uniformly bluish gray, turquoise or olive in color with a white to yellow-white chin.
The upper part of the reptile is of a uniform gray, metallic green or metallic blue, while the under parts are bluish-green or very pale yellow to whitish. Young Blue Racers have gray or brown blotches on the back.
However, individuals in central and southeastern Wisconsin tend towards characters for the Blue Racer, C. c. foxi. Wisconsin herpetologists believe this species is in decline, but no trend data are available.
 See also: Racer, Snake, Fox, Milk Snake, Garter Snake
  
|
RSS
