Hatching usually occurs in August or early September with young size approximately 7.5-14 inches (39 cm) long (Conant and Collins, 1998). The eggs are 2.5 to 3.9 cm long and are coated with small nodules resembling hard, dry grains of salt. Suitable nest sites may be a rotted stump or log, and old mammal burrow, or a nest cavity in the leaf litter or sand (Harding, 1997). In June or early July the female will lay 3-32 oval, white eggs in a hidden nest site. Mating takes place in the spring, from late April until early June. Range length 191 (high) cm 75.20 (high) in.( Conant and Collins, 1998 Harding, 1997) The female's tail tapers abruptly from the body (Harding, 1997). Male racers can be distinguished from the female of the species in that the tail is longer with a wide base, sometimes even a bulge. The coloring fades as the snake grows older and at 30 inches all traces have usually disappeared (Conant and Collins, 1998). Juvenile racers are strongly patterned with grays, browns, and reds. The average adult length ranges from 90-190 cm. The chin and throat areas vary from white to yellowish progressing back to a ventrum that could be black, dark gray, light blue, white, cream or yellow. The head is narrow but still wider than the neck with very distinct brow ridges. The normal coloration is a very dark and uniform dorsum with variations ranging from black, bluish, gray, to olive brown. There are 17 scale rows midbody, and 15 near the tail. The mature racer has very smooth shiny scales with a divided anal plate (Conant and Collins, 1998). Fall and spring activity peaks are associated with movement to and from the hibernacula as well as mating and feeding (Greene, 1997). During several cold months of the year racers are inactive in shelters hidden from subfreezing temperatures. In the Great Lakes region, racers occupy a home area that may range in size from 2.5 acres (1 ha) to 25 acres (20 ha) depending on the productivity of the habitat (Harding, 1997). Racers prefer dry sunny areas with access to cover, including old fields, open woodland, hedgerows, thickets and wood edges, sometimes damper sites such as bogs, marshes, and lake edges are also used. oaxaca, the Mexican racer, has isolated populations in New Mexico, but its main range is from south Texas to Veracruz. etheridgei, the tan racer inhabits Louisiana and Texas. anthicus, ranges from south Arkansas to Louisiana, also eastern Texas. The western yellow-bellied racer is found west of the Rocky Mountains, from southern California and Nevada through through western Colorado, Oregon, and Washington and into southern British Columbia. flaviventris, is found from extreme southern Saskatchewan southeast through Montana, western North Dakota, east to Iowa and south to Texas. latrunculus, the blackmask racer, occurs in southeastern Louisiana and adjacent Mississippi. helvigularis, occurs only in the lower Chipola and Appalachicola River valleys in Georgia and Florida. paludicola, is found only in southern Florida. It also occurs on some of the Florida Keys.
priapus, the southern black racer, ranges from southern Indiana and Illinois and southeastern North Carolina to central Florida and southern Arkansas. foxii, is found from Michigan, Wisconson, and Minnesota south to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
Different racer subpopulations include: The northern black racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor, ranges from southern Maine and central New York south to northern Georgia and Alabama. Rodents, frogs, toads, lizards, birds, bird eggs, insects: any living animal it can catch and swallow.Racers occur from southern Canada to Guatemala, with considerable individual and local variation in regions where two or more subspecies intergrade (Conant and Collins, 1998). The underside is white and is also spotted.ĭry prairies, bluff prairies, woodland edges, and field edges. Juveniles are gray above with numerous scattered black or dark reddish-brown spots. The throat is yellow or white grading into an unmarked white, light gray, light tan, or yellow belly. The upper (dorsal) surface is slate blue, bluish-black, greenish, or light brown. Adults are usually 20 ″ to 60 ″ (50 to 152 cm) in length, sometimes longer.
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