Most smaller prey items are simply swallowed alive. Despite their specific name, constrictor, they do not really employ constriction, instead simply subduing struggling prey by pinning it bodily, pressing one or two coils against it to hold it in place instead of actually suffocating it. Juveniles often consume soft-bodied insects and other small invertebrates, as well as small frogs, small reptiles (including lizards and snakes and their eggs), young rodents, and shrews. Some subspecies are known to climb trees to eat eggs and young birds. Their diet consists primarily of small rodents, other mammals (as large as small cottontail rabbits), frogs, toads, small turtles, lizards, and other snakes. The eastern racers are fast-moving, highly active, diurnal snakes. As they grow older, the dorsum darkens and the juvenile pattern gradually disappears. Juveniles are more strikingly patterned, with a middorsal row of dark blotches on a light ground color. All subspecies have a lighter-colored underbelly: white, light tan, or yellow in color. "Runner" is sometimes used instead of "racer" in their common names. Most are solid-colored as their common names imply: black racers, brown racers, tan racers, blue racers, or green racers. The patterns vary widely among subspecies. A typical adult specimen will weigh around 556 g (1.226 lb), with little size difference between the sexes. constrictor is found throughout much of the United States, on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, but it also ranges north into Canada and south into Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize.Īdult eastern racers can typically vary from 50 to 152 cm (20 to 60 in) in total length (including tail) depending on the subspecies, but a record-sized specimen measured 185.4 cm (73.0 in) in total length. The species is monotypic in the genus Coluber.Ĭ. Eleven subspecies, including the nominotypical subspecies, are recognized, which as a group are commonly referred to as the eastern racers. The species is endemic to North America and Central America. Retrieved 22 January 2011.The eastern racer or North American racer ( Coluber constrictor) is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Wildlife Division, Resource Assessment Section. NORTHERN BLACK RACER ASSESSMENT (PDF) (Report). "The Natural History of the Northern Black Racer (Coluber Constrictor Constrictor) in South-Central Pennsylvania". Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. The northern black racer is the state reptile of Ohio. The Northern black racer will seek refuge under objects like logs, rocks, and other debris during the night or on cool days. They will inhabit urban and agricultural areas, barrier islands, and grasslands in mountains. Northern black racer are a terrestrial species and are found in open, grassy areas or in open forest adjacent to grassy areas. At the southern end of its range, it overlaps with Coluber constrictor priapus, the southern black racer, and at the westward end it overlaps with Coluber constrictor flaviventris, the eastern yellow-bellied racer. Geographic range Ĭoluber constrictor constrictor ranges from Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi in the south, to central New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine in the north, to Tennessee, Kentucky, and eastern Ohio in the west. Their occupancy is dependent on the availability of large patches of open habitats. Their geographic range extends from southern Maine to northern Georgia and westward to central Kentucky and eastern Ohio. The northern black racer ( Coluber constrictor constrictor) is a subspecies of the eastern racer ( Coluber constrictor), a nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae.
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