navvova.blogg.se - Juvenile black racer

#JUVENILE BLACK RACER SKIN#

What eats them and how do they avoid being eaten? As racers grow, they take larger prey as well, including nestling birds and their eggs, other mammals as large as squirrels and small cottontail rabbits, small turtles and larger snakes. Juvenile racers eat mainly insects, spiders, small frogs, small reptiles (including lizards and snakes and their eggs) and young rodents and shrews. ( Conant and Collins, 1998 Harding, 1997)Īs with many snakes, vision and olfaction are important percptual channels for racers. These snakes are diurnal, they are mainly active during the day. The young racers' color patterns probably mean they use camouflage for escape from predators. The racer is not venomous, but the painful bite and sharp teeth may cause bleeding. If cornered, Coluber constrictor will coil and strike while shaking its tail nervously. If threatened, a racer will quickly crawl into brush or low branches of a tree to escape. Racers are fast snakes, but they still can only crawl at about 4 miles per hour (6.5 km/hr), about the speed of a human walking fast. In the wild, racers have been known to live over 10 years.

Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male) 1 to 2 years.

Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female) 2 to 3 years.

How often does reproduction occur? Mating takes place in the spring, from late April until early June.

Sometimes, the eggs are found grouped with the eggs of other snake species. Racers mate in the spring and lay 3-32 oval-shaped eggs in early summer underneath tree stumps or in animal burrows.

These animals are found in the following types of habitat.

During the coldest winter months, racers hibernate in underground shelters. Racers live in dry, sunny areas such as old farm fields, grass meadows, thin forests, and swamps. ( Conant and Collins, 1998 Ernst and Barbour, 1998)

These snakes can be found in every state of the U.S, including Michigan's southern lower peninsula. Racers are found from southern Canada to Guatemala and almost everywhere in between. Range length 191 (high) cm 75.20 (high) in.( Conant and Collins, 1998 Harding, 1997) Young racers have a gray body covered with brown or red bands. Racers in Michigan are a dark-blue color and have white chins.

#JUVENILE BLACK RACER SKIN#

The blue and black racers have no skin patterns, but some other racers have spots or blotches. They range in color from blue in the north to black in the south and yellow and gray in the western U.S. Coluber constrictor is a long, slender snake, which can reach lengths of 6 feet (191 cm).