Last Saturday Ro and I were part of joint botanical/entomological group visit to FPP. At one point the crowd was inspecting flower species in an area with young, 6 to 7 foot Pitch Pines. I noticed some people photographing shoulder-high "candles" - new growth/inflorescences - on one tree. Strange. I looked closer and discovered the following. studiously tolerating all the people around him/her.
Franklin Parker Preserve Foray
- Thread starter johnnyb
- Start date
Racers see exceptionally well for snake.Most snakes only see well up to about 12 to 20 ft.They claim racers can see clearly well over 50 ft and maybe 100.
By the way, I was out there that day and saw it as well. I immediately thought it was a racer, and said so. Someone else said "no, it's a rat snake". I did not challenge. So, which is it?
Far from an expert, but I would agree with racer - the under side appears to be dark and the eye appears to have brown in them
It's a racer.The chin is white which is a racer attribute and the scales are smooth and not ridged as in rat and pine snakes.Racers are all flat black with grey bellies.Rats are shiny black with streaks of white sometimes visible between the scales and their bellies are mottled grey and creme.
Al, you mention (as a differential) that rats are shiny black. But really, so are many racers, which is why I said racer right away. They can look shiny black and kind of flat sided.
At first I said ribbon snake, but I really meant racer when I saw it.
At first I said ribbon snake, but I really meant racer when I saw it.
To me racers look flat black,not shiny because their scales are smooth.Rat snakes scales are keeled which means they have a kink or a ridge down the center and to me they appear to be much shinier like a waxed car.Rat snakes are no where near as fast as racers but they climb much better.Their more muscular and can use their belly scales to go straight up a tree trunk.They will usually freeze when you approach and rely on stillness to escape detection.Their much less apt to bite when grasped and they get much longer then racers,six feet or more being common with a record I believe over eight feet which makes black rats with pines and Indigo snakes about tie for the USA's longest snakes with Eastern Diamondback being the heavies snake and the heaviest venomous snake in the world topping out at around 40 lbs.I think they also approach eight feet long as well.
It's odd you mention that, because I've read that the smooth scales on racers do cause them to look shiny at times. I think its because they reflect light better. Maybe you have just not seen many in the bright light as I have. One reason I did not question that snake Saturday is because I was very surprised by it's behavior. It did not run or stand it's ground, as most racers do. Perhaps it had just eaten and was sluggish.
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=030018
Did you notice if it's eyes were blue? That occurs just before a shed when air gets under the brille cap over the eye.Their pretty much blind when that happens and become sluggish and very irritable and even more prone to strike instead of flee.having eaten a large meal would as you say also make one sluggish. I have caught many snakes of both species and to me the rats are shinier.I have actually seen blue racers with yellow bellies and when a kid I thought they were a different kind of snake but black racers just before a shed can appear blue with a yellow belly instead of grey because of air under the skin and the eyes were blue on these blue snakes as well.They were just pre shed black racers.
Another vote for racer. Rat snakes don't have that pronounced a ridge above their eye. The belly of a rat snake is white too. Great pics and great info here!
A retired NC Park Ranger-naturalist with whom we enjoyed several days of botanizing in his area some years back had this to say:
"
This one is for sure a racer. It does have more white on the chin than probably 95 percent of all the racers we see down here. The smooth scales as opposed to the keeled scales of a rat are
distinctive. Also the really large eyes with the more pronounced 'eyebrow' ridge are distinctive. Also the eyes are a bit further forward on the head. Even though racers are not the climbers that
rat snakes are we have seen them up in trees quite a few times. The racer doesn't have the slight flare shape towards the back of the head that rat snakes have...this allows rats to eat much larger prey
compared to head size than racers.
Hope this helps. You'all take care Floyd"
"
This one is for sure a racer. It does have more white on the chin than probably 95 percent of all the racers we see down here. The smooth scales as opposed to the keeled scales of a rat are
distinctive. Also the really large eyes with the more pronounced 'eyebrow' ridge are distinctive. Also the eyes are a bit further forward on the head. Even though racers are not the climbers that
rat snakes are we have seen them up in trees quite a few times. The racer doesn't have the slight flare shape towards the back of the head that rat snakes have...this allows rats to eat much larger prey
compared to head size than racers.
Hope this helps. You'all take care Floyd"
Regarding the white on the chin, I had an interesting thought; check this racer pic out:
Here's one with a lot more white in the chin than the one above, I believe about as much as the one in the original picture:
I wonder if their faces become more melanistic as they age? I noticed that Johnnyb's racer and my racer in the bottom pic both look to be about your average sized racer based on head dimensions (mine was about 3-3.5 feet long), but the one in my top pic has bigger head dimensions and was well over 4 feet long, probably 4.5.
Here's one that was about a 2.5-footer. Lots of white:
I'll pay more attention to this in the field. Not sure when their faces go white though, as they are born without the white coloration under the chin. Here's one that just crawled out from an egg:
Cool stuff!
Here's one with a lot more white in the chin than the one above, I believe about as much as the one in the original picture:
I wonder if their faces become more melanistic as they age? I noticed that Johnnyb's racer and my racer in the bottom pic both look to be about your average sized racer based on head dimensions (mine was about 3-3.5 feet long), but the one in my top pic has bigger head dimensions and was well over 4 feet long, probably 4.5.
Here's one that was about a 2.5-footer. Lots of white:
I'll pay more attention to this in the field. Not sure when their faces go white though, as they are born without the white coloration under the chin. Here's one that just crawled out from an egg:
Cool stuff!
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