![]() They are not poisonous, but their bites can be painful. Rattling their tails among dry leaves, racers can sound convincingly like rattlesnakes. They are difficult to handle and will writhe, defecate and release a foul smelling musk from their cloaca. However, once cornered they put up a vigorous fight, biting hard and often. Racers can flee quickly from potential predators. They are curious snakes with excellent vision, and will sometimes raise their head above the grasses they are crawling in to see their surroundings. They prefer open and semi-open habitat, savanna, old field shoreline, and edge habitats. Small prey items are often simply swallowed alive.īlue racers don’t like to be around areas of heavy human activity, and are seen only in “natural” settings and sparsely populated suburban and rural settings. Juveniles often consume soft-bodied insects, such as crickets and moths.ĭespite their scientific name of constrictor, they do not constrict to suffocate their prey, but hold it in place and subdue it. Blue racer diet consists primarily of small rodents (including common household pests such as rats and mice), small birds, chipmunks, lizards, toad and frogs, and other snakes. Racers are fast moving, highly active, diurnal (active during the day) snakes. The head is usually darker than the body, though the chin and throat are white. They are fairly large (adult size is 4-6 feet long), gray or blue with smooth scales. Blue Racer Snake Habitsīlue racers are found from Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota south to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Here’s what you need to know when dealing with a possible racer snake on your property. After all, they love to eat rodents! But when they move inside (or even near to) our homes, often something must be done. call the number, this is the company that we reccomend in that area.īelieve it or not, snakes can be great to have around. Check it out background big and see a lot more cool shots from out and about in their slideshow.Blue Racer snake control and removal should only be handled by a professional snake removal and control company, you can find a company by first selecting your state on the left then the closest city. You can also watch a cool video of a BIG blue racer by the Saline Snake Guy.ĭ charvat writes that they saw this good-sized blue racer while hiking in the Middleville MI state game area. The Coluber constrictor Eastern Racer entry from Animal Diversity Web says that the blue racer is one of several different racer subpopulations and adds a lot more information and photos including that in the wild, racers have been known to live over 10 years. Needless persecution by humans as well as habitat loss are probable factors in this decline. ![]() ![]() Once common, their numbers have fallen in many places. Racers have been found through most of the Lower Peninsula (except the northernmost sections) and the southern tip of the Upper Peninsula. The young racers hatch in late summer and, as noted above, are colored differently than the adults. Although they will bite if cornered or grabbed, racers are not venomous.įemales lay 6 to 25 eggs in rotting wood or underground during June and July. These snakes feed on rodents, frogs, smaller snakes, birds, and insects. They are alert, active snakes that may climb into low bushes to escape enemies. Racers inhabit a variety of places, including open woods, meadows, hedge rows, marshes, and weedy lake edges. Young racers are grayish, with a pattern of darker blotches and spots. Their Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxi) page explains:Ī large gray or blue snake with smooth scales. The DNR’s page on Michigan snakes says that Michigan has 17 native species. While Mitt Romney’s “the trees are the right height” memories of Michigan drew some laughter, I doubt that anyone would laugh at tomboy Ann Davies with a couple of blue racers draped around her arms. ~Ann Romney recalling her Michigan childhood ( article) I was the ultimate tomboy when I grew up here in Manistee and I loved the Great Lakes. “I’d drape them around my neck and around my wrist. “I liked to go on the road and catch the blue racers and sort of scare my brothers,” she said.
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