Blue Racer
Coluber constrictor foxii
Size
23–50 in
Status
Common
Venomous
No
Region
N & W Indiana
A fast, alert, and beautifully blue-gray snake of open country. Harmless, though nervous and quick to flee.
Identification
A slender, smooth-scaled snake, pale blue to blue-gray above with a white to pale belly and often a dark mask through the eye. Adults can exceed 4 feet. Juveniles are strongly blotched and look very different from adults.
Habitat & Diet
Prefers open habitats — prairies, savannas, old fields, and woodland edges — where it hunts by sight, moving quickly. Despite the name "constrictor," it usually simply overpowers prey such as rodents, frogs, insects, and other snakes.
Conservation in Indiana
Common in suitable open habitat in northern and western Indiana. It needs large, connected grassland and edge habitats to thrive.
Similar Species & Taxonomy
A fast, slender snake with grayish-blue to blue sides, a pale belly, and large eyes; it is told from the Black Kingsnake and Gray Ratsnake by its smooth scales, plain pattern, and lack of speckling or blotches. A racer (family Colubridae). Coluber constrictor is one wide-ranging species with many subspecies; Indiana's is the Blue Racer (foxii). The whipsnakes once placed in Coluber are now the genus Masticophis.
United States Range Map Distribution
Distribution in Indiana
