Blue Racer
Coluber constrictor foxii
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Diet
Blue Racers are carnivores. Adults eat mainly rodents, along with songbirds, frogs and other snakes, while young racers feed mostly on crickets and other insects.
Average lifespan
Blue Racers can live for more than 10 years.
Size
Adults usually measure 90 to 150 centimeters (3 to 5 feet) in length, and the largest can approach 2 meters (6.5 feet), making them the second-longest snake in Ontario.
Weight
Blue Racers are slender for their length. Most adults weigh well under 1 kilogram (2 pounds).
About
Blue Racers live in the Great Lakes region of North America, from Iowa east to Ohio. In Canada they are found only on Pelee Island in western Lake Erie. They prefer open and semi-open habitats such as savanna, alvar, old fields, shorelines and woodland edges. True to their name, adults are grey to greenish blue, with a dark mask around the eyes, a white throat and a pale blue belly.
Size and behavior
Blue Racers are active by day and forage both on the ground and up in trees. They are easily startled and usually race away when threatened, but if cornered they may vibrate their tail tip in dry leaves to sound like a rattlesnake. In winter they hibernate together below the frost line in rock crevices, sometimes sharing dens with other snake species. Females lay eggs in rotting logs, under rocks or in piles of decaying plants.
Diet and nutrition
Blue Racers are fast, active hunters that rely on their sharp eyesight to chase down prey. Despite their scientific name, constrictor, they don’t actually constrict; they overpower small prey and swallow it whole. By eating large numbers of rodents, they help keep rodent populations in check.
Savanna & Grassland
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Conservation status
Blue Racers are listed as Endangered in Canada under the Species at Risk Act and in Ontario under the Endangered Species Act. The Pelee Island population has declined because of habitat loss, the loss of hibernation sites and road deaths. They have not yet been assessed by the IUCN.
Fun fact
Blue Racers are among the fastest snakes in Ontario, which is how they got their name. Babies look nothing like their parents: they hatch grey with dark blotches down their back, and the blotches fade away by their third year.
Common Name: Blue Racer
Also known as: Nimbus (Vaughan) & Indigo (Whitby)
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