I love racers and coachwhips; along with mountain kings, my absolute favorites. A long time ago when I was 14 (1968) I acquired a 4 1/2 foot blue racer (Coluber constrictor foxi) from a dealer in Royal Oaks, Michigan. He caught it crossing a road near Detroit. I paid $6 or $8 for him. Man was he beautiful! Smoky blue gray on top grading to an intense bright and clean blue on the sides, and with a black racoon mask. I had him for a year in a 20 gallon cage. He ate live adult mice 3 out of 4 times offered and was very robust and healthy. I handled him regularly. He allowed it but bit me many times. Very touchy. Once he tagged my face repeatedly in the space of 1 or 2 seconds when I dropped the cage lid on his tail. Can you blame him? I had to leave him behind when my family moved to California, at the Dayton (Ohio)Museum of Nat. Hist. where I worked. Sadly, I found out he was neglected and died. The museum had in 1967 (another sadly neglected) blue racer, 3 1/2 feet that was incredibly pure blue over the entire dorsal (a hypo?). I've never seen another like it but I wonder if private breeders might breed a pure blue lineage. Racers are for snake lovers only, not those seeking a friendly pet. I was once chewed on by a 12 foot anaconda. It was like being attacked by a shark. That bothered me. Racer bites don't make me flinch. I hope some day to acquire a real blue blue racer (a foxi, not a frog eating paraste riddled everglades racer). Or better yet, a pair. Anyone in Mich., northern Ohio, Ind., Ill., etc. please let me know if you get them (without endangering a local population). carl@fossilrecord.com

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