Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just found this guy on my front step this morning. I put him in a 10 gallon tank but will move him to a 20-30 gallon next week if I decide to keep him.

He is about 20 inches long.

What do racers feed on? I put two fuzzies in the tank with him to see if he would eat.

Here is a picture of his under belly. I am undecided if I wanna keep this snake. I live in Coatesville PA which is about 40 miles west of Philly and have NEVER seen a snake around my house. I heard racers are pretty hard to keep in captivity. I might wait like 2 weeks and if he doesn't eat let him go.

looks like a black racer. its a lil hard to tell from the pic ur going to have give the snake a week to seattle in before u get a feeding responce. the first feed u will find out what it is a black rat snake will constrict its prey while a racer will bite and bite at the prey till its dead or it may swallow it down whole
CrazyCody

FYI, I am work with both CB, WC, and even Wild black rats. I can get a few to eat out of my hand while basking. They will constict, but ONLY if they feel they need too. WC racers can be impossible to get to eat.

Thanks a lot. Yeah after looking up some info I know it was definately a Northern Black Racer. I was actually suprised to see one sitting on my step! He was only about 21-22 inches in length. I let him back into the wild and he quickly found his way under some dead leafs/grass in the woods behind my house. Like I said this is the first time I have ever seen any snakes in my general area. I usually see redback salamander,box turtles and some skinks but never snakes.

racers only have a white spot under their chin.

black rat snakes have are white till a little less than half way of thier body.

and if you can hold a racer like that, then your doin a good job of not gettin bit

not tru my black racer has a white belly. that snake is a racer.
CrazyCody

Yeah,he is definately a black racer. That white spot is only under the chin cause it fades to black/dark grey. He also bit me once..lol