Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is probably the best looking racer I found all year in Missouri. He was one of the few I've ever found that actually lived up to the name "yellow bellied" racer.

Here's another pretty one, his sides were robin-egg blue.

Big one who decided to use my face for target practice.

REALLY big one, who was pretty well behaved. And in shed, no less.

And me, doing the uneasy truce thing

Hope you all enjoy.

Kevin

Beautful animals! I wish that racers were common here in Northern California. They seem very elusive, and I've seen only four, including DORS, in about ten years. I kept one; a neonate which feeds voraciously on crickets. Here we have the western species, Coluber mormon, but they are just as beautful as the Eastern Yellow bellied. I need to find another one and try to breed them.
Racers are highly underrated.
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Roy Blodgett
Green Man Herpetoculture
royreptile@yahoo.com

1.1 Drymarchon corais
1.1 Masticophis taeniatus taeniatus
0.0.1 Coluber mormon
1.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (desert phase)
1.0 Boiga dendrophila dendrophila
1.1 Corytophanes cristatus
1.2 Varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Mt.Isa)
2.2 Pogona vitticeps (snow and red/gold)
1.0 Iguana iguana

“All men lie enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.”- Herman Melville

ha, uneasy truce, i did that once and got bit between the eyes (:

i pulled back just in time to avoid anything serious but i still had a little blood on my forehead.

needless to say, i make sure i judge the distance between snake and face more carefully now

I keep them away from my face. Something about the blinking of the eyes tends to get a strike response from them. Just so long as there's something in front of them to keep them occupied, and you handle them gently, they tend to be pretty well behaved. Well, most of them anyway.

Kevin