‹ Compare two snakes
Eastern Kingsnake vs North American Racer
(c) Court Harding, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Eastern Kingsnake
Lampropeltis getula
Non-venomous(c) Jonathan Eisen, some rights reserved (CC BY)
North American Racer
Coluber constrictor
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Look for crossbands. The Eastern Kingsnake has thin white or yellowish bands forming a chain pattern on black. An adult racer is plain black with no bands, apart from a white chin.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Thin white or cream chain-link bands linking along the sides of a blue-black body.
Plain black, blue-gray, olive or tan; belly pale to gray; young strongly blotched.
Head
Small glossy head barely wider than the neck.
Small head only a little wider than the neck; large eyes.
Eyes
Round pupil, small dark eye; no heat-sensing pit.
Round pupil in a large eye - a sight hunter; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Tapers evenly, chain pattern continuing; no rattle.
Long and slender; no rattle.
What it does
Musks and may vibrate its tail; hunts other snakes.
Fast and nervous; vanishes at speed, bites when held.
Where it lives
Southeast: southern New Jersey south through northern Florida, west across Georgia into Alabama.
Nearly nationwide: every lower-48 state except Arizona, and into southern Canada, but absent from most of the desert Southwest.