‹ Compare two snakes
Eastern Ratsnake vs North American Racer
Alejandro Santillana, no rights reserved
Eastern Ratsnake
Pantherophis alleghaniensis
Non-venomous(c) Jonathan Eisen, some rights reserved (CC BY)
North American Racer
Coluber constrictor
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
For adults, check the shine and the belly. A black racer is smooth, glossy and evenly dark, with a gray belly. An adult Eastern Ratsnake looks duller, often shows pale flecks between its scales, and has a whitish belly with dark markings.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Adults black, often with pale skin showing between scales; young gray and blotched.
Plain black, blue-gray, olive or tan; belly pale to gray; young strongly blotched.
Head
Narrow head barely wider than the neck; white or cream chin and throat.
Small head only a little wider than the neck; large eyes.
Eyes
Round pupil, fairly large 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; no rattle.
Long and slender; no rattle.
What it does
Climbs trees and walls; vibrates its tail in leaves when cornered.
Fast and nervous; vanishes at speed, bites when held.
Where it lives
Atlantic states east of the Appalachians: western Vermont and southern New England south through New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia and all of Florida east of the Apalachicola River, including the Keys.
Nearly nationwide: every lower-48 state except Arizona, and into southern Canada, but absent from most of the desert Southwest.