North American Racer vs Rubber Boa

Small head only a little wider than the neck; large eyes.

Blunt and barely wider than the neck, covered with small scales; it looks much like the tail end.

Plain black, blue-gray, olive or tan; belly pale to gray; young strongly blotched.

Plain tan, brown, olive or gray, sometimes rosy; no stripes or blotches. Belly yellow to cream, sometimes with dark or orange flecks. Newborns are pinkish-tan. Scales are tiny, smooth and shiny.

None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.

None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.

Long and slender; no rattle.

Short and blunt, ending in a rounded tip, so it looks like a second head. When threatened the snake raises it as a decoy while hiding its real head; many adults have scarred tails from mother rodents.

Fast and nervous; vanishes at speed, bites when held.

Slow and gentle. When threatened it rolls into a ball, tucks its head in, waves its tail like a fake head and may release musk. It burrows well, can climb and swim, and stays active in cooler temperatures than most snakes.

Nearly nationwide: every lower-48 state except Arizona, and into southern Canada, but absent from most of the desert Southwest.

Western North America: Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, western Montana, Nevada, northern Utah and western Wyoming; also southern British Columbia, Canada. The Southern Rubber Boa is limited to the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains of southern California.