Description: Gray, blue-gray, or brownish dorsally, paler ventrally. At the western extreme of its range some examples may show vague dark flecking on some dorsal and lateral scales. A horizontal black marking encompasses each eye and then extends rearward to the back of the head as a broad dark mask. The hatchlings are lighter than the adults and usually strongly patterned with darker dorsal saddles. Scales are smooth, in 17 rows to and beyond midbody, and 15 rows posteriorly. Anal scale is divided. Pupil round

The namesake mask is an identifying feature. These fast snakes often hunt by “periscoping,” their head held well above the grasses or weeds in which they are searching for their prey of lizards, frogs, baby turtles, small snakes, and the nestlings of ground dwelling birds or mammals. As would befit snakes with such hunting techniques, the eyes are large and vision is acute.

Habitat: This is a snake of the flood prone cypress and wooded bottomlands

Range: C. c. latrunculus, the blackmask racer, occurs in southeastern Louisiana and adjacent Mississippi, Southwestern Tennessee and eastern Arkansas.

Found in these States: AR | LA | MS | TN

Diet: Primarily feeds on lizards, frogs, baby turtles, small snakes, and the nestlings of ground dwelling birds or mammals.

Reproduction: Mating takes place in the spring, from late April until early June. In June or early July the female will lay 3-32 oval, white eggs in a hidden nest site. Suitable nest sites may be a rotted stump or log, and old mammal burrow, or a nest cavity in the leaf litter or sand. The eggs are 2.5 to 3.9 cm long and are coated with small nodules resembling hard, dry grains of salt. Hatching usually occurs in August or early September with young size approximately 7.5-14 inches long. Males become sexually mature in 1 to 2 years, while females mature slower, approximately 2 to 3 years.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

Taxonomy: