Western Yellow-Bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)
Description: Adults of the species are 20-75 inches long. Hatchlings are 8 - 11 inches long. A slender snake with large eyes, a broad head and a slender neck, smooth scales, and a long thin tail. Plain brown, blue-grey, or olive-green to green above and unmarked off-white or yellowish below. Young have dark blotches on the sides and 70 - 85 dark blotches on the back. At one time juveniles were thought to be a different species of snake than the adults due to the dramatic difference in appearance between the blotched juveniles and the plain-colored adults.
Habitat: Prefers open areas with sunny exposure - meadows, grassland, sagebrush flats, brushy chaparral, woodlands, riparian areas such as pond edges, and forest openings. Found in arid and moist habitats, but not usually found in deserts or high mountains.
Range: This subspecies is found throughout most of california north and west of the Sierras, and south along the coast to the Baja California border. It is also found on Santa Cruz Island. Outside of California the subspecies continues north through Oregon and eastern Washington into British Columbia, Canada, and east through parts of Idaho, Montana, and Utah into western Colorado, with some isolated populations in eastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico.
Diet: Eats lizards, small mammals, birds, eggs, snakes, small turtles and frogs, and large insects.
Reproduction: Females are oviparous, laying 3 - 11 eggs in mid summer, sometimes in communal nests.
Eggs hatch in late summer
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.
Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
){kind=link}
){kind=link}