Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

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Biker Dave
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Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by Biker Dave »

Hey All,

Those of you that are familiar with the Yellow bellied Racer, I have a couple questions.

1) what temp range do you generally see them active above ground, and

2) do they seem to be more active in the morning or the afternoon?

Going to go try to find some in the area they are (barely) known in Arizona in a couple weeks.

Thanks.
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fringe
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by fringe »

Biker Dave wrote: May 8th, 2023, 11:00 am 1) what temp range do you generally see them active above ground, and
Personally, they are similar to coaches and whips, imo, so they like it on the hotter side.
2) do they seem to be more active in the morning or the afternoon?
Found them morning, midday, and afternoon, but from my personal experience, afternoon would be my pick out of the three.
Going to go try to find some in the area they are (barely) known in Arizona in a couple weeks.
Know the area, definitely a challenge. GL! :thumb:
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by Kelly Mc »

Diurnal , Well sighted and pursuit predator = a well warmed metabolism
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mrfrasier
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by mrfrasier »

Search near riparian areas if possible.
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fringe
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by fringe »

In the area you'll be in, I'd get more in the flats, less in the forested hills. Cruising some dirt roads outside of town and flipping some junk. Early am or late afternoon depending on temps. :beer:
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Jeff
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by Jeff »

If you are going to the site of the old (1920s) record in eastern Arizona, I lived in that town for most of a year. In fact I lived a little above on a long dirt road through pastures and riparian areas. But, despite running up and down the road a couple hundred times, and searching all over the region, I never saw a racer. I see that one was eventually found in the vicinity, from Holycross's Snakes of Arizona book.

I've seen mormon in similar areas in Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana, but no luck in similar habitat in Arizona.

As mentioned above grassy and riparian areas are great, and any time of day and sky conditions in warm weather.

Good luck,

Jeff
Whitman
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by Whitman »

From the mountains of east-central Idaho near the continental divide. 2019. 27 C. c. mormon observations. Observations from ambient temperatures of 61F to 89F, mean of 78F. 2018. 63 observations. Ambient temps 56F to 92F. Mean of 74.2F. 2020. 10 observations. Temps 73 to 91F. Mean of 79.4F. Generally, racers like it hotter than Crotalus viridis, Thamnophis elegans, and Charina bottae in my country (Lemhi County, Idaho).

In my country (336 observations in 15 years, 2008-2022), when I graph snakes per mile of survey route by hour of day, racers most commonly observed between 1800 and 2000 hours.

Hope this helps.
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Porter
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Re: Questions about Coluber constrictor mormon

Post by Porter »

Whitman wrote: June 5th, 2023, 7:32 am
In my country (336 observations in 15 years, 2008-2022), when I graph snakes per mile of survey route by hour of day, racers most commonly observed between 1800 and 2000 hours.
Wow! I’m amazed. I seen a hellava lot of racers and I can’t think of a single “active” afternoon sighting, ever. In the northern Central Valley of CA, I’ve only seen them crossing roads or basking in the morning and midday. I may be one of the few, if only people who has actually caught one hunting at least 10 feet from the shore, on top of floating water weeds. Displaying aquatic hunting behavior similar to a gartersnake. I’ve flipped them at night under boards. But never once active in the evening. I have seen coachwhip crossing the road in the evening, in the northern California desert habitats, though.

I found one juvenile laying on a road after sunset in the dark, back around 2016, and assumed it must’ve been chased out of a whole onto the road. However, just last night I was cruising for kingsnakes, under a full moon, and came across a DOR that must’ve came out onto the road sometime close to 23:00.

Has anyone else ever encountered a yellow-bellied racer or any other racer while night cruising? Has anyone had this similar experience with racers in California?
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