Yellow-bellied racers (eggs / hatchlings)

Description:

The adult is long and slender-bodied. The scales are smooth. A juvenile has large mid-dorsal brown blotches and small brown or black spots on the sides. The juvenile has a tan or gray ground color. The pattern fades by the time the snake is several years old. The adult female attains a longer length than the male, but the male has a longer tail. The adult yellow-bellied racer has a plain brown to olive back with dark colored skin between the scales, making the scales look as though they were outlined in black. The unpatterned belly is yellow to cream. Hatchling yellow-bellied racers have dark edged blotches on the belly. (information from "A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Oklahoma")

Habitat:

City park - Tulsa Zoo

Notes:

These eggs were brought to me by a co-worker who was doing some demolition work at Tulsa Zoo. We're renovating an area for a new rhinoceros exhibit and he discovered these eggs while moving some earth around. I set them up and took them home on July 22, 2013. The first egg pipped on August 2nd and all four eggs hatched by August 7th. The four siblings were released back at the zoo on August 18th (away from the demolition area, of course).

See Jack Settle's spotting for more photos of these snakes: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/371...