Meet the cautious Eastern coachwhip - The News-Press
There is a common myth is that the Eastern coachwhip will attack people and whip them with its tail, but these snakes don't do that at all.
Instead when they are disturbed they will rapidly slither away. It got the name coachwhip because its large scales slowly taper toward the tail making it look a bit like a braided bullwhip.
The Eastern coachwhip is one of the largest snakes in North American and grows 4-6 feet in length. Its slender body usually has a black head and neck and the color fads to tan as it goes down its body. The belly color matches the color on its back. The snake has a large angular head with round pupils.
While they look a bit like a black racer, the racers are bluish black from head to tail.
These snakes are found everywhere in Florida except in the Keys. They live in flatwoods, sandhills, scrub, palmetto flatwoods, longleaf pine turkey oak and beach dune areas. They are also seen in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and east to North Carolina. They are fast on the ground and superb climbers.
Their diet includes lizards, snakes, small mammals, birds and bird eggs.
The Eastern coachwhip breeds in the spring and the female lays a clutch of 12-16 eggs during the late spring and early summer. She will usually lay them in rotting vegetation or logs. The young hatch after 6-11 weeks and are 12-16 inches in length when they are born. The juvenile snakes are brown or tan with dark dorsal crossbands.
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