Help identify another snake (Boca Raton, week of 10/2

[zorak1]

Here’s a small snake, not much bigger than my shoe seen in Boca Raton, Florida circa 10/25/21.
It liked curling up in multiple ways, and sometimes appeared to play dead.
I wondered if it was sick.
It actually stayed around in that same exact place for 2-3 days but isn’t there anymore. Almost as if it had moved in there.

What is it?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Varanexan]

Juvenile Southern Black Racer (Constrictor coluber priapus) Undergoing ontogenic color change. These get darker and darker with each shed.

 

[snowgyre]

No, this is a juvenile eastern coachwhip, Masticophis flagellum, not a southern black racer. The extreme slenderness of the snake and the pointed nose is what gives it away.

https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/masfla.htm

 

[Varanexan]

No, this is a juvenile eastern coachwhip, Masticophis flagellum, not a southern black racer. The extreme slenderness of the snake and the pointed nose is what gives it away.

https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/masfla.htm

It is a racer. Both racers and coachwhips could be described as slender. The color and pattern is wrong for a juvenile Eastern coachwhip. The temporal scales do not match.
https://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/snakes/coachwhip.shtml

Here is a juvenile Eastern coachwhip from the same location (Boca Raton, FL): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30959641

Here is a juvenile Southern black racer from the same location (Boca Raton, FL): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83068863

Here is another juvenile Eastern coachwhip from the same county (Miami-Dade): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90134801

 

[WebSlave]

Based on the way it acted, I would have to agree with Vanessa that it is a young coachwhip. I actually caught an adult a while back that went catatonic in my hands and played dead even when I laid it on the ground. NEVER seen a black racer do that.

IMHO.

 

[Varanexan]

Based on the way it acted, I would have to agree with Vanessa that it is a young coachwhip. I actually caught an adult a while back that went catatonic in my hands and played dead even when I laid it on the ground. NEVER seen a black racer do that.

IMHO.

...Or its not playing dead and the snake was indeed ill or injured. The OP speculated about it being sick.

Its a classic black racer juvenile... common sight especially in urbanized Miami-Dade Co.

Here's some I hatched last month for comparison.

 

[WebSlave]

...Or its not playing dead and the snake was indeed ill or injured. The OP speculated about it being sick.

Which is exactly why an animal will act like that. So you will think it is sick or dead and leave it alone. I guess the most famous example of that is the eastern hognosed snake. As I said, I have never seen a black racer act in that manner, and I have seen and captured a few in my time. Baby black racers would try to chew your arm off if they could. I have even had black racers really and truly chase me in apparent anger.

Its a classic black racer juvenile... common sight especially in urbanized Miami-Dade Co.

Here's some I hatched last month for comparison.

I have also hatched out black racers, but never hatched out coachwhips, however found several young ones in the wild over the years. I actually hatched out the black racers pretty much by accident, because I found a clutch of eggs in a rotted log and didn't know what they were from. So I brought them back home and set them up to hatch them out. When the heads popped out of the eggs, the little suckers were snapping at my fingers and actually coming out of the eggs to try to take a piece of me. I shut the container QUICK, and took them out to a field nearby and let them loose as quickly as I could get rid of them. Not a one of them went catatonic or played dead. They were much more interested in getting ME to play dead, it seemed.

But be that as it may, young black racers and young coachwhips will look very similar, and without giving a particular animal a close inspection, I guess we will never know what it really was at this point.