A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer

Pacific Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer catenifer

(Blainville, 1835)

(= Pacific Gopher Snake)

Click on a picture for a larger view

Description • Taxonomy • Species Description • Scientific Name • Alt. Names • Similar Herps • References • Conservation Status

Red: Range of this subspecies in California
Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Pacific Gophersnake

Range of other subspecies in California:

Purple: Pituophis catenifer affinis - Sonoran Gophersnake

Orange: Pituophis catenifer annectens -
San Diego Gophersnake

Dark Blue: Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Great Basin Gophersnake

Light Green: Pituophis catenifer pumilus -
Santa Cruz Island Gophersnake

Gray: General area of intergradation

Click on the map for a topographical view

Map with California County Names

Northwest Page

Listen to a Gophersnake
hissing defensively

Adult, Merced County © Jennifer Rycenga

Adult, Alameda County, eastern foothills of Coast Range.

Adult in defensive posture, coastal
San Mateo County

Adult, San Luis Obispo County

Adult, Marin County

Adult, Yuba County, Sierra Nevada foothills.

Adult, Alameda County

Adult, Central Valley, Western Kern County

Adult, San Benito County mountains.

Adult, Monterey County
© Benjamin German

Adult, San Benito County

Adult with a lot of red coloring,
El Dorado County © Richard Porter

Adult with a pale face, Santa Clara County © Holly Lane

Adult, San Francisco County
© Luke Talltree

Adult, Clear Lake, Lake County

Adult, Kings County © Patrick Briggs

Adult, El Dorado County
© Tyler Young

Adult, Marin County

Adult, Santa Clara County
© Zachary Lim

Adult, Butte County
© Jackson Shedd

This adult was found tightly squeezed into a small space beneath a rock in lower Kern Canyon, Kern County.

Adult, Del Norte County © Alan Barron

This large adult was seen swimming on a lake in Sacramento County.

Adult, Solano County © Lou Silva

Adult from the Berkeley Marina, Alameda County © Martin Nicolaus

Adult, Fresno County © Patrick Briggs

Adult, Kings County © Patrick Briggs

Adult, Kern County © Ryan Sikola

Adult, Bernal Heights, San Francisco County © Laurel Rose.
(It's nice to see that gophersnakes still inhabit some of the islands of open space in the city.)

This dead snake was found on a hiking trail in Santa Clara County where several other dead snakes were found in a similar condition - they appeared to have eaten a very large meal then died. That is not likely given just how bloated the snake looks throughout its body What happened is a mystery that has not yet been solved. © James Hewitt

This adult snake from Colusa County has orange markings. You can see a more normal brown-colored snake that was found next to it.

Adult, Sacramento County
© Marcus Rehrman

Adult, Yolo County © Belinda Sikes

Adult, Santa Clara County © Clay Foster

Adult, Santa Clara County
© Yuval Helfman

Adult, Kings County © Patrick Briggs

Adult with a lot of red coloring, Santa Clara County © Faris K

Left: adult Pacific Gophersnake
Right: adult Delta morph
California Kingsnake
Merced County © Emile Bado

Adult defensive display, Santa Clara County © Yuval Helfman

Adult, Santa Clara County
© Yuval Helfman

Gophersnakes have large keeled scales on the upper body.

Juveniles

Sub-adult, San Luis Obispo County

Juvenile, Kern Plateau, Kern County

Juvenile, East Bay Hills,
Contra Costa County

Juvenile, Alameda County

Sub-adult in habitat, San Luis Obispo County

Juvenile, Contra Costa County

Juvenile, San Benito County
© Judith Ogus

Merced County Juvenile in a defensive position, with a flattened, triangular head © Tim Iddings

Juvenile, Contra Costa County

Yearling found at about 5500' elevation in Tuolumne County © Adam Gitmed

Juvenile, Santa Clara County © Yuval Helfman

Juvenile, Santa Clara County
© Yuval Helfman

Juvenile, San Luis Obispo County

Striped Morphs and Other Unusual Patterns and Colors

Adult, striped phase, Solano County, © Gary Nafis
Specimen courtesy of Rick Staub

Adult, striped phase, Sonoma County © Edgar Ortega

Solano County © Mike Spencer

Adult, Napa County © Edgar Ortega

Adult, Yolo County © Zachary Lim

Striped adult, Solano County © Lou Silva

An adult which is missing black pigment and might be albino. Placer County
© Terrence Howe

Albino adult, Solano County © Lou Silva

Pale, striped Adult, Yolo County
© Michael Sutcliffe

A patternless adult found in Santa Cruz County © Luke Talltree

Juvenile, striped phase, Solano County
© John Stephenson

A striped adult in Solano County
© Richard Porter

Striped adult, Yolo County.
© Dave Feliz

Striped juvenile, Yolo County
© Dave Feliz

This striped adult from Solano County has a reddish tail tip that could illustrate the reason for the myth that snakes have a stinger on the end of their tail. © Kimberly D'Amelio

This San Mateo County juvenile appears to be amelanistic or missing its black coloring.

© Chris Mayer.
These three Pacific Gophersnakes were found in early May in Napa County, caught in some garden netting. All three were found alive and cut free. Two of the snakes are the striped morph and it appears the blotched morph snake is mating with one of them.

Gophersnakes From Intergrade Areas

Adult from Lassen County intergrade area where P. c. catenifer intergrades with P. c. deserticola. © Debra Frost

Adult from Kern County intergrade area where P. c. catenifer intergrades with
P. c. deserticola © Patrick Briggs

Adult from Kern County intergrade area where P. c. catenifer intergrades with
P. c. deserticola © Patrick Briggs

Adult, from Tule Lake, Siskiyou county, where P. c. catenifer intergrades with P. c. deserticola.

Adult from Kern County intergrade area where P. c. catenifer intergrades with
P. c. deserticola © Patrick Briggs

Adult, Modoc County © Max Roberts

Adult Gophersnakes in Defensive Poses
(Showing why they are sometimes confused with Rattlesnakes)

Adult, El Dorado County
© Tyler Young

Adult, Tulare County © Donna Noce

Defensive adult, El Dorado County. Notice the head flattened into a triangular shape. © Tyler Young

Adult in defensive pose with head enlarged in a triangular shape, San Benito County © Judith Ogus

Adult in defensive pose, El Dorado County
© Tyler Young

Adult in defensive pose, Kings County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult in defensive pose, Santa Clara County © Yuval Helfman

Gophersnakes Feeding and Hunting

Juvenile Pacific Gophersnake, Mariposa County, eating a Western Fence Lizard
© Daniel Harris

This dead juvenile Pacific Gophersnake was found in Sutter County. It appears to have a leg, but on closer inspection, it is the leg of what is probably an alligator lizard that broke through the snake's side after the snake swallowed it.
© Kevin Bryant

Adult Pacific Gophersnake, Kings County, preparing to eat its namesake mammal - a gopher. © Patrick Briggs

Adult Pacific Gophersnake in a bird's nest eating a duck egg, Kings County,
© Patrick Briggs

A juvenile Pacific Gophersnake eating a Coast Range Fence Lizard in Sonoma County © Gérard Menut

Matt Maxon and Johanna Turner were hiking in Big Tujunga Canyon in Los Angeles County when they discovered a large dead rodent that appeared to have been partially swallowed and spit out. (Left) On returning to the same spot about two hours later, they noticed the rodent was gone, and soon discovered a San Diego Gophersnake swallowing it. (Right) Did the snake kill the rodent, attempt to eat it, then spit it out and return later to try again, or was more than one predator involved? We'll never know, but that sure is more than a mouthful.
© Matt Maxon and Johanna Turner.

Debbie Frost saw a Great Basin Gophersnake that had just bred in Lassen County crawl down a hole, and quickly coming back up with a kangaroo rat. The snake then crawled into the shade made by Debbie's shadow and ate while she watched.

This recently-hatched Pacific Gophersnake was found in a garage in Alameda County in mid November. It was trying to eat a dead and dessicated Western Fence Lizard. © 2018 Cindi Christie/Cyanpixel Photography

A Pacific Gophersnake can be seen hanging down between the boards on a bridge in Sutter County with swallow's nests on its side. The snake was observed slowly moving closer to the nest, dropping down between two boards, waiting for 10 - 15 minutes, then moving back up and dropping down between two different boards closer to the nests and waiting again, as if it might have been waiting to catch a flying adult swallow. (You can see a swallow flying under the bridge on the right.) It might also have been planning on entering the nests to search for eggs or baby birds to eat. © Richard Porter

© Yuval Helfman
This adult gophersnake was observed in Santa Clara County emerging from a cliff swallow nest under the eaves of a building where it was most likely hunting for nestlings.

© Yuval Helfman
Two weeks after the photo to the left was taken, the gophernake is still in the nest on the left. The swallows appear to be avoiding the nest, so the snake probably isn't ambush hunting. It's possible the snake has been resting in the nest while digesting a meal, or maybe it's just having trouble climbing back down since the building is 10-15 foot tall vertical walls.

Gophersnake Predation

A California Kingsnake killing a Pacific Gophersnake
for dinner in Contra Costa County. © Tim Dayton

Gophersnakes are sometimes preyed upon by birds of prey, or raptors. Here, a San Diego Gophersnake is carried off by a Red-tailed Hawk in San Luis Obispo County. © Joel A. Germond

This Cooper's Hawk was observed flying out of a bush carrying an adult gophersnake up to a roof in Monterey County. © Wim de Groot

An adult Pacific Gophersnake captured by a Red-tailed Hawk near the ocean in Monterey County. © Diederick de Groot

An adult Pacific Gophersnake captured by a Red-tailed Hawk flying near the ocean in Monterey County. © Wim de Groot

California Kingsnakes are powerful predators capable of eating other snakes almost as large as they are. Here you can see one eating a Pacific Gophersnake. © Patrick Brigg

Breeding and Young

© Chris Mayer.
These three Pacific Gophersnakes were found in early May in Napa County. Two are the striped morph. Apparently two of them are engaged in mating, which means the third one is most likely a male that lost out.

The Danger of Plastic Netting to Snakes

Suzanne Camejo found this San Diego Gophersnake in an apricot tree which it had climbed probably trying to raid a Mockingbird nest. The snake was entangled in synthetic netting used to protect the fruit from birds. Suzanne and her friends cut the netting, which had dug into the snake's skin, to free the snake. They were repaid with the hissing and striking of a very stressed-out snake, but one that was now free to crawl away and continue to rid the garden of rodents and rabbits.

Although netting is used as a natural method to deter agricultural pests, as well as for erosion control, it can be a great hazard to some animals, especially snakes.

Photos © Suzanne Camejo

This San Diego Gophersnake was found entangled in synthetic "wildlife netting" used as a barrier to rodents and other pests. After freeing two snakes that were found entangled in the netting, the property owner removed the netting to protect the snakes.
© Osa Barbani

This San Diego Gophersnake found in Orange County, was rescued after it was trapped in a tarp with small mesh that was used to cover backyard stuff. Snakes will try to crawl through any open mesh, not just that used in plastic netting.
© Stacy Schenkel

How to Tell the Difference Between Gophersnakes and Rattlesnakes

Gopher Snake Rattlesnake Comparison Sign

Harmless and beneficial gophersnakes are sometimes mistaken for dangerous rattlesnakes. Gophersnakes are often killed unnecessarily because of this confusion.
(It's also not necessary to kill every rattlesnake.)

It is easy to avoid this mistake by learning to tell the difference between the two families of snakes. The informational signs shown above can help to educate you about these differences. (Click to enlarge).

If you can't see enough detail on a snake to be sure it is not a rattlesnake or if you have any doubt that it is harmless, leave it alone.
You should never handle a snake unless you are absolutely sure that it is not dangerous.

Habitat

Habitat, Contra Costa County

Habitat, Alameda County

Habitat, San Mateo County

Habitat, Yuba County

Coastal habitat,
Monterey County

Habitat, Napa County

Habitat, Santa Cruz County

Habitat, Kings County

Habitat, San Luis Obispo County

Habitat, San Benito County

Habitat, Butte County

Habitat, Contra Costa County

Habitat, Alameda County

Habitat, Siskiyou County

Creekside habitat, 1,450 ft., Kern County

Habitat, Kern County

Habitat, Alameda County

Habitat, San Joaquin County

Habitat, Alameda County

Habitat, Kern County

Short Videos

A Pacific Gophersnake, not happy to be picked up off the road by a crazy human, curls up in a defensive stance, investigates the camera, then crawls away. This movie contains no sound.

The same Pacific Gophersnake as the one to the left shows its defensive arsenal, which includes coiling, puffing up, and elevating the body, flattening the head into a triangular shape, hissing loudly, shaking the tail, and striking repeatedly. When its tormentor (and photographer) backs off, the snake crawls away, keeping its head and neck defensively arched, ready to quickly coil and strike if needed.

A distressed Pacific Gophersnake shakes its tail rapidly, which makes a buzzing sound as the tail touches the ground. This behavior might be a mimic of a rattlesnake's rattlng, or it could be a similar behavior that helps to warn off an animal that could be a threat to the gopher snake.

A juvenile Pacific Gophersnake is found under a log in early spring in Conta Costa County.

Here's a YouTube video of a striped gophersnake in Yolo County striking at the camera from Dave Feliz.

Here's a little taste of roadcruising - driving, driving, driving, then finally a snake is spotted on the road. This one is an intergrade gophersnake from the sagebrush desert of eastern Siskiyou County.

A large Pacific Gophersnake is discovered under a small rock on a sunny late winter afternoon in Kern Canyon.

This short video shows two adult male Pacific Gophersnake wrestling for dominance during the May breeding season in Napa County. © Woody Davis

Description

Not Dangerous - This snake does not have venom that can cause death or serious illness or injury in most humans.

Commonly described as "harmless" or "not poisonous" to indicate that its bite is not dangerous, but "not venomous" is more accurate. (A poisonous snake can hurt you if you eat it. A venomous snake can hurt you if it bites you.)

Size

Adults of the species Pituophis catenifer can be 2.5 - 9 feet long (76 - 279 cm). (Stebbins, 2003)
Hatchlings are fairly long, generally around 15 inches in length (38 cm).
The average size of adults of this subspecies, Pituophis catenifer catenifer, is from 4.5 - 5 ft. long (137 - 152 cm.)

Appearance

A large snake with heavily keeled scales, a narrow head that is slightly wider than the neck, and a protruding rostral scale on the tip of the snout that is bluntly rounded.

Key to California gophersnake subspecies.

Color and Pattern

Ground color is straw or tan, with large square dark chocolate blotches or saddles along the back and smaller gray spots on the sides.
The back of the neck is dark brown.
The underside is cream to yellowish with dark spots. Often there is a reddish color on the top, especially near the tail.
There is usually a dark stripe across the head in front of the eyes and a dark stripe from behind each eye to the angle of the jaw.
Juveniles tend to have a darker and more compact pattern than adults.

Pacific Gophersnakes with longitudinal stripes with or without blotches are occasionally found in central and west-central California, often in Solano, Yolo, and Napa Counties.

Life History and Behavior

Activity

Active in the daytime, and at night in hot weather.
One of the most commonly seen snakes on roads and trails, especially in the spring when males are actively seeking a mate, and in the fall when hatchlings emerge.
A good burrower, climber, and swimmer.

Defense

When threatened, a gophersnake will do several things, sometimes one after the other, including: crawling away quickly to escape or hide; freezing up - making the body rigid and kinked up so it won't be noticed or perceived as a snake; and striking at the threat to scare it off. Gophersnakes also use a more dramatic defensive behavior - sometimes a snake will elevate its body and inflate it with air while flattening its head into a triangular shape, hissing loudly, and quickly shaking its tail back and forth to make a buzzing sound.

(This head-flattening and tail-rattling is usually considered to be a mimic of a rattlesnake, but the tail shaking could be a behavior similar to that of the rattlesnake that helps to warn off an animal that could be a threat to the snake by alerting it of the snake's presence.)

Gophersnakes have a specially-developed epiglottis which increases the sound of their hiss when air is forced through the glottis. You can listen to a recording of a gophersnake hissing here, and watch short movies of a gophersnake hissing and striking here, and shaking its tail here.

Diet and Feeding

Eats mostly small mammals, especially pocket gophers, moles, rabbits, and mice, along with birds and their eggs and nestlings. Occasionally eats lizards and insects.

A powerful constrictor; kills prey by suffocating them in body coils or by pressing the animal against the walls of their underground burrows.

Reproduction

Mating occurs in spring after emergence from winter hibernation.
Mating and egg laying will occur later in more northern climates or at higher elevations.

Females are oviparous, laying one to 2 clutches of 2-24 eggs from June - August. (Stebbins, 2003)
Eggs hatch in 2 - 2.5 months.

Habitat

Found in a variety of habitats -open grassland and brushland, mixed woodlands, coniferous forest, agricultural farmland, chaparral, marshes, around suburban homes and garden sheds, and and riparian zones, from lowlands to the mountains.

Geographical Range

This subspecies, Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Pacific Gophersnake, occurs north of roughly Santa Barbara County east to the Sierra Nevada mountains and north through much of California, excluding the northeast corner, and north west of the Cascades Mountains in Oregon to the Colombia River. There is a wide range of intergradation with P. c. deserticola in eastern California and Oregon.

The species Pituophis catenifer - Gophersnake, occurs from southern Canada in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, south into Mexico, and east to Indiana and east Texas, excluding most of Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and much of Illinois and Wisconsin. It is also found in the Channel Islands and on islands off the west coast of Baja California.

Elevational Range

Gophersnakes range from below sea level to around 9,186 ft. (2,800 m). (Stebbins, 2003)

Notes on Taxonomy

8 subspecies of Pituophis catenifer are recognized - 2 occur in Baja California, and 6 occur in the United States. It has been proposed that the snakes from Baja California are a new species. 5 of these 8 subspecies occur in California, with one endemic, and one that only occurs in California and Baja California.

Gophersnakes are related to Ratsnakes and Kingsnakes, and they have been known to interbreed with these species.

Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)

Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Sonoran Gopher Snake (Stebbins 2003, Stebbins & McGinnis 2012)
Pituophis melanoleucus catenifer - Sonoran Gopher Snake (Stebbins 1985)
Pituophis melanoleucus catenifer - Sonora Gopher Snake (Stebbins 1966)
Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Stebbins 1954)
Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Western Gopher Snake (Pituophis annectens; Pityophis Heermanni; Pityophis vertebralis; Pityophis sayi bellona, part; Pityophis sayi; Pituophis bellona, part; Pituophis melanoleucus; Pituophis melanoleucus var. catenifer. Pacific Bull Snake; Bellona Bull Snake; Western Bull Snake, part; Pacific Pine Snake; Gopher Snake, part; Say's Pine Snake; Yellow Gopher Snake) (Grinnell and Camp 1917)
Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Coast gopher snake (Van Denburgh1897)
Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Pacific Gopher Snake (Blainville, 1835)

Adder
(Bellona) bull snake
Churchill's bull snake
Gopher snake
Oregon bull snake
Pacific bull snake
Pacific pine snake
Western bull snake
Western gopher snake
Western pine snake
Yellow gopher snake

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

A very common snake, but often mistaken for the similar rattlesnake and killed unnecessarily. Frequently killed by traffic when crossing roads.

Taxonomy
Family	Colubridae	Colubrids	Oppel, 1811
Genus	Pituophis	Bullsnakes, Gophersnakes, and Pinesnakes	Holbrook, 1842
Species	catenifer	Gophersnake	(Blainville, 1835)
Subspecies	catenifer	Pacific Gophersnake	(Blainville, 1835)
Original Description
Pituophis catenifer - (Blainville, 1835) - Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 4, p. 290, pl. 26, figs. 2-2b from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Pituophis - Greek - pitys- pine and ophis - snake - possibly referring to habitat of nominate subspecies on U.S. east coast (the Pine Snake) catenifer - Latin - catena - chain and -ifera - bearing - referring to the dorsal pattern from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Related or Similar California Snakes
P. c. affinis - Sonoran Gophersnake P. c. annectens - San Diego Gophersnake P. c. deserticola - Great Basin Gophersnake P. c. pumilus - Santa Cruz Island Gophersnake A. e. occidentalis - California Glossy Snake
More Information and References
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Patrick Briggs' World Pituophis Site Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012. Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972. Flaxington, William C. Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Field Observations, Distribution, and Natural History. Fieldnotes Press, Anaheim, California, 2021. Samuel M. McGinnis and Robert C. Stebbins. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians. 4th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018. Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998. Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Snakes of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009. Bartlett, R. D. & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000. Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997. Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003. Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press, 1957. Joseph Grinnell and Charles Lewis Camp. A Distributional List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of California. University of California Publications in Zoology Vol. 17, No. 10, pp. 127-208. July 11, 1917.

Conservation Status
The following conservation status listings for this animal are taken from the January 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the January 2024 Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Animals of California list (unless indicated otherwise below.) Both lists are produced by multiple agencies every year, and sometimes more than once per year, so the conservation status listing information found below might not be from the most recent lists. To make sure you are seeing the most recent listings, go to this California Department of Fish and Wildlife web page where you can search for and download both lists: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Plants-and-Animals. A detailed explanation of the meaning of the status listing symbols can be found at the beginning of the two lists. For quick reference, I have included them on my Special Status Information page. If no status is listed here, the animal is not included on either list. This most likely indicates that there are no serious conservation concerns for the animal. To find out more about an animal's status you can also go to the NatureServe and IUCN websites to check their rankings. This snake is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
Organization	Status Listing	Notes
NatureServe Global Ranking
NatureServe State Ranking
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Wildlife	None
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
IUCN

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