A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Pituophis catenifer affinis - Sonoran Gopher Snake

Click on a picture for a larger view

Range in California: Purple

Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies

Listen to a Gopher Snake
hissing defensively

Adult, Imperial County

Adult, Riverside County
© William Flaxington

Adult, Riverside County

Adult, swimming across the Colorado River, Imperial County, California.

Adult, Riverside County © Patrick Briggs

Adult, Pima County, Arizona

Adult, Cochise County, Arizona

Juvenile, Jeff Davis County, Texas

Adult in defensive position, Cochise County, Arizona

Adult, Yavapai County, Arizona

Young Adult, Yavapai County,
Arizona

Habitat

Habitat, Imperial County

Habitat, Colorado River, Imperial County

Habitat, Imperial County

A Sonoran Gopher Snake was found in this agricultural habitat in Imperial County.

Habitat, San Diego County

Habitat, Riverside County

How to Tell the Difference Between Gopher Snakes and Rattlesnakes

A harmless gopher snake is sometimes mistaken for a venomous rattlesnake and killed unnecessarily (by someone who wrongly believes that all rattlesnakes should be killed.) It is easy to avoid this mistake and save the life of a harmless beneficial snake by learning to tell the difference between a gopher snake and a rattlesnake.These signs explain how to do that. Still, if you do not have training in handling venomous snakes, you should never handle any snake unless you are absolutely certain that it is not dangerous.

Short Videos

A Sonoran Gophersnakes crawls around in Imperial County.

A huge Sonoran Gophersnake puts on an impressive defensive display of hissing and blowing.

Gopher snakes in the wild often take a defensive stance when threatened; they hiss, rear up, and sometimes even strike at the threat in order to protect themselves from harm. In this video, a newly-hatched juvenile Sonoran Gopher Snake trying to cross a road at night is threatened by the bright light and the video camera stuck in its face so it hisses loudly and strikes at the camera before crawling away.

A Sonoran Gophersnake races across a road just after sunset.

A distressed Pacific Gopher Snake 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.

Description

Nonvenomous

Considered harmless to humans.

Size

Adults of this species can be 2.5 - 7 feet long (76 - 213 cm) but most individuals of this subspecies are from 5 - 6 ft. (152 - 183 cm.) Hatchlings of P. catenifer are fairly long, generally around 15 inches in length (38 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 which is rounded sharply in the front and not raised or only slightly raised above adjacent scales.
Ground color is straw, light brown or tan, with large brown or reddish blotches or saddles along the back and smaller markings on the sides. The back of the neck is yellowish or tan with small black spots. The underside is cream to yellowish with dark spots.

Key to California gopher snake subspecies.

Behavior

Active in the daytime, and at night in hot weather, and especially at dusk and dawn. 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. A powerful constrictor; kills prey by suffocating them in body coils or by pressing the animal against the walls of their underground burrows.
When threatened, a gophersnake willl elevate and inflate its body, flatten its head into a triangular shape, hiss loudly, and quickly shake its tail back and forth to make a buzzing sound which may be a mimic of a rattlesnake rattle.
You can listen to a recording of a gophersnake hissing here, and watch short movies of a gopher snake hissing and striking here, and shaking its tail here.

Diet

Small mammals, especially pocket gophers, birds and their eggs, and occasionally lizards and insects.

Reproduction

Eggs are laid June - August and hatch in 2 to 2.5 months.

Range

The species Pituophis catenifer occurs from the southern edge of Canada in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, south to the tip of Baja California and northern mainland 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 several islands off the west coast of Baja California.

The subspecies Pituophis catenifer affinis ccurs in southeast California, from the Imperial Valley north to roughly the San Bernardino County line, and east to the Colorado river. The subspecies' range extends south into the northeast tip of Baja California, and east into Arizona and New Mexico, then south through West Texas and far into Mexico.

Habitat

Found in a variety of habitats - desert flats, agricultural land, riparian areas including below sea level in the Imperial Valley.

Taxonomic Notes

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.

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
Genus	Pituophis	Bullsnakes, Gopher Snakes, and Pinesnakes
Species	catenifer	Gopher Snake
Subspecies	affinis	Sonoran Gopher Snake
Original Description
Pituophis catenifer - (Blainville, 1835) - Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 4, p. 290, pl. 26, figs. 2-2b Pituophis catenifer affinis - Hallowell, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 181 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 affinis - Latin - related or adjacent from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz \|
Alternate Names
Formerly Pituophis melanoleucus
Related or Similar California Snakes
P. c. annectens - San Diego Gopher Snake P. c. catenifer - Pacific Gopher Snake P. c. deserticola - Great Basin Gopher Snake P. c. pumilis - Santa Cruz Island Gopher Snake A. e. eburnata -Desert Glossy Snake
More Information and References
Natureserve Explorer California Dept. of Fish and Game Patrick Briggs' World Pituophis Site 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.

Conservation Status
The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game. 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
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Game	None
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List

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