Range in California: Purple
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
Listen to a gophersnake
hissing defensively
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Adult, Pima County, Arizona |
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Young Adult, Yavapai County,
Arizona |
Juvenile, Jeff Davis County, Texas |
Adult, Cochise County, Arizona |
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Habitat, Imperial County |
Habitat, Imperial County (Just before this photograph was taken, a Sonoran Gophersnake swam across this part of the Colorado River into the reeds in the foreground.)
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Habitat, Riverside County |
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Harmless Gopher Snakes are often mistaken for the more dangerous rattlesnakes and unnecessarily killed. It is easy to avoid this mistake by learning to tell the difference between the two families of snakes as shown in these signs. Unless you have experience handling venomous snakes, you should never handle a snake unless you are absolutely sure that it is not dangerous.
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Short Video |
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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.
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults of this species can be 2.5 - 7 feet long (76 - 213 cm) but most 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. 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. |
| 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, this snake willl sometimes inflate the body, and flatten the head and produce a loud hiss, often while moving its tail back and forth quickly which may sound like a rattle if this is done in dry vegetation. |
| 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 |
| Occurs in southeast California, from the Imperial Valley north to roughly the San Bernardino County line, and east to the Colorado river. The 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 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. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Pituophis |
Bullsnakes, Gopher Snakes, and Pinesnakes |
| Species |
catenifer |
Gopher Snake |
Subspecies
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affinis |
Sonoran Gopher Snake |
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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
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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
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Alternate Names |
Formerly Pituophis melanoleucus
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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
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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., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
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.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
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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.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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