California Reptiles & Amphibians

Pituophis catenifer annectens - San Diego Gopher Snake

Click on a picture for a larger view

Range in California: Orange

Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies

Listen to a Gopher Snake
hissing defensively

Adult, Riverside County

Adult, San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County

Adult, Riverside County

Underside of adult, San Diego County

Adult, 3,000 ft., San Diego County

Sub-adult, Riverside County

Adult, Santa Barbara County
© Jen Castle

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 gopher snake 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.

Coastal San Diego County grassland habitat that is rapidly disappearing due to development. © Brian Hinds

Habitat, Riverside County

Habitat, San Diego County

Habitat,6,200 ft.
San Bernardino County

Habitat, Riverside County

Habitat, 3,000 ft., San Diego County

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.

Short Video

A San Diego Gopher Snake flicks its tongue and crawls across a dirt road.

A distressed Pacific Gopher Snake shakes its tail rapidly. Part of a gopher snake's defensive strategy is rapidly shaking the tail to create a buzzing sound. This behavior may be a mimic of a rattlesnake's rattlng, or it might just be a similar behavior that helps to warn off danger.

Description

Nonvenomous

Considered harmless to humans.

Size

Adults of this species can be 2.5 - 7 feet long (76 - 213 cm.) San Diego Gophersnakes are most commonly 4 - 5 ft. long (122 -152 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 tan, light brown or yellowish, with large brown or blackish blotches along the back and smaller markings on the sides. The dorsal blotches can fuse together producing a very dark color. The underside is cream to yellow with dark spots. The back of the neck is often a dull orange.

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

Like other subspecies, eggs are probably laid June - August, hatching in 2 to 2.5 months.

Range

Occurs in southern California south of the range of P. c. catenifer from the south coast in Santa Barbara County south inland of the mountain ranges, to Baja California. Also occurs on Catalina Island. Sympatric with P. c. affinis in a narrow range, but no intergrades have been found. Apparently intergrades with P. c. catenifer, and P. c. deserticola.

Habitat

Found in a variety of habitats - grassland, coastal sage scrub, agricultural lands, riparian areas, woodlands, and desert, from sea level to the mountains. Especially common in coastal areas.

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.

Taxonomy
Family	Colubridae	Colubrids
Genus	Pituophis	Bullsnakes, Gopher Snakes, and Pinesnakes
Species	catenifer	Gopher Snake
Subspecies	annectens	San Diego 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 annectens - Baird and Girard, 1853 - Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, p. 72 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 annectens - Latin - joining or connecting from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
Formerly Pituophis melanoleucus annectens
Related or Similar California Snakes
P. c. affinis -Sonoran 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 A. e. occidentalis - California 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., & 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.

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)
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)
California Department of Fish and Game
Bureau of Land Management
USDA Forest Service
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List

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