California Reptiles & Amphibians

Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Pacific Gopher Snake



Click on a picture for a larger view




Range in California: Red

Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies



Listen to a gophersnake
hissing defensively




Adult, Livermore, Alameda County
Adult in defensive posture, Pescadero, San Mateo County
Adult, Nicasio Reservoir, Marin County
Adult, Yuba County
Sub-adult, East Bay Hills,
Contra Costa County
Adult, Central Valley, Western Kern County
Juvenile, Kern Plateau, Kern County
Adult, Clear Lake, Lake County   
Adult, Butte County
© Jackson Shedd
Adult, Kings County © Patrick Briggs
Adult, Del Norte County © Alan Barron
Adult, striped phase, Solano County, courtesy of Rick Staub
Juvenile, striped phase, Solano County
© John Stephenson
Adult, striped phase, Sonoma County © Edgar Ortega
Hissing adult, Kings County
© Patrick Briggs
Adult, probable intergrade with P. c. deserticola, Tule Lake, Siskiyou county
A probable cross between a California Kingsnake and a Pacific Gophersnake, found in the wild in Yolo County by Steven Hinds. Photo © 2005 Brian Hubbs
Adult in a bird's nest eating a duck egg,
Kings County, © Patrick Briggs
Adult, Kings County, preparing to eat its namesake mammal - a gopher. © Patrick Briggs
Neonate hatching from its egg. © pat
© Patrick Briggs
Habitat, Contra Costa County
Habitat, Alameda County
Habitat, San Mateo County
Habitat, Lake County


Habitat, Napa County
Habitat, Santa Cruz County
 
Harmless Gopher Snakes are often mistaken for dangerous rattlesnakes and killed unnecessarily. It is easy to avoid this mistake by learning to tell the difference between the two families of snakes as shown in these signs. If you do not have experience handling venomous snakes, you should never handle a snake unless you are absolutely sure that it is not dangerous.


 
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 4.5 - 5 ft. (137 - 152 cm.) Hatchlings are fairly long, and may exceed 20 inches in length (51 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 or tan, with large dark chocolate blotches or saddles along the back and smaller gray spots on the sides. The back of the neck is dark brown. A striped morph is also found, especially in Solano County near Davis. The underside is cream to yellowish with dark spots. Often there is a reddish color on the top, especially near the tail.
Behavior
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. 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 sometimes inflate its body, flatten its 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. You can listen to a recording of a gophersnake hissing 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
Occurs in most of California north of roughly Santa Barbara County through Oregon. Absent from the south coast, the deserts, the eastern Sierras and the northeast corner.
Habitat
Found in a variety of habitats -open grassland and brushland, mixed woodlands, coniferous forest, agricultural farmland, chaparral, marshes, and riparian zones, from lowlands to the mountains.
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


catenifer Pacific Gopher Snake
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

Alternate Names
Formerly Pituophis melanoleucus

Related or Similar California Snakes
P. c. affinis - Sonoran Gopher Snake
P. c. annectens - San Diego Gopher Snake
P. c. deserticola - Great Basin Gopher Snake
P. c. pumilis - Santa Cruz Island Gopher 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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