A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer

Great Basin Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer deserticola

Stejneger, 1893

(= Great Basin Gopher Snake)

Click on a picture for a larger view

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

Dark Blue: Range of this subspecies in California
Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Great Basin Gophersnake

Range of other subspecies in California:

Purple: Pituophis catenifer affinis - Sonoran Gophersnake

Orange: Pituophis catenifer annectens - San Diego Gophersnake

Red: Pituophis catenifer catenifer - Pacific 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

Southwest Page

Northwest Page

Listen to a Gophersnake
hissing defensively

Adult, Inyo County

Adult, Inyo County © Sean Fekete

Adult, Inyo County

Inyo County adult with its head flattened defensively into a trangular shape.

Adult, San Bernardino County
© Michael Clarkson

Adult, Inyo County

Adult, Inyo County © Grigory Heaton

Adult, San Bernardino County
© John Worden

Adult, Kern County
© Patrick Briggs

Adult, Kern County
© Brad Alexander

Adult, Mono County © Noah Morales
The snake is in a high defensive pose in the picture on the right, ready to strike.

Adult, Kern County © Todd Battey

Underside of adult, Inyo County

Adult, Inyo County © Patrick Briggs

Underside of adult,
Kittitas County, Washington

Adult, Kern County © Patrick Briggs

Adult, Inyo County

Adult, San Bernardino County © Guntram Deichsel

Adult, San Bernardino County
© Terry Goyan

Adult, Inyo County.
Gophersnakes are often seen basking while stretched out on a sunny road with lots of kinks in the body that break up the shape of the body to make it look less like a potential meal to any predatory bird flying above. Sometimes they will stop moving and assume this position when they have been spotted as they are crossing a road.

This Great Basin Gophersnake is a resident of a Kern County desert property. It has been observed living under the garage, engaged in mating activity with two other snakes, and climbing the deck over a front door to get on the roof.
© Garth Weals

Interesting or Unusual Great Basin Gophersnakes

This patternless striped adult snake was found dead in Morongo Valley in San Bernardino County. © Adya Black

Hypomelanistic adult, Kern County
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

Juveniles

Juvenile in defensive stance, Inyo County

Apparently axanthic juvenile with no brown, tan, or yellow coloring.
Found in Lassen County east of Susanville. © Don Cain

Juvenile, Inyo County

Snakes From Intergrade Areas

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

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

Adult from Los Angeles County intergrade area where P. c. annectens intergrades with P. c. deserticola. © Patrick Briggs

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

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

This pink-sided adult is from the area in Los Angeles County where San Diego and Great Basin Gophersnakes interbreed. © Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

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

Adult, Modoc County © Max Roberts

Breeding

A pair of mating adults from Lassen County © Debbie Frost

Gophersnakes Feeding

Debbie Frost relocated the breeding pair shown above, and one of them crawled down a hole, 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.

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.

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

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

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.

Follow these links to see more pictures of this subspecies from the Northwest and from the Southwest.

Habitat

Habitat, 6,000 ft. Inyo County mountains

Habitat, San Bernardino County desert

Habitat, Siskiyou County

Habitat, San Bernardino County desert

Habitat, 6,000 ft. Inyo County mountains

Habitat, Lassen County desert

Habitat, San Bernardino County desert

Habitat, Inyo County desert

Habitat, Owens Valley, Inyo County

Short Videos

A Great Basin Gophersnake crawls across a road and into the grass in the Owens Valley.

A large gophersnake crawls off a road in a Mojave desert canyon.

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 Great Basin Gophersnake crawls across a dirt road in Okanagan County, Washington.

Here's a little taste of roadcruising (edited down from a much longer drive) - driving, driving, driving, then finally a snake is spotted on the road. This one is an intergrade gopher snake from the sagebrush desert of eastern Siskiyou County.

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).
Adults of this subspecies, Pituophis catenifer deserticola, have been recorded up to 6 feet long (183 cm) but are most often under 5 ft. long (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 slightly rounded.

Color and Pattern

Ground color is cream to yellowish, with large quadrangular brown, blackish, and reddish brown blotches along the back and smaller markings on the sides.
Often the blotches form a dark band on the sides of the neck.
The back of the neck is pale in the southern part of the range, but mottled with dark coloring in the northern part of the range.
This subspecies typically has black or dark blotches on the neck and the tail and lighter brown or reddish blotches inbetween.
The underside is pale with some dark markings.
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.

Key to California gopher snake subspecies.

Life History and Behavior

Activity

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.

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 wide variety of habitats - sagegrush, grassland, riparian areas, forests, and the Mohave desert.

Geographical Range

This subspecies, Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Great Basin Gophersnake, occurs in southeastern California north of approximately the Riverside county line north through the Mojave Desert and east of the Sierra Nevada mountains through Nevada, eastern Oregon and Washington into British Columbia, and is also found in parts of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and new Mexico, ranging east in Colorado to the western side of the Rocky Mountains.

There is a wide range of integration with P. c. catenifer in northeastern California and eastern Oregon. Also intergrades with P. c. annectans in the south.

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 deserticola - Sonoran Gopher Snake (Stebbins 2003, Stebbins & McGinnis 2012)
Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola - Sonoran Gopher Snake (Stebbins 1985)
Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola - Sonora Gopher Snake (Stebbins 1966)
Pituophis catenifer deserticola (Stebbins 1954)
Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Desert Gopher Snake (Pityophis sayi bellona, part; Pityophis catenifer, part; Pityophis bellona, part. Western Bull Snake, part; Southern Bull Snake; Arizona Bull Snake; Gopher Snake, part) (Grinnell and Camp 1917)
Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Great Basin Gopher Snake (Stejneger, 1893)
Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Desert gopher snake (Van Denburgh 1897)

Desert bull snake
Arizona bull snake
Gopher snake
(Great Basin) blow snake
(Great Basin) gopher snake
Sage brush gopher snake
Southern bull snake
Utah blow snake
Utah gopher snake
Western bull 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	deserticola	Great Basin Gophersnake	Stejneger, 1893
Original Description
Pituophis catenifer - (Blainville, 1835) - Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, Vol. 4, p. 290, pl. 26, figs. 2-2b Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Stejneger, 1893 - N. Amer. Fauna, No. 7, p. 206 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 deserticola - Latin - desert dry place and -icola - inhabitant of - refers to its habitat 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. catenifer - Pacific Gophersnake P. c. deserticola - Great Basin Gophersnake P. c. pumilus - Santa Cruz Island Gophersnake A. e. candida - Mohave Glossy Snake A. e. eburnata - Desert 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. Taylor, Emily. California Snakes and How to Find Them. Heyday, Berkeley, California. 2024. 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 April 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the April 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. Check the current California Department of Fish and Wildlife sport fishing regulations to find out if this animal can be legally pursued and handled or collected with possession of a current fishing license. You can also look at the summary of the sport fishing regulations as they apply only to reptiles and amphibians that has been made for this website. 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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