Range in California: Red
Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies
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Adult, Inyo County |
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Adult, Coastal Riverside County |
Adult, Riverside County desert |
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Underside of adult, Tehachapi mountins, Kern County © Todd Battey |
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Adult, Nye County, Nevada |
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Adult, Yuma County, Arizona |
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| Two Red Coachwhips mating in late May in Orange County. © Mark Pugs |
Though they are not specifically snake-eaters, Coachwhips will eat whatever they can find and overpower, including snakes. Darrel Roberts found this coachwhip eating a young speckled rattlesnake in his driveway one morning in Pinal County, Arizona.
© Darrel Roberts |
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Habitat, coastal Riverside County |
Habitat, Inyo County |
Habitat, Nye County,
Nevada at the CA Border
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Habitat, San Bernardino County |
Habitat, Riverside County desert |
Habitat, San Diego County desert |
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Habitat, San Diego County |
Habitat, Kern County
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Short Video |
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Watch another similar subspecies of Masticophis flagellum race across a dirt road.
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| Description |
| Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults of this species are 36 - 102 inches long (91 - 260 cm.) Hatchlings are about 13 inches long. |
| Appearance |
| A slender fast-moving snake with smooth scales, a large head and eyes, and a thin neck. Large scales above eyes. 17 scale rows at mid body. Coloration is variable; light brown, pink or reddish above with pink, brown, or black bands across the neck. Black and yellow phases of this subspecies are found outside of California. The dark coloring is interspersed with light coloring creating a banded or saddled appearance, with dark coloring surrounding the light scales. Color typically changes to a solid tan or reddish coloring along the length of the long thin tail. The braided appearance of scales on the tail (like a whip) gives this snake its common name. |
| Behavior |
| Active in the daytime. Hunts crawling with head the held high above the ground, occasionally moving it from side to side. The prey is overcome and crushed with the jaws or beneath loops of the body and eaten without constriction. Often strikes agressively when threatened or handled. Good climbers, able to climb bushes and trees. Seen moving quickly even on hot sunny days, but often seen basking on roads in early morning or resting underneath boards or other surface objects. Frequently run over by vehicles and found dead on the road, partly due to the tendency of this snake to stop and eat road-killed small animals. |
| Diet |
| Eats small mammals including bats, nestling and adult birds, bird eggs, lizards, snakes, amphibians, and carrion. Hatchlings and juveniles will eat large invertebrates. |
| Reproduction |
| Lays eggs in early summer. Eggs hatch in 45 - 70 days. |
| Range |
| Ranges throughout southern California from Ventura county to the Baja California border and north around the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains though the Great Basin desert into norhwestern Nevada, and south through nevada and much of Arizona to part of Sonora and Baja California. Apparently intergrades with M. f. rudocki in eastern Kem County. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits open areas of desert, grassland, scrub, and sagebrush, including rocky, sandy, flat, and hilly ground. Avoids dense vegetation. Takes refuge in rodent burrows, under shaded vegetation, and under surface objects. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Five or six subspecies of Masticophis flagellum are recognized. Only two occur in California, including the San Joaquin Coachwhip - M. f. ruddocki (or three by those who recognize the Baja Coachwhip - Masticophis fuliginosus to be a subspecies of M. flagellum - M. f. fuliginosus.) |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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| Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Masticophis |
Whipsnakes, Striped Racers, and Coachwhips |
| Species |
flagellum |
Coachwhip |
Subspecies
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piceus |
Red Coachwhip |
| Original Description |
Masticophis flagellum - (Shaw, 1802) - Gen. Zool., Vol. 3, p. 475
Masticophis flagellum piceus - (Cope, 1892) - Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., Vol. 14, p. 625
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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| Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Masticophis - Greek - mastix - whip and ophis - snake - refers to the body shape and braided appearance of tail
flagellum - Latin - whip - refers to the body shape and braided look of tail
piceus - Latin - pitch black - refers to the black morph of subspecies
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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| Alternate Names |
Red Racer
Coluber flagellum piceus - Red Coachwhip
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| Related or Similar California Snakes |
M. f. ruddocki - San Joaquin Coachwhip
M. fuliginosus - Baja California Coachwhip
S. h. hexalepis - Desert Patch-nosed Snake
S. h. mojavensis - Mohave Patch-nosed Snake
S. h. virgultea - Coast Patch-nosed Snake
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| More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
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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