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Adult, Inyo County |
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Adult, Inyo County |
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Adult, Inyo County |
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| Adult, San Bernardino County © Bill Bachman |
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Adult, San Bernardino County © Patrick Briggs
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Juvenile, Kern County © Brad Alexander |
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Adult female, Mono County
© Adam G. Clause
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Adult, San Bernardino County
© Zachary Lim |
Adult, Inyo County © William Flaxington |
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Adult in hole, Inyo County
© Grigory Heaton |
Adult, Inyo County - Left: side stripe, Right: dorsal stripe |
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| Mohave Patch-nosed Snakes From Outside California |
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| Adult, Kane County, Utah © Yuval Helfman |
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| Habitat |
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| Habitat, Inyo County desert |
Habitat, White/Inyo Mountains,
Inyo County
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Habitat, Inyo County desert |
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Habitat, Inyo County desert
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Habitat, Inyo County desert
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Habitat, Inyo County desert
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Habitat, San Bernardino County desert
© Bill Bachman
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Habitat, Inyo County |
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| Short Video |
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A Mohave Patch-nosed snake in
Inyo County. |
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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.)
Observations of lizard predation have provided evidence that Western Patch-nosed Snake might use a prey-specific venom that is introduced through chewing with the rear teeth.
(Brian K. Sullivan and Scott A. Weinstein. Foraging and Prey Handling in the Western Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora hexalepis), and Consideration of Venom Use in Non-front-fanged Colubroid Snakes. Herpetological Review 48(1), 2017.)
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| Size |
Salvadora hexalepis ranges in size from 10 - 46 inches long (25 - 117 cm).
Most snakes seen will be around 26 - 36 inches (66 - 91 cm).
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| Appearance |
A fast, moderately-sized slender striped snake with smooth scales, large eyes, and an enlarged rostral (the scale over the tip of the snout.)
There are 9 upper labial scales, usually only the sixth one reaches the eye.
The loreal scale is usually not divided. |
| Color and Pattern |
Well-camouflaged, this snake is pale gray with a broad yellow or tan stripe down the middle of the back, and dark stripes on the sides.
The underside is cream, sometimes shading to pale orange at the tail end.
The dark side stripes are often indistinct and, around the edges of its range, especially in the eastern part, the stripes are obscured by crossbars.
The sides may be dark on all but the lowermost 1 or 2 scale rows.
The top of the head is gray.
The middorsal stripe is usually 3 scales wide. |
| Similar Subspecies |
Comparison of the 3 subspecies of Salvadora hexalepis found in California.
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| Life History and Behavior |
| Little is known about the natural history of this species. These notes are based on observations of the species as a whole. |
| Activity |
Diurnal - active during daylight, even in times of extreme heat.
Terrestrial, but also climbs shrubs in pursuit of prey.
Burrows into loose soil.
Able to move very quickly.
Acute vision allows this snake to escape quickly when threatened, making it sometimes difficult to observe or capture during the heat of the day.
Enlarged back teeth might be used to envenomate prey. (Grismer, 2002)
The enlarged rostral scale (on the tip of the nose) is thought to be useful in excavating buried lizard eggs.
It may also be used to dig into underground burrows: A Western Patch-nosed Snake in San Bernardino County was observed in an apparent attempt to catch a small rodent by forcefully ramming its head into the dirt at the base of a Creosote bush which opened a small hole in the ground, and crawling into the hole. A small rodent emerged from a different hole under the bush and ran away. (Herpetological Review 44(2), 2013)
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| Defense |
| When cornered, will inflate the body and strike. |
| Diet and Feeding |
Eats mostly lizards, especially whiptails, along with small mammals, and possibly small snakes, nestling birds, reptile eggs, and amphibians.
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| Reproduction |
Females are oviparous, laying 4-12 eggs, probably between May and August. (Stebbins, 2003)
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| Habitat |
Inhabits open arid and semi-arid areas - deserts, brushland, grassland, scrub, sagebrush, in canyons, rocky hillsides, sandy plains.
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| Geographical Range |
The species Salvadora hexalepis - Western Patch-nosed Snake, is found in southern California, Nevada, extreme southwestern Utah, Arizona, southeastern New Mexico, west Texas, and south into western Mexico, including Baja California.
This subspecies, Salvadora hexalepis mojavensis - Mohave Patch-nosed Snake, occurs in California from roughly Riverside County, west along the desert side of the mountains, north east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into Nevada and northeast California in Lassen County, and east into extreme southeast Utah and Arizona.
A specimen that keyed out to S. h. mojavensis was found in San Luis Obispo County on the Carrizo Plain 37 km SSW of specimens previously reported. Salvadora found on the Carrizo plain have been previously attributed to S. h. virgultea, suggesting that the area is a range of intergradation for the two subspecies. (Herpetological Review 51(3), 2020)
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| Elevational Range |
Salvadora hexalepis occurs at elevations from below sea level to around 7,000 ft. (2,130 m.) (Stebbins, 2003)
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| Notes on Taxonomy |
'The spelling of the word "Mojave" or "Mohave" has been a subject of debate. Lowe in the preface to his "Venomous Reptiles of Arizona" (1986) argued for "Mohave" as did Campbell and Lamar (2004, "The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere"). According to linguistics experts on Native American languages, either spelling is correct, but using either the "j" or "h" is based on whether the word is used in a Spanish or English context. Given that this is an English names list, we use the "h" spelling (P. Munro, Linguistics, UCLA, pers. comm.).'
(Taxon Notes to Crotalus scutulatus, SSAR Herpetological Circular no 39, published August 2012, John J. Moriarty, Editor.)
There are five subspecies of Salvadora hexalepis, with three occurring in California:
S. h. hexalepis - Desert Patch-nosed Snake,
S. h. mojavensis - Mohave Patch-nosed Snake,
S. h. virgultea - Coast Patch-nosed Snake,
S. h. klauberi - Baja California Patch-nosed Snake, and
S. h. deserticola - Big Bend Patch-nosed Snake,
which occurs in the Southwest, is recognized by some taxonomists as a unique species, Salvadora deserticola.
Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)
Salvadora hexalepis - Patch-nosed Snake (Phimothyra hexalepis; Salvadora grahamiae hexalepis; Zamenis grahami Salvadora grahamiae. Banded Flat-nosed Snake; Graham's Flat-nosed Snake) (Grinnell and Camp 1917)
Patchnose Snake
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| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None |
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| Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
Oppel, 1811 |
| Genus |
Salvadora |
Patch-nosed Snakes |
Baird and Girard, 1853 |
| Species |
hexalepis |
Western Patch-nosed Snake |
(Cope, 1866) |
Subspecies
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mojavensis |
Mohave Patch-nosed Snake |
Bogert, 1945 |
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Original Description |
Salvadora hexalepis - (Cope, "1866" 1867) - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 18, p. 304
Salvadora hexalepis mohavensis - Bogert, 1945 - Amer. Mus.
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Salvadora - Latin - salvus - whole, sound, well preserved and dura - hide or skin -- "body covered w/smooth scales"
hexalepis - Greek - hex - six and lepisma - scale - refers to the 6th supralabial reaching the eye in the holotype
mojavensis - Latin - belonging to the Mohave Desert - referring to habitat
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
S. h. hexalepis - Desert Patch-nosed Snake
S. h. virgultea - Coast Patch-nosed Snake
M. f. piceus - Red Racer
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More Information and References |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Hansen, Robert W. and Shedd, Jackson D. California Amphibians and Reptiles. (Princeton Field Guides.) Princeton University Press, 2025.
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.
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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.
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Status Listing |
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| NatureServe Global Ranking |
G5 |
The species is: Secure—Common; widespread and abundant. |
| NatureServe State Ranking |
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| IUCN |
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