Southwest Reptiles and Amphibians
Click on a picture for a larger view
Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer
Sonoran Gophersnake - Pituophis catenifer affinis
(Hallowell, 1852)
| Species Description |
Approximate Range of P. catenifer
Yellow = Range of P. c. affinis
Click map to enlarge and see other subspecies names.
 |
|||
| Adult, Cochise County, Arizona | |||
 |
|||
| Adult, Cochise County, Arizona | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Adult, Pima County, Arizona | Young Adult, Yavapai County, Arizona |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Adult, Cochise County, Arizona | Adult crossing the road defensively with elevated head and neck while hissing, Cochise County, Arizona | ||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Adult, Cochise County, Arizona | Adult, Yavapai County, Arizona | ||
 |
|||
| Large old adult, Pima County, Arizona | |||
| Habitat | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Habitat, Yavapai County, Arizona | Habitat, Pima County, Arizona. | Habitat, Mohawk Dunes, Yuma County, Arizona |
Habitat, Pima County, Arizona. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Habitat, Cochise County, Arizona | Habitat, Cochise County, Arizona | Habitat, Cochise County, Arizona | Habitat, Yavapai County, Arizona |
| Short Videos of Gophersnakes | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| A huge Sonoran Gophersnake puts on an impressive defensive display of hissing and blowing. | Gophersnakes in the wild often take a defensive stance when threatened; they hiss, rear up, and sometimes even strike at the threat in order to protect themselves from harm. In this video, a newly-hatched juvenile Sonoran Gopher Snake trying to cross a road at night is threatened by the bright light and the video camera stuck in its face so it hisses loudly and strikes at the camera before crawling away. | A Sonoran Gophersnakes crawls around in Imperial County, California. | A Sonoran Gophersnake races across a road just after sunset. |
 |
|||
| A distressed Pacific Gopher Snake 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. | |||
Southwest Reptiles & Amphibians
Return to the Top
© 2000 -