Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Gopher Snake
Getting its name from its primary source of dietary nutrition, the gopher snake is a nonvenomous constrictor snake with a wide range and a high level of adaptability. These interesting snakes are sometimes mistaken for the widely feared rattlesnake thanks to a similar appearance and its noise making mechanism located in the tail used as a defense mechanism.
Features
Often called the bull or pine snake, the gopher snake is also known its genus name Pituophis Melanoleucus. This snake is often thought of as venomous mostly because of its loud hissing, which is considerably louder than other snakes in North America because of a tiny filament located in its mouth. But when this snake hisses, it doesn’t mean it’s angry but instead just feeling threatened, usually by humans.
Its rather noticeable hissing is one of the most common ways of identifying the snake along with its physical appearance. Gopher snakes feature a narrow, pointed head, and are tan or light gray in color with large, brown or black rectangular or saddle-shaped markings running along its back.
When the snake feels threatened, its already narrow head becomes flattened resembling the triangular shaped heads of the rattlesnake. The snakes also feature dark lines between the eyes and usually another stripe running from the side of the eye down to the jaw.
The average length of this particular snake is four and a half to five feet (1.4 – 1.5 meters) with some of the species as small as two and a half feet while others may grow as long as nine feet.
Behavior
A member of the Colubridae Family, these snakes are primarily diurnal and remain active during the daylight hours except during the hottest months when they increase their activity levels in the cooler evening and night time hours.
Able to easily propel itself forward thanks to the many scales running the width of their bodies, gopher snakes can move slowly but expertly throughout the terrain. These snakes are also able to climb trees in search of their prey.
In addition to gophers, this snake feeds on other small rodents, rabbits, birds, bird eggs, and frogs. Constricting its prey until suffocated, the snake then swallows its dinner whole often times taking as long as a full week to completely digest a meal.
Although impressive predators in their own right, these snakes may often become prey themselves to coyotes, kit foxes, and red tailed hawks.
Range
The far reaching range of the gopher snake is rather impressive as it is one of the most widespread in all of North America and found quite often in the southwest. Spanning both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, this snake can be found as far north as southern Canada and as far south as central Mexico where it is usually known as a “vibora sorda”.
Habitat
The gopher snake is a rather versatile reptile with the ability to adapt to a variety of different environments. The snake can often be found along roadsides and trails throughout woodlands, prairies, coastal dunes, and even in cultivated lands.
Grasslands and farms are where most of these snakes are found. However, they are not uncommon in mountains, deserts, and forests where they play an important role keeping the delicate balance of the ecosystems in the various regions they frequent.
Life Cycle
Mating season for the snakes begins in late spring. The males of the species fight one another for dominance and the right to mate with females in a ritualistic combat “dance.” Completely intertwined from head to tail, the male snakes rarely bite one another but each hisses loudly and tries to maintain domination over the other.
After mating, the female snakes will start laying their creamy white colored eggs approximately six weeks later during the summer months. The female snake may lay anywhere from three to 24 eggs at a time underneath rocks or in sandy soil. Eight to ten weeks later, anytime from August to October, the hatchlings make their debut and are born totally self sufficient able to consume small rodents.
The snake’s hatchlings can measure more than 20 inches in length but are most often about 12 to 18 inches long. A mere year later and the young hatchlings will have grown at least another two feet.
Hibernation for these snakes begins during the winter where they settle down in their communal dens for protection from cold and predators.
In the wild, the ever versatile gopher snake reaches its full maturity in about three to four years.