Desert Nightsnake

Where they live

• View a map of where they live.
• Can be found in southern British Columbia, western United States, Texas, and some parts of Mexico.
• They can adapt to many environments, including rocky grassland areas, chaparral, woodlands, desert scrub, thorn scrub, and moist mountain meadows.
• They often hide under plant debris or rocks.

What they eat

• Lizards and frogs are the majority of the night snake’s diet.
• Salamanders, small snakes, and small mice can also be eaten.
• Like their name suggests, desert nightsnakes hunt during the night.
• They use their mild venom to help subdue prey.

Breeding

• Sometime between April and July, females search for rock crevices or abandoned mammal burrows to lay their eggs.
• They lay 3 to 9 eggs, which will hatch about 7 to 8 weeks later.

Cool Biology Facts

• Desert nightsnakes are often mistaken for looking like rattlesnakes. However, unlike rattlesnakes, night snakes do not have a rattle on the end of their tail and their venom is harmless to humans.
• A southwestern Idaho study found that female desert nightsnakes are 50% longer than males and have triple the body mass!

Threats

• Desert nightsnakes are considered “least concern” because they have large and stable populations in the vast majority of their range.
• View their status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.