Pacific Gopher Snake

Where they live

• View a map of where they live.
• Ranging throughout the United States, southern Canada, and Mexico, the Pacific gopher snake is one of the most widespread snake species in North America.
• Can adapt to a wide variety of habitats as well, including deserts, prairies, brushlands, woodlands, coniferous forests, and even land altered for agriculture.

What they eat

• Rats, mice, moles, and other small mammals form the majority of the pine snake’s diet.
• Can also feed on birds and their eggs.

Breeding

• Sometime between June and August, several females will lay their eggs in the same communal nest spot, which is in a sandy burrow, under a large rock, or under a log.
• The eggs will hatch after around 64 to 79 days.

Cool Biology Facts

• Pacific gopher snake eggs are some of the largest eggs of any snake found in the United States; they can be up to 66 millimeters long and 45 millimeters wide!
• Young Pacific gopher snakes are already 13 to 17 inches long when they first hatch!

Threats

• Even though Pacific gopher snakes are internationally considered “least concern”, some states in the northeastern United States consider them “threatened” and have laws protecting them.
• The main threat in these states for Pacific gopher snakes is habitat quality reduction due to suppressed fire.
• View their status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.