San Diego Gopher Snake

The San Diego gopher snake is a subspecies of gopher snake with one of the smallest distributions. It is found only in the southern portion of Southern California and down into Baja California. One of the characteristics of this subspecies is that the front dorsal blotches are black and all of the dorsal blotches are more or less connected to each other. The four foot snake below was caught in Redlands.

It is compared with a much smaller gopher snake next to it.

We have seen many gopher snakes over the years. The one below was actually captured by Judy while she and Rachael were driving somewhere one day. As you can see, Judy was quite proud of herself for capturing this large snake.

Gopher snakes are often mistaken for rattlesnakes because when threatened, they will often shake their tail, like a rattlesnake, and the blotches on their backs are fairly similar to some types of rattlesnake. We got a call from Julee Brice one Sunday afternoon saying she had a rattlesnake in her yard that was hissing at her. We went down to her home and found a large, mean gopher snake which we captured. Andrew and Sam hold the captured snake. Note, Andrew is carefully holding the head. Most gopher snakes I've found have been mellow, but this one was very mean.

The gopher snake below was caught by some boys at a Father's and Son's Outing at the Live Oak Canyon Tree Farm in Yucaipa. Note the spots on the belly.

The same snake, held by a different boy. Note the lack of black stripe between and behind the eyes (see the gopher snake in the Great Basin gopher snake blog).

By comparison, Andrew holds the gopher snake we captured at the Brice's, only about a mile away from the Tree Farm, and it lacks the significant under marking.

Gopher snakes are constrictors and love to curl around necks, arms and other objects. Below, Rachael with one around her neck.

I have one around my arm. The angle allows you to see the very significant difference in the circumference of the snake from the head to the mid-body.

The same snake, again revealing the lack of underside markings and lack of black lines between and behind the eyes.

We had a pet San Diego gopher snake for 7 years, named by Sam as "Snake Eyes." Sam and I found it in the gutter one November Sunday afternoon on our street. Below, the young Snake Eyes begins to eat a small mouse.

As Snake Eyes got older and larger, he graduated to rats. Below, Snake Eyes devours a rat.

The hind legs of the rat get ready to disappear into the snake.

Most gopher snakes make great pets. They are usually mellow, they eat well and they are fun because of their propensity to wrap around an arm or a neck.