Ground Snake

(Sonora semiannulata)

Color Photograph: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Color Photograph: Jeff Servoss, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Color Photograph: Copyright by and courtesy of Jack Goldfarb

Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata)

Identification: Snake 8 to 19 inches in length. A small, extremely variable snake with shiny scales. Coloration may be tan, brown, gray, to orange. Markings may be absent, or include a large number of black bands on an orange background with nearly every possible intermediate condition. Despite the bewildering variation each scale usually has a dark blotch at the front end of each scale. Scales smooth and anal plate divided.

Geographical Variation: None

Range (see map below): Primarily a species of the southwestern United States. In the east this species occurs throughout most of Texas except for the eastern part of the state. It extends northward throughout Oklahoma into southern Kansas. The range extends westward through southern New Mexico and Arizona and then reaches northward through western Arizona, Nevada into southwestern Idaho. The species also occurs in northern Mexico.

Habitat: The Ground Snake occurs in a wide variety of western habitats, although apparently preferring dry areas with loose, sandy soils. For example it is found in mesquite thickets, dry prairie, along river banks, and even into vacant lots.

Food: Insects, scorpions, spiders, and centipedes.

Behavior: The Ground Snake is a burrower and nocturnal. This species belongs to the grouping of "colubrid" genera with rear poisonous fangs, but is not dangerous to humans.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 4 to 6 eggs lain between June and August. Adults mate during the spring.

Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata)

Similar Species:

Other banded, western snakes, for example:

Western Shovel-nosed Snake (Chionactis occipitalis)

Southwestern species of the genus Tantilla