Description: A striking snake (adults 2.5 - to just under 4 ft) with alternating ringed pattern of white, red and black. Belly ringed or checkerboard pattern. Head wide mostly white with black headcap. Scales are smooth.

Habitat: A mountain dweller of rocky talus slopes near stream and intermittent stream courses in Pinon, Oak, Juniper, Ponderosa, Spruce and Fir forests from 3,000 to 9,000 ft.

Range: It lives mostly on the mountains of its relatively small Sonoran Desert region, in Sonora, Mexico.

Found in these States: AZ | NM

Diet: Adults eat small rodents, frogs and lizards. Young will only eat small lizards.

Reproduction: Mates in early spring lays a clutch of 3-10 eggs in July or August.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the relatively large extent of occurrence, and because the species is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for any of the threatened categories.

Taxonomy: