Description: The western ground snake can grow to a total length (including tail) of 8 to 19 inches. The color and pattern can vary widely. Individuals can be brown, red, or orange, with black banding, orange or brown striping, or be solid-colored. The underside is typically white or gray. It has smooth dorsal scales, a small head, and the pupil of the eye is round.

Habitat: Inhabits areas with surface cover and some moisture: grassland, riverbottoms, desert flats, ranchland, sand hummocks, open rocky hillsides with loose soil, sandy washes, dry streambeds, and riparian thickets.

Range: S. semiannulata is native to the Southwestern United States, in Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon,[5] Texas, and Utah, as well as northern Mexico, in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, and Sonora.

Found in these States: AZ | CA | ID | NV | OR | UT

Diet: Eats small invertebrates, including spiders, scorpions, centipedes, crickets, and insect larvae.

Reproduction: Mating takes place in May and early June. Females are oviparous, laying eggs underground from late May to August. Females have been observed laying from 1 - 6 eggs. Incubation lasts about 60 days.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.