Description: Adults are 26 to 70 inches in length. Average length is 3 to 4 feet. A medium-sized muscular snake with smooth, glossy scales, a faded or bleached-out appearance, and a short tail. Generally darker than other California Glossy snake subspecies - a tan or light brown ground color with dark brown blotches with dark edges on the back and sides and a pale, unmarked underside. An average of 63 narrow blotches on body.

Habitat: Inhabits arid scrub, rocky washes, grasslands, chaparral. Appears to prefer microhabitats of open areas and areas with soil loose enough for easy burrowing.

Range: California Glossy Snake, occurs from the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area south to northwestern Baja California. It is absent along the central coast. There are also old reports of this snake from the Santa Monica Mountains.

Found in these States: CA

Diet: Preys mostly on sleeping diurnal lizards, but also eats small snakes, terrestrial birds, and nocturnally-active mammals. Hunts active mammals at night by waiting in ambush. Kills prey by direct swallowing or constriction.

Reproduction: Females are oviparous - laying from 3 to 23 eggs (more often 5 to 12) in June and July. Eggs most likely hatch in late summer and early fall. (Probably late September and October.)

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the large and probably relatively stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. This species is not threatened in most of its range.

Taxonomy: