Description: Adults are 26-70 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. A light cream ground color with pale olive-brown blotches on the back and sides and a pale, unmarked underside. Generally paler than other California Glossy snake subspecies. An average of 68 narrow blotches on body.

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

Range: This subspecies, Arizona elegans eburnata - Desert Glossy Snake, occurs from southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and extreme southwest Utah south through eastern California into northeastern Baja California.

Found in these States: AZ | CA | NM | NV | UT

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.

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: