Description: Adults are 36 to 66 inches long. The only longer snake in California is the Gophersnake. Hatchlings are about 13 inches long. A slender fast-moving snake with smooth scales, a large head, somewhat forward-facing eyes with round pupils, a thin neck, and a long thin tail. (There is no well-defined stripe lengthwise on the body in this species.) Large scales above the eyes. 17 rows of scales at midbody. The braided appearance of scales on the tail (like a whip) gives this species its common name.
Color is variable; light brown, pink or reddish above. The dark coloring is interspersed with light coloring creating a banded or saddled appearance, with dark coloring surrounding the light scales. Dark (often black) blotches across the top of the neck, sometimes with white, sometimes with body color, inbetween.
(Sometimes the neck and much of the head are solid black.) Color typically changes to a solid tan or reddish coloring along the length of the long thin tail.
Black and yellow phases of this subspecies are found outside of California. Young have blotches or crossbands with dark brown or black on a light brown or tan background. Black markings on the neck may be faint or not present.
Habitat: Inhabits open areas of desert, grassland, scrub, and sagebrush, including rocky, sandy, flat, and hilly ground. Avoids dense vegetation where it cannot move quickly, but will climb trees. Takes refuge in rodent burrows, under shaded vegetation, and under surface objects.
Range: This subspecies is found throughout southern California from Ventura county to the Baja California border and north around the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains though the Great Basin desert into northwestern Nevada, and south through Nevada and much of Arizona to part of Sonora and Baja California. It apparently intergrades with M. f. ruddocki in eastern Kem County. It is missing from much of the urbanized coastal portion of Los Angeles County due to land development.
Diet: Eats small mammals including bats, nestling and adult birds, bird eggs, lizards, snakes, amphibians, and carrion. Hatchlings and juveniles will eat large invertebrates
Reproduction: Presumably mates in May. Females are oviparous laying a clutch of 4 to 20 eggs in early Summer (June to July). Eggs hatch in 45 to 70 days.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its extremely wide distribution, presumed large population, no major threats, and because its population is not currently in decline.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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