Description: This 18” long snake is immune to the venom of pit vipers. Red saddles are edged with black bands that are widest dorsally but that may not cross the belly. Black pigment may infiltrate the red bands or even divide them dorsally. Red may be duller than that on the nearby New Mexican milk snake. Ground color grayish white. Black nose or white with black in the medial sutures. White nose flecked with black. Smooth scales. The snout may be all black or mostly white with dark scale seam. Hatchlings similar to adults. Very secretive. Occasionally surface active on warm rainy nights, especially during the spring breeding season. Use range as an identifier.

Habitat: The Great Basin south of Great Salt Lake. This is an uncommon snake that has been found in habitats as diverse as open gravel pits to open moist woodland.

Range: it can be found in Arizona, Mexico, virgin mountains, Utah as well as Nevada.

Found in these States: AZ | NV | UT

Diet: Primarliy lizards and small rodents, they are opportunistic feeders and will probably take nestling birds as well.

Reproduction: Oviparous. This snake species breeds during summer season to enhance survival of hatchlings. Females lay an average of three to six eggs per cycle. Hatchlings size range from eight to 11 inches. During winter, reproduction activity is low because hatchlings cannot survive in the cold winter temperatures.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the relatively large extent of occurrence and large number of locations, and because the species is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. This species faces no known major threats in most of its range.

Taxonomy: