Gopher Snake

Genus Pituophis

Reptile

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing gopher snakes. Gopher snakes are also known as bull snakes and pinesnakes and there are six classified species in the gopher snake genus. These snakes are found throughout North America and parts of Central America. The “gopher” part of their name comes from what they eat! Gopher snakes eat gophers as well as other rodents, birds, bird eggs, and lizards. The name “gopher” could also be in reference to these snakes spending a large majority of their time underground in burrows.

Gopher snakes are generalists when it comes to where they live meaning they live in a variety of habitats from deserts, grasslands, forests, mountainous regions, and agricultural fields. Gopher snakes are known to be homebodies. In areas where gopher snakes have been released, the same snakes have been recaptured years later just 500 feet (150m) from their release site! Gopher snakes are mostly solitary, though during the winter they may hibernate in large groups which can include other hibernating snakes like kingsnakes.

Gopher snakes average about four feet (122cm) in length but can more than double this at maximum size. These snakes are colored in ways that help hide them from predators. Predators to gopher snakes include skunks, raccoons, foxes, hawks, coyotes and more. They’re also at risk of being run over by cars while they soak up the sun in the middle of roadways; there are even reports of gopher snakes developing skin cancer from all the sunbathing they do! If their camouflage fails, they rely on mimicry.

Gopher snakes look and act like rattlesnakes when threatened. They hiss, and they can do this loudly as their windpipes have a special cartilaginous structure which amplifies their hissing. Snakes hiss through their glottis, it looks like this and helps them breathe while eating. Gopher snakes will also flatten their heads and even rattle their tails in order to mimic a rattlesnake! This may ward off a potential predator, though, unfortunately, many humans actually believe the mimic and take them for rattlesnakes. Gopher snakes are often killed because of this misunderstanding.

Gopher snakes are non-venomous; they dispatch their prey through constriction which halts the prey’s circulatory system. One way to tell a gopher snake apart from a rattlesnake is to check their eyes, gopher snakes have relatively large eyes with round pupils while rattlesnakes have Chester-like eyes - BUT REMEMBER! This is not an end all way to differentiate venomous snakes from non-venomous ones - the taipan, one of the world’s deadliest snakes, has round pupils!

When gopher snakes do get together it's for breeding. Males may fight with one another to show dominance to females, and they’ll mate with as many partners as they can. The females lay one to two clutches or two to 24 eggs per season. These are laid in burrows or under rocks or logs. Some nests are solitary but others are communal and shared among conspecifics, or members of the same species. The eggs incubate for just over two months before the young snakes hatch. In the wild, gopher snakes live to be about 15 years old.

For more facts on gopher snakes, check out the links in the description. Thank you to sebastian for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!