Gopher Snake

Description:

Gopher snake in defense pose. The Gopher snake is a non-venomous species. This individual was about two and a half feet in length.

Habitat:

Shrubby desert plains of the Organ Mountains in the Chihuahuan desert.

Notes:

This guy did not like having his photo taken. As soon I pulled out my camera he retracted into the typical defense pose and began to vibrate his tail and hiss very loudly. Gopher snakes' hisses are known to sound like the rattle of rattlesnakes and it can be very loud. I took a video in which you can hear the hiss but was not able to upload it. I felt bad this guy felt so agitated by my take photos but was happy to come across him nonetheless. On my drive out of these mountains I spotted a second gopher snake on side of the road and pulled over to take a look, unfortunately it was dead with a damaged tail.