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Rasor Road |
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Rasor Ranch |
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Red
Racer or Whip Snake
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This is the most commonly viewed snake within Mojave
Desert. It can be seen on many of the roads sunning
itself in the early to late morning hours. It is the
fastest snake in the desert moving at up to 7mph and
can reach up to 6 feet long with a slender, whiplike
body. Coloration may vary from gray and tan to pink
with black crossbars always present on the neck. A
the snake gets older it begins to take on a more
distinct reddish appearance. It’s diet consist of
lizards, small snakes, mice and birds. It is very
mean tempered and should not be handled. Although
not poisonous its bite can tear the flesh and should
be avoided.
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Description |
| Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless
to humans. Additional notes: A
fast moving diurnal snake that is difficult to capture.
Bites, excretes musk and twists body when handled. Large
individuals should be handled with caution. |
| Size |
| Adults of this
species are 36 - 102 inches long (91 - 260 cm.)
Hatchlings are about 13 inches long. |
| Appearance |
A slender fast-moving
snake with smooth scales, a large head and eyes, and
a thin neck. Large scales above eyes. 17 scale rows
at mid body. Coloration is variable; light brown,
pink or reddish above with pink, brown, or black
bands across the neck. Black and yellow phases of
this
subspecies are found outside of California. The dark
coloring is interspersed with light coloring
creating a banded or saddled appearance, with dark
coloring surrounding the light scales. Color
typically changes to a solid tan or reddish coloring
along the length of the long thin tail. The braided
appearance of
scales on the tail (like a whip) gives this
snake its common name. |
| Behavior |
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Active
in the daytime. Hunts crawling with head the held
high above the ground, occasionally moving it from
side to side. The prey is overcome and crushed with
the jaws or beneath loops of the body and eaten
without constriction. Often strikes agressively when
threatened or handled. Good climbers, able to climb
bushes and trees. Seen moving quickly even on hot
sunny days, but often seen basking on roads in early
morning or resting underneath boards or other
surface
objects. Frequently run over by vehicles and found
dead on the road, partly due to the tendency of this
snake to stop and eat road-killed small animals. |
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Diet |
| Eats
small mammals including bats, nestling and adult
birds, bird eggs, lizards, snakes, amphibians, and
carrion. Hatchlings and juveniles will eat large
invertebrates. |
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Reproduction |
| Lays
eggs in early summer. Eggs hatch in 45 - 70 days.
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Range |
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Ranges
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 norhwestern Nevada, and
south through nevada and much of Arizona to part of
Sonora and Baja California. Apparently intergrades
with M. f. rudocki in eastern Kem County. |
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Habitat |
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Inhabits open areas of desert, grassland, scrub, and
sagebrush, including rocky, sandy, flat, and hilly
ground. Avoids dense vegetation. Takes refuge in
rodent burrows, under shaded vegetation, and under
surface objects. |
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