Mainly diurnal, these cold-blooded snakes often change their activity patterns to become nocturnal during the intense heat of desert summers. They may be observed sunning on the rocks or drawing heat from the pavement during the day to ready themselves for active nights.
Though predators themselves, non-venomous gopher snakes may become prey to Red-tailed Hawks, Kit Foxes or Coyotes. Alerted to danger, the snake coils up, vibrates its tail and hisses a warning (Pituophis means "phlegm serpent" in reference to this loud hiss).
The hiss is produced by use of an organ in the mouth called the glottis. The glottis opens and closes rapidly, giving a fair imitation of the rattle of a rattlesnake. The Gopher snake can also spread and flatten its head, thereby resembling a rattler even more. An unsure predator mistakes this behavior and the somewhat triangular head of the Gopher snake for a rattlesnake and backs off from its pursuit."
The combat "dance" between male gopher snakes, which may last up to an hour, has been mistaken for a courtship display between males and females. Head rearing, hissing, intertwining like Grecian wrestlers, and slithering along the ground with upraised heads, the combatants focus on the task at hand, oblivious even to human onlookers.
Six weeks after mating, females lay a clutch of eggs with 2 to 24 eggs each. Hatchlings emerge fully developed within 10 weeks, and are large enough to eat small mice. Gopher snakes in the wild reach maturity in 3 to 4 years.
Although experts differ on classifications, there are 3 North American species listed for the Pituophis genus -- catenifer, deppei, melanoleucus -- with numerous subspecies, 5 in California alone.
One sources refers to Pituophis
catenifer affinis as the Sonoran Gopher Snake and Pituophis
catenifer deserticola as the Great Basin Gopher Snake.
Other subspecies of this genus are variously called pine snakes
or bull snakes.