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Coachwhip

Coluber flagellum · Snakes · Reptiles

Coachwhip (Coluber flagellum): One of the largest North American snakes, 91-259 cm snout-vent, with smooth scales and a slender, whip-like tail. Colour varies widely by region: dark brown front half with a red or pink belly midline (eastern), black bands broken by red bands (Sonoran), or pink, red, yellow and grey to black phases in the west. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Young coachwhip on sand
Adobe Stock · Standard License (asset 250749423)
Scientific name
Coluber flagellum
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern United States from North Carolina and Florida west through Kansas and southern Nebraska to Arizona and California (to San Francisco Bay), and north-central Mexico; not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

One of the largest North American snakes, 91-259 cm snout-vent, with smooth scales and a slender, whip-like tail. [1][2]

Colour varies widely by region: dark brown front half with a red or pink belly midline (eastern), black bands broken by red bands (Sonoran), or pink, red, yellow and grey to black phases in the west. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Dry, open terrain: desert, prairie, scrubland, juniper grassland, woodland, farmland, creek valleys and chaparral; terrestrial but climbs into vegetation. [1][2]

Takes cover in burrows, under rocks or in vegetation. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal and solitary; active mid-morning and late afternoon but, unlike most snakes, stays active at the hottest time of day (ambient about 33 C). [1][2]

Active hunter of lizards, other snakes, insects and birds and their eggs; hibernates in winter. [1][2]

Active April-October in the north and mid-March to late October in Texas. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southern United States from North Carolina and Florida west through Kansas and southern Nebraska to Arizona and California (to San Francisco Bay), and north-central Mexico; not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology