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Forest sharp-tailed snake

Contia longicauda · Snakes · Reptiles

Forest sharp-tailed snake (Contia longicauda): Longer tail than the common sharp-tailed snake, with 43-58 subcaudal scales (C. tenuis has 24-42). 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.

Scientific name
Contia longicauda
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Outer Coast Ranges of northern California and southwestern Oregon, the Klamath Mountains, and parts of the southern Oregon Cascades; parapatric with C. tenuis in places. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Longer tail than the common sharp-tailed snake, with 43-58 subcaudal scales (C. tenuis has 24-42). [1][2]

Compared with the common sharp-tailed snake: Shorter tail with fewer subcaudal scales (24-42 versus 43-58). [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a forest sharp-tailed snake before you act. Compared with the common sharp-tailed snake: Shorter tail with fewer subcaudal scales (24-42 versus 43-58).[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Fairly mesic, well-shaded areas, typically mixed evergreen forest dominated by Douglas-fir and redwood, and woodland with mixed conifer and oak canopy. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Active mostly in the rainy season; retreats underground in the dry season and is sometimes found alive on roads at night. [1][2]

Diet is apparently restricted mainly to slugs; females lay a clutch of up to 9 eggs, probably in June or July. [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

Outer Coast Ranges of northern California and southwestern Oregon, the Klamath Mountains, and parts of the southern Oregon Cascades; parapatric with C. tenuis in places. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Wikipedia (used only as a secondary source for the subcaudal-scale difference) · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Wikipedia (used only as a secondary source for the subcaudal-scale difference)