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Smith's black-headed snake

Tantilla hobartsmithi · Snakes · Reptiles

Smith's black-headed snake (Tantilla hobartsmithi): Small, slender snake, uniformly brown above with a black head and a cream or white collar. Belly has a broad reddish stripe down the centre of the ventral scales. 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
Tantilla hobartsmithi
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Discontinuous from southern California, southern Nevada, Utah and west-central Colorado south to Arizona, southern New Mexico and Texas, and into northern Mexico. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Small, slender snake, uniformly brown above with a black head and a cream or white collar. [1][2][3]

Belly has a broad reddish stripe down the centre of the ventral scales. [1][2][3]

Secretive, semi-fossorial: usually seen only under cover or moving at night. [1][2][3]

Compared with the western black-headed snake (tantilla planiceps): Visually similar; separated mainly by range, as T. planiceps is now the California and Baja California species while populations east of California belong to T. hobartsmithi. [1][2][3]

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 smith's black-headed snake before you act. Compared with the western black-headed snake (tantilla planiceps): Visually similar; separated mainly by range, as T. planiceps is now the California and Baja California species while populations east of California belong to T. hobartsmithi.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Pinyon-juniper, chaparral-woodland, riparian woodland, mesquite-yucca grassland, sagebrush-greasewood and other arid scrub with friable sandy or organic soil and surface debris; prefers moist niches in arid country. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive and difficult to detect except under specific temperature, moisture and time conditions; found under loose boards, logs, wood, rocks and fallen shrubs. [1][2][3]

Probably nocturnal; active about April to October in the north and from early March in Texas. [1][2][3]

Eats insect larvae (beetles, caterpillars), centipedes and millipedes. [1][2][3]

Known clutches have held a single large egg, laid June-August. [1][2][3]

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

Discontinuous from southern California, southern Nevada, Utah and west-central Colorado south to Arizona, southern New Mexico and Texas, and into northern 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. California Department of Fish and Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30

    California Department of Fish and Wildlife

  3. Wikipedia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Wikipedia