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Striped whipsnake

Coluber taeniatus · Snakes · Reptiles

Striped whipsnake (Coluber taeniatus): Slender snake 36-72 in (90-183 cm) with smooth scales in 15 rows at midbody and a divided anal plate. Dark brown, grey or blue above with three light grey-to-white stripes on each side; the side stripe is split by a broken or continuous dark band. 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
Coluber taeniatus
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Southeastern Washington and southern Idaho south through Oregon, eastern California, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and western and central Texas into northern Mexico; up to about 3,077 m.
Biology

How to identify it

Slender snake 36-72 in (90-183 cm) with smooth scales in 15 rows at midbody and a divided anal plate. [1][2]

Dark brown, grey or blue above with three light grey-to-white stripes on each side; the side stripe is split by a broken or continuous dark band. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Shrublands, arid grassland, sagebrush flats, canyons, pinyon-juniper and pine-oak woodland, and rocky stream courses; often near ponds and rivers. [1][2]

Eggs are laid in abandoned small-mammal burrows. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Fast, alert and diurnal; flees to rocks, rodent burrows or shrubs, but cornered individuals often stand their ground and strike. [1][2]

Active hunter using vision and scent, taking lizards, other snakes, amphibians, nestling birds and rodents; juveniles take insects. [1][2]

Active mainly April-October in Colorado and Utah; retreats underground or into crevices in cold weather; climbs (terrestrial and arboreal). [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

Southeastern Washington and southern Idaho south through Oregon, eastern California, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and western and central Texas into northern Mexico; up to about 3,077 m.

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