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Western groundsnake

Sonora semiannulata · Snakes · Reptiles

Western groundsnake (Sonora semiannulata): Small snake, total length about 8-19 in (20-48 cm), with smooth dorsal scales, a small head and a round pupil. Colour and pattern vary widely even within one area: brown, red or orange with black banding, orange or brown striping, or solid-coloured. 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
Sonora semiannulata
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Southwestern United States and northern Mexico: southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, eastern California, western Nevada, southwestern Utah, western and southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and extreme western Texas. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Small snake, total length about 8-19 in (20-48 cm), with smooth dorsal scales, a small head and a round pupil. [1][2][3]

Colour and pattern vary widely even within one area: brown, red or orange with black banding, orange or brown striping, or solid-coloured. [1][2][3]

Underside is typically white or gray. [1][2][3]

The head marking is said to suggest a bishop's miter, the origin of the name 'miter snake'. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Arid and semiarid country: river bottoms, desert flats, sand hummocks and rocky hillsides with pockets of loose soil, from prairie and desert lowlands to pinyon-juniper and oak-pine zones; in California it favours areas with fine wind-blown sand, up to about 1,400 m. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive and mostly nocturnal, sometimes abroad at dusk; often found on roadsides or in dry drainage ditches at night. [1][2][3]

Active from spring to late summer; active as early as mid-March in west Texas. [1][2][3]

Eats spiders, scorpions, centipedes, crickets, grasshoppers and insect larvae. [1][2][3]

Shelters under rocks and other cover or burrows in fine windblown sand at the base of bushes or grass hummocks; lays 3-6 eggs, usually June-July. [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

Southwestern United States and northern Mexico: southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, eastern California, western Nevada, southwestern Utah, western and southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and extreme western Texas. 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