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Western shovel-nosed snake

Chionactis occipitalis · Snakes · Reptiles

Western shovel-nosed snake (Chionactis occipitalis): Small snake with a shovel-shaped snout and an inset lower jaw; smooth scales in 15 rows and a divided anal plate (USFWS description of the Tucson subspecies). Coral-snake-like banding: pale yellow to cream body with 21 or more black or brown saddle-like bands across the back, with orange-red saddles between (USFWS description of the Tucson subspecies; bands vary among forms). 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
Chionactis occipitalis
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Mojave, Sonoran and Colorado deserts of southern California, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona, Baja California and northwestern Sonora, below about 1,400 m in California.
Biology

How to identify it

Small snake with a shovel-shaped snout and an inset lower jaw; smooth scales in 15 rows and a divided anal plate (USFWS description of the Tucson subspecies). [1][2][3]

Coral-snake-like banding: pale yellow to cream body with 21 or more black or brown saddle-like bands across the back, with orange-red saddles between (USFWS description of the Tucson subspecies; bands vary among forms). [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Sparsely vegetated desert with fine, wind-blown sand: sandy flats, washes, dunes and scrub bases; less often rocky slopes. [1][2][3]

Uses sand and other animals' burrows for cover. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Burrows or 'swims' through fine sand; nocturnal and rarely seen on the surface by day, when it may lie coiled under a bush. [1][2][3]

Active most of the year in the south and in the warmer months in the north; inactive in cold and extreme heat. [1][2][3]

Eats insects, spiders, scorpions and centipedes; lays eggs underground in spring. [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

Mojave, Sonoran and Colorado deserts of southern California, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona, Baja California and northwestern Sonora, below about 1,400 m in California.

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. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service