Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is 3 examples of Sonoran Gophers, all are out of Arizona. One is from the extreme NW of the State, one from the SW, and one is from the East part of AZ. Took the best of the hurried shots. I want to hear opinions on where you think they are from and what they may be mixed with.

First-and my favorite.

Second-my 2 year old is in love with this snake.

Third-hit by the truck in front of my friend, blind in one eye. Eats like a champ.

third one east Az., note no presence of black, no mix.
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Todd Hughes

Sonorans are my personal favorite among all gophers - thanks for posting some pics. They seem way under-represented here. There is also some variation within specific localities. Here are two from Ajo in southwestern AZ...

Nice snakes there... really pretty. Look like bulls in a lot of ways but the heads have that gopher look to them.
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- Matt

1.0 Black Milk '04
1.0 Andean Milk '06
0.1 Eastern King '97
0.1 Bullsnake '09

Matt,

In older literature (1960s and earlier), Sonoran's were referred to as gopher bullsnakes. I have one of Hobart Smith's books (Snakes As Pets) published in 1965. There is a nice B/W photo of an adult (obviously Sonoran) that is captioned "the gopher bullsnake" (Pituophis melanoleucus affinis). The subspecies name (affinis) means "related to by marriage" (probably in reference to the bullsnake) and of all the gophers, only the Sonoran occupies range directly adjacent to that of the bullsnake. The contact/intergrade zone between the two snakes is quite long too extending from northern New Mexico, south through west TX into northeastern MX. The confusion among most people persists however. I hear the term "bullsnake" all the time here in south Arizona (even from biologists) when in fact, we are well removed from the nearest (actual) bullsnake population.

Sonoran's just don't get no respect! I suppose that if someone ever develops a monster line of golden/reds with purple or green blotches, Sonoran's would be off to the races. Never could understand why the basic locality Sonoran's are not more popular than they are. I will ALWAYS have at least one...

Jim

from western Pima County, AZ. Fortunately for me, they show up in my yard regularly during the spring and summer months...

It's good to see that female is doing good!

That second one looks like it may have some basin influence.

Nate

1st is from Eastern
2nd is from SW
and 3rd is from the NW.

I like the first one best also by color and patern, looks similar to a regular bullsnake... real nice contrast by tail and good defined blotches throughout.

Thanks for sharing

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- Matt

1.0 Black Milk '04
1.0 Andean Milk '06
0.1 Eastern King '97
0.1 Bullsnake '09

waiting on more opinions then I will post where they came from.

I,ve seen Sonoran's like the first one (top photo) over in Cochise County, so I'll go with east AZ for that one. As for the other two, Ive encountered those variants all over western AZ so lets say middle photo is NW (which for Sonoran's is about Kingman/ Bullhead City) and bottom photo is from SW...

I have to agree with PitFan....... It is a variable ssp. across its range but if forced to assign localities I would do it in that order for the same reason! alright, how did we do?????

Also, as noted earlier sonoran gophers have been assigned a variety of taxonomic positions including Pituophis sayi afinis as a ssp of P. sayi. I had always heard that the origin of affinis related to this group's "affinity" or likeness to sayi, (as noted in Sweet's paper for SSAR).

I am one of those biologists who calls them bullsnakes... when I am talking with a lay audience. For a majority of folks if I talked about a Sonoran Gopher snake they would not have a clue what I was talking about but when I say "bullsnake".... I tend to get, "Oh, Yeah! I know what that is". I generally try to impart that bull snake is a term more appropriately used to describe another snake but generally eyes start to glaze over at that point.... Hard to retrain what folks have already learned..... somewhat of a lost cause.

I feel fortunate to get the opportunity to see wild individuals with a fair bit of regularity.... Very underrated group.

When i first moved out here I recall finding a big male while hiking. He was stretched out for a bit of thermoregulation. I reached down and picked him up and he turned, gave me a rather quick bite and then looked up at my face... I got a laugh out of it....

Thanks for the great post!

1. SW 2. NW 3 SE, final answer.
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Todd Hughes

Pit fan, Ginter, if I had a prize you would win it. The first snake is from the middle east of Arizona. My personal opinion is that this snake is a very fair example of sayi/affinis, This cross near Texas has to be one of my favorites.

The second snake was caught near a highway, near the extreme North west of Arizona. I agree with Nate or Tokaysrnice and think this snake would be an example of affinis/deserticola.

The third snake was caught in the Southern part of the state, I think this is what a normal Pituophis catenifer affinis looks like. All three of these snakes are the calmest in my collection.

So, first is East, second is NW and third is SW. Thanks for playing.

Thanks for the post! Good to make us stop and think (work) for the answers now and again. Now if we could solicit some monster Sonoran pics from those who may have them. I know of two very reputable reports from the field of Sonoran's approaching 8 feet. One is from a riparian area up on the Mogollon Rim and the other is from Cochise County. Lingering influence from relatedness or ancestry with sayi perhaps. Six footers are not uncommon among those who have had individuals for a long time. Wish we could get some good Sonoran pics here every now and then...

Jim

Those would be some monsters, my favorites are the sayi/affinis intergrades. The colors on some of the these snakes is crazy, hard to capture in a picture.

I will be moving East soon and missing out on the SW field herping. Still plan on making trips back for a week or two at a time, but I am missing the desert already.

You will enjoy the Elaphe there!. obsoleta is very wide ranging and is the common large snake in many areas. Biters too but they quickly settle. Never will forget that smell though. As for the Pituophis, very widely scattered unfortunately. Absent from many more locales than present. Good hunting...