Gopher snakes

In Oregon, we saw a variety of wildlife, but one type in particular that my brother and I were fascinated with were the reptiles. One species of reptile we encountered often were gopher snakes.

Gopher snakes are found over a large range of the United States, but they are very common on the West Coast, and they were most common type of snake we came across (followed by racers, garter snakes, rattlers, and a single kingsnake). With their appearance, they are brown, with black spots up and down their bodies, and rough hexagon-shaped patterns down their backs. The largest we ever came across was over three-feet in length, though I have heard they can grow to be longer. I have caught and held gopher snakes before. They are also non-venomous.

Besides gopher snakes being extremely common, the thing we found most interesting about them was their behavior. Most of the gopher snakes we encountered were highly defensive and angry when we tried to pick them up, which it's only natural for them to do, and they were the angriest snakes in our experience. One of their tactics was to coil up and assume  the "strike" position, and then shake their tail rapidly...simulating the rattle of a rattlesnake (and sadly many people have confused gopher snakes with rattlers when they've done this). The other thing they did when wanting to get away from us as fast as they could was to slither in a rapid sidewinding-like motion: they couldn't do it as well as the sidewinding rattlesnakes, but it was effective. I did not observe any other type of snake do this, not even the racers.

On the flip side, the friendliest snakes we came across were also the gopher snakes. Most gopher snakes objected to being picked up, but there were a few who didn't mind it at all, and we could get away with holding them for long periods without the snake getting annoyed. While the angry gopher snakes would wrap themselves around our arms and constrict defensively when we held them, the docile ones wrapped themselves too, but when they constricted, it was a much softer feeling. They never hissed, bit, nor were they in any hurry to get away while we were holding them or when we put them down. I suppose it's fortunate for those snakes that we thought snakes were great and didn't want to hurt them in any way.

The picture below is of a "docile" gopher snake that wrapped itself around my arm. I was originally holding it with two hands, but didn't need to when it wrapped itself into a comfortable position on me. I wasn't hurting it, and it was quite happy being picked up! It was also the last snake I caught before we left.

Finally, I'd like to add that while my brother and I learned to handle snakes on our own, I strongly recommend others seek advice and do their research before even looking for snakes, let along holding them: the intent of this post was to teach about gopher snakes, not to encourage picking them up. We did indeed pick up defensive snakes, but later on we did learn that it was best to leave them alone. They are animals that live in the wild, not toys or pets, and you don't want to cause either them or yourself any harm.