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Red Racer (Coluber flagellum piceus)
Coachwhip (Coluber flagellum)
Snakes Around Las Vegas, Wildlife Around Las Vegas
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)

General Description: A long, thin, red snake without distinct dorsal marks; head and neck often with black marks.

Taxonomy: Colubrid Snakes Family (Colubridae). Formerly Masticophis flagellum.

Technical Description: Body long and thin, to 8.5 ft. Eyes large. Scales smooth. Dorsal color usually reddish or pink, grading to tan towards the tail. Head darker; neck black or with black bars. Anal scale divided. No dorsal marks. Scale pattern resembles a braided whip, hence the name. Wedged lower preocular. Scales in 17 rows at midbody.

Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Note the red body with a black head and neck

Diet: Eats lizards, small mammals, birds, bird eggs, and insects. Sometimes bobs head like a lizard to attract lizards into the strike zone.

Habitat: Creosote-Bursage Flats, Mojave Desert Scrub, Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands, farm fields, and grasslands with scattered brush and rocky areas to about 8,000 ft. Prefers open areas.

Range: Southern California, southern Nevada, southern Arizona, east; south into Mexico. This subspecies occurs in southern California, southern Nevada, southern Arizona.

Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Coachwhips are big-eyed visual predators

Breeding: Clutch of 4 to 20 eggs laid during summer.

Similar Species: There are no other long, thin, red snakes without dorsal marks in southern Nevada.

Comments: Diurnal. Very fast.

Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum) Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Tasting the air with its forked tongue
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Young Coachwhip
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
A 5-ft red snake can blend into background and disappear
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
This 5-ft red snake is a little easier to see
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum) Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Red Racer (Coluber flagellum piceus)
Red Racer in southwestern Gold Butte NM
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Soon after I took this photo, this snake raced off into the desert
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum) Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Big-eyed visual predator
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Flicking its tongue
Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum)
Scale pattern resembles a braided, rawhide coach whip
Red Racer (Coluber flagellum piceus)
Red Racer shed

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
copyright; Last updated 221207

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