General Description: A shiny snake with a striking pattern of black and white bands that encircle the body.

Taxonomy: Colubrid Snakes Family (Colubridae). Formerly considered a subspecies of the Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula).

Technical Description: A medium sized (2-5 ft) snake with a striking pattern of black and white bands (may be brown and yellowish) that encircle the body. The scales are smooth and shiny.

Diet: Feeds on snakes, lizards, small mammals, birds, bird eggs, and frogs. Can kill and eat rattlesnakes.

Habitat: Wide ranging, most commonly found in Mojave desert scrub (Upper Sonoran Life Zone) and salt desert habitats in the vicinity of rock outcrops or clumps of vegetation up to 7,000 ft in elevation.

Range: This species occurs from California and southwestern Oregon, east to southern Utah and southwestern Colorado, and south into Mexico.

Breeding: A clutch of 2-24 eggs is laid during summer.

Similar Species: This is the only black-and-white banded snake in southern Nevada; other species of banded snakes also have red bands, or the bands do not encircle the entire body.

Comments: Active in the morning and evening; may be nocturnal during the heat of summer.