Coachwhip

Authored By: Wilson

Masticophis flagellum
Coachwhip

COWP

Status

The Coachwhip Snake is uncommon throughout the Piedmont but becomes common throughout much of the Coastal Plain. Alabama state lists this species.

Description

The Coachwhip is a large (106–259 cm), slender snake with a long, thin, whip-like tail. Usually the front third of the snake is dark brown or black with the posterior portion of the body light brown. Some may be all black while others, particularly in the sandhills, are all light brown. Young specimens have a pattern of dark saddles or blotches which fade towards the tail. Seven subspecies have been described, but only flagellum occurs in the southeast.

Distribution

Masticophis flagellum is found from southeastern North Carolina to southern Florida west to Nebraska, and eastern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, southwestern Utah, and Nevada and southern California, and southward into Mexico. An isolated record exists in south-central Kentucky. It is apparently absent from a large portion of the lower Mississippi River Valley. The eastern subspecies, Masticophis f. flagellum, is found as far west as eastern Nebraska and eastern Texas.

Habitat

The Coachwhip inhabits dry high pine, grasslands, prairies, cut-over pines, dry oak ridges, broomsedge fields, pine flatwoods, and palmetto flatwoods. They are often found in open areas near thick shrubs or gopher tortoise burrows. It is an excellent climber and has been found high in pine trees after bird eggs.

Special Requirements

It requires open grasslands and thick clumps or areas of vegetation to provide a retreat.

Breeding Habits

Mating occurs in early spring and eggs are laid from early June to early August. Clutch size averages twelve eggs but ranges from four to twenty-four.

Food Habits

Prey items include insects, lizards, snakes, hatchling turtles, birds, bird eggs, rodents, bats, and shrews.

Management Suggestions

Gopher Tortoise burrows provide shelter to many small animals (Masticophis flagellum, Crotalus adamanteus, and Pituophis melanoleucus). For this reason, gassing of burrows should be prohibited. Selective cutting, prescribed burning, and, in some situations, clearcutting are necessary to retain the open, grassy nature of the sand ridges. Heavy site preparation, such as root-raking/windrowing, is not advised. These practices do not directly impact the Coachwhip but are destructive to the soil nutrients of poor sandy soils.