Snakes in California

California has about 50+ species of snakes, and only 9 of them are venomous. Every one of those 9 is a rattlesnake. There are no copperheads and no cottonmouths anywhere in the far West, so in California a venomous snake means a rattlesnake, full stop. That single fact makes identification simpler than in the Southeast: if it is not a rattlesnake, it cannot deliver a medically serious bite, and the other 56 species are harmless to people.

California packs in more rattlesnake variety than almost any state because it spans so many landscapes. The Western Rattlesnake and its relatives range through the Coast Ranges, Sierra foothills, and oak woodlands. Down south, the Red Diamond Rattlesnake lives in the chaparral and rocky slopes of San Diego and Riverside counties, a heavy-bodied snake found almost nowhere else in the country. The deserts hold the specialists: the Mojave Rattlesnake of the high desert, the Sidewinder that throws itself across loose dune sand in its namesake J-shaped tracks, and the Southwestern Speckled, Speckled, and Panamint Rattlesnakes that blend into desert rock so well they vanish in plain sight. The Western Diamond-backed and Prairie Rattlesnakes round out the list along the state's southeastern and eastern edges.

The other snakes you meet are the harmless majority, and several are worth knowing. Gophersnakes are the great impersonators: when cornered they flatten their heads, hiss loudly, and buzz their tails against the ground to fake a rattlesnake, and they fool almost everyone, but they have no venom and no rattle. Kingsnakes are the rattlesnake's enemy, immune to its venom and known to hunt and eat it. Garter snakes haunt creeks and garden edges, racers streak across trails, nightsnakes prowl after dark, and the gentle rubber boa, a soft blunt-tailed burrower of the mountains and foothills, is one of the most docile snakes in North America.

Honest safety: nearly every serious snakebite in California is a rattlesnake bite, and the great majority happen when someone handles, corners, or tries to kill the snake, or reaches blindly into rock, brush, or woodpiles. Deaths are very rare thanks to antivenom and modern care. Watch where you put your hands and feet, give any rattlesnake room, and it will almost always leave. No wild snake is safe to handle, even a calm-looking one. If a bite happens, stay calm, keep the limb still, and call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or 911 right away.