Narrow-headed Gartersnake

Narrow-headed gartersnake Thamnophis rufipunctatus

Range:

Historical: Perennial drainages across the Mogollon Rim from northern and eastern Arizona, southeast into southwestern New Mexico

Current: central Arizona east into western New Mexico.

Habitat:

Clear, rocky streams at elevations from 701–2,438 m (2,300–8,000 ft) with abundant vegetation

Size:

Small to medium sized with a maximum total length of 112 cm (44 in). Females are larger than males.

Young:

Typically 4–20 neonates are born at a time, although numbers vary.

Gestation:

Unknown. This species is ovoviviparous, meaning eggs develop and hatch within the oviduct of the female and are born live.

Diet (wild):

Specialize on fish, including Sonora and desert suckers, trout, speckled dace, and roundtail, headwater and Gila chub.

Life span:

Unknown in the wild; up to ten years or more in human care.

Conservation status:

Listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act in 2014

Threats:

Competition with and/or predation by harmful non-native species (esp. non-native predatory fishes; also bullfrogs, crayfish) and loss or degradation of habitat, negative effects of wildfires in their range.

Appearance:

The narrow-headed gartersnake is named for its unusually elongated head. It lacks the striping on its back that is common to many other gartersnake species. Base color is usually tan or grey-brown with conspicuous brown, black, or reddish spots. This species has a long, prehensile tail.

Predators:

Raptors and other predatory birds, non-native predatory fish, other snakes, bullfrogs, crayfish, raccoons

Locomotion:

These snakes are aquatic ambush predators. They are agile swimmers and will use their prehensile tails to latch onto objects to aid in hunting.

Activity:

Diurnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and/or dusk) Did you know? These snakes are semi-aquatic, non-venomous and tolerant of the cold. In the winter, they undergo brumation, which is a period of dormancy in reptiles, similar to hibernation.

At the Phoenix Zoo:

In 2007, a small group of narrow-headed gartersnakes were brought into the Johnson Conservation Center at the Zoo so we could learn more about their care and management. Wildlife biologists were seeing worrisome declines in the wild, and asked Zoo conservation scientists to help gather information about their life history and reproductive biology with the hopes that we might eventually produce offspring to augment wild populations if needed. On July 2, 2014, we celebrated the first-ever successful breeding and birth of this species in a managed setting when one of the females at the Zoo gave birth to 18 neonates. In 2022, we celebrated the largest number of narrow-headed gartersnakes born at the Zoo, with 40 neonates from four litters (or clutches). This culminated in the largest-ever release of narrowheaded gartersnakes to the wild, with 24 juveniles and one adult released.