Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association
Sonoran Desert Reptiles
Thamnophis cyrtopsis (Blackneck garter snake)

Identification: 16 - 46 in. (41-117 cm). Pale yellow middorsal stripe usually separates 2 large black blotches at back of head. Stripe may be orange and wavy in neck region. White crescent between each blotch and corner of mouth. Top of head gray, pale side stripe on 2nd and 3rd scale rows, sometimes wavy because of intrusion of bordering black spots. Olive brown or olive gray above, 2 alternation rows of black or uniformly dark spots between stripes. Spots may fade out at about midbody. Upper labial sutures black barred. Belly light greenish white, bluish white, or brownish. Dorsal scales keeled, usually in 19 rows at midbody. Seven or eight upper labials. Anal single. Eats frogs, toads, tadpoles, fish, occasionally salamanders, lizards, earthworms, and crustaceans (Triops)

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