Description: A moderately large (total length: 60 - 150 cm [2 - 5 ft]) snake with a striking pattern of black and white bands that may be brown and yellowish and encircle the body. The scales are smooth and shiny. 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. This species is usually active in the morning and evening, but will assume a nocturnal habit during the heat of summer.
Diet: Feeds on other snakes including rattlesnakes, lizards, small mammals,
birds, bird eggs, and frogs. Prey killed by constriction.
Habitat: Wide ranging, most commonly found in Mojave desert scrub and salt desert scrub habitats in the vicinity of rock outcrops or clumps of vegetation up to 2,100 m (7,000 ft) in elevation.
Range: The species occurs throughout the southern and western U.S. This subspecies occurs in southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, north-western Arizona, most of California, northern Baja California, and northwestern Mexico.