gopher snake

See bull snake.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

go′pher snake`

1. a bullsnake, Pituophis melanoleucus, that preys on small burrowing mammals.

2. indigo snake.

[1830–40]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	gopher snake - large dark-blue nonvenomous snake that invades burrows; found in southern North America and Mexico Drymarchon corais, indigo snake colubrid, colubrid snake - mostly harmless temperate-to-tropical terrestrial or arboreal or aquatic snakes Drymarchon corais couperi, eastern indigo snake - a variety of indigo snake
	2.	gopher snake - bull snake of western North America that invades rodent burrows Pituophis melanoleucus bull snake, bull-snake - any of several large harmless rodent-eating North American burrowing snakes

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References in periodicals archive

My girls loved it when a red-tailed hawk dropped a live gopher snake within 15 feet of them while we were out hiking, and they were thrilled when a coyote passed their bedroom window with a squirming jackrabbit in its jaws.

Finding home: what happens when a desert baby visits the meadows of Yosemite?

I explained that it looked like a rattlesnake to me, but he brushed this aside--after all, who's the expert here?--and asked, "Where are you located?" I told him, and he exclaimed, "Oh, Strawberry Hill--that's a gopher snake for sure.

Killing the invader

Over in the celebration's Animal Kingdom, Springfield resident Sophia Hart, 7, held a gopher snake at the Oregon Herpetological Society Tent.

Families indulge in Kidjam events

In contrast, the ground squirrel tails didn't warm appreciably during similar taunting of a gopher snake. This predator doesn't have infrared sensors.

Hot bother: ground squirrels taunt in infrared

In another case a gopher snake (Pituophis melanoleucas) was stretched out next to a fresh gopher mound, with its nose and about 15 cm of its body burrowed into the mound.

Mammals of willow slough fish and wildlife area, Newton county, Indiana

I once foolishly ejected a gopher snake from my observatory, only to realize later that it kept the rodent population under control.

What can go wrong: observatory mistakes to avoid

Photo: How slimy is a gopher snake? Refuge naturalist lets you feel

Wildlife watching at three Bay Area nature centers

Large, yellow-brown, dark-blotched species such as bull and gopher snakes commonly appear around quiet, open country houses.

Snakes: the good, the bad and the beautiful: expert advice to help you safely appreciate these fascinating creatures

(6.) Diller LV and Johnson DR: Food habits, consumption rates, and predation rates of western rattlesnakes and gopher snakes in southwestern Idaho.

PREDATION ON THE HISPID COTTON RAT (SIGMODON HISPIDUS) BY SNAKES AND OWLS

Ground squirrels serve as prey for a large diversity of predators including raptors (prairie falcons, ferruginous hawks, red-tailed hawks, goshawks, Cooper's hawks, and others), ravens, carnivores (badgers, coyotes, long-tailed weasels), and snakes (western rattlesnakes and gopher snakes) (Yensen et al., 1992).

The ecological role of ground squirrels and a "field guide" to Northwestern species. (Abstracts from the Symposium on Conservation Biology of Ground Squirrels and the Shrub-Steppe Ecosystem)

Alternative perspectives on the diet of gopher snakes (Pituophis catenifer, Colubridae): Literature records versus stomach contents of wild and museum specimens.

Food habits of three species of striped whipsnakes, Masticophis (Serpentes: Colubridae)