General Description: A long, thin, red snake without distinct dorsal marks; head and neck often with black marks.

Taxonomy: Colubrid Snakes Family (Colubridae)

Technical Description: Body long and thin, to 8.5 ft. Eyes large. Scales smooth. Dorsal color usually reddish or pink, grading to tan towards the tail. Head darker; neck black or with black bars. Anal scale divided. No dorsal marks. Scale pattern resembles a braided whip, hence the name. Wedged lower preocular. Scales in 17 rows at midbody.

Diet: Eats lizards, small mammals, birds, bird eggs, and insects. Sometimes bobs head like a lizard to attract lizards into the strike zone.

Habitat: Creosote-Bursage Flats, Mojave Desert Scrub, Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands, farm fields, and grasslands with scattered brush and rocky areas to about 8,000 ft. Prefers open areas.

Range: Southern California, southern Nevada, southern Arizona, east; south into Mexico. This subspecies occurs in southern California, southern Nevada, southern Arizona.

Breeding: Clutch of 4 to 20 eggs laid during summer.

Similar Species: There are no other long, thin, red snakes without dorsal marks in southern Nevada.

Comments: Diurnal. Very fast.

The scale pattern and color on a Red Racer is said to resemble a braided, rawhide coach whip.

Notice the head-up pose; these are alert, visual snakes that hunt lizards during the day.