Arizona Gopher Snake Hitches Ride On Woman’s CarGopher snakes are of the Pituophis genus and are also known as pine snakes and bull snakes. Great Basin gopher snake. Photo by Autumn Re

HomeSnake Information & News

Arizona Gopher Snake Hitches Ride On Woman’s Car

Gopher snakes are of the Pituophis genus and are also known as pine snakes and bull snakes.

Waldovogel got off at the next exit and drove to their destination and let the snake just crawl off the car on its own

200 Arizona Desert Tortoises Need Homes
Venomous Snakes Seized During Arizona Raid Positive for Snake Fungal Disease, Are Euthanized
Tucson Shovel-nosed Snake Needs Protection, Lawsuit Says

A gopher snake (Pituophis sp). found itself in an unusual location in Arizona. It was riding on the windshield of Lauren Waldovogel’s car. Waldovogel posted the video on Instagram and noted that the observation was “so Arizona.” “This so far, is the most Arizona thing to ever happen to me,” Waldovogel wrote on Instagram. The post, showing the gopher snake wrapped around the windshield wiper and seemingly wondering what the heck is going on, received 823k interactions and more than 6,745 comments since it was posted May 4, with some commenters calling the snake a rattlesnake and others getting into percentages of what venomous snakes have “slit eyes versus round eyes” (whatever that means) and others just saying it was a nope rope.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lauren Kay (@hilaurenkay)

Advertisement

Waldovogel got off at the next exit and drove to their destination and let the snake just crawl off the car on its own. She lives on horse property with her husband and has seen her share of gopher snakes.

“”We do have a lot of those around our property, which I don’t hate because they do a lot of pest control, so I never kill them when I see them or anything,” Waldvogel told CBS News 19. “I’m just kind of like, ‘Alright, you just stay on your side of the area and I will stay over here.'”


Gopher Snake Care Sheet

Gopher Snake Care And Breeding Information


“It’s a harmless gopher snake, so you don’t really need to try to kill it or anything,” Waldvogel said.

Advertisement

Gopher snakes are of the Pituophis genus and are also known as pine snakes and bull snakes. The window crawling snake appears to be a Sonoran gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) which are found throughout the Southwestern united States, from southeastern California, into Arizona and into the northern states of Mexico.

Gopher snakes and bull snakes are very popular amongst reptile keepers. They are widely captive bred and come in a variety of morphs. The Sonoran gopher snake grows between 4 and 6 feet in length and feeds on small rodents. ion the wild, the gopher snake is also known to rear its head and body in a defensive position, not unlike that of certain rattlesnake species. The are also known to shake their tail as well.