A small, thin, snake with a flat head and smooth, shiny scales. The top of the head is dark brown or black, with a light collar between the dark cap and the body color which is brownish or beige and unmarked. The dark color usually does not extend lower on the head than the bottom of the eye and does not extend below the mouthline behind the corner of the jaw. The belly is whitish with a reddish stripe that does not extend all the way to the edge of the ventral scales. This stripe may fade out toward the head. This snake uses a mild form of venom to immobilize its prey. This venom is considered harmless to humans. One of the smallest snakes in California, about 4.5 - 15 inches long (11.5 - 38 cm).

Found in desert, grassland, sagebrush, creosote bush, chaparral, juniper scrub, open coniferous forests. Prefers canyon bottoms and the rocky edges of streams and washes. Often found beneath rocks, plant debris, and other surface cover.

The known range of this snake in California and elsewhere is spotty due to its secretive nature. Its range is probably less disjointed than the records show. It has been recorded from the southern Sierra Nevada foothills and in the southern San Joaquin Valley, north up the Owens Valley area to the White Mountains, and south through the Death Valley region, with isolated locations in the eastern Mojave desert. Also occurs in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.

Not well understood. Lays eggs in summer.

Millipedes, centipedes, and insects.

Secretive -spends much of its time underground or underneath surface objects. Not much is known about this snake. A good burrower, able to disappear quickly into loose soil. Typically it is found beneath surface debris.

Tantilla planiceps - Western Black-headed Snake

Formerly classified with Tantilla planiceps. There are around 50 species of Tantilla from North America to Argentina, with two occuring in California, including T. planiceps.

Stebbins, Robert C.. Peterson Field Guides: Western Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985

Behler, John. Familiar Reptiles and Amphibians of North America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988

Brown, Philip R.. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing, 1997

Bartlett, R.D. & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America: Western Region. Gulf Publishing, 2000

Ernst, C. & E. Ernst. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2003

Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press, 1994