Description: 13 - 42 inches long. Normally found from 20 - 28 inches. Neonates from 6.5 - 9.5 inches. A medium-sized snake with a head barely wider than the neck and keeled dorsal scales. Tan, brown or yellowish brown with rows of large alternating black blotches arranged in a checkered pattern on the sides, and distinct yellowish stripes on the back and lower sides. There is a dark blotch on the back of each side of the head with a light area between the dark blotch and the corner of the mouth. The underside is pale and unmarked or smudged with dark pigment.

Habitat: Found in grassland, semi-arid land, and deserts, typically near water. In California, inhabits areas near streams, rivers, irrigation ditches, and irrigated croplands, in the desert.

Range: The range extends from southeastern California, southern Arizona, New Mexico, and south through Oklahoma, and Texas

Found in these States: AZ | CA | NM | OK | TX

Diet: Checkered Gartersnakes consume mostly amphibians, but they also eat invertebrates, fish, snakes, mammals, and lizards, including whiptails, one of which was found in the stomach contents of a Checkered Gartersnake in New Mexico.

Reproduction: Females are ovoviviparous - they carry the eggs internally until the young are born live, from May to October.

Status: Listed as Least Concern because the species is widely distributed and relatively common in the northern part of the range. In southern Mexico and Central America, however, the species is less common, and the distribution is fragmented/disjunct.

Taxonomy: