Habitat
Habitats include grassland, farmland, desert, brushland, thornscrub, thornforest, tropical deciduous forest, and lower pine-oak woodland, from plains to lower mountain slopes (Stebbins 2003, Campbell and Lamar 2004). In Arizona, this species most commonly associated with rocky bajadas, slopes, and canyons of upland desert scrub and desert grassland (Lowe e al. 1986). In New Mexico, it is most often found on rocky bajadas or in broad river valleys with mesquite, occasionally on creosotebush flats of valley floors (Degenhardt et al. 1996). It sometimes enters buildings (Ernst and Ernst 2003). This is a fossorial snake that emerges into the open usually at night or sometimes on cloudy days (Degenhardt et al. 1996).