Habitat
Habitat includes montane areas of pine-oak, oak scrub, oak-juniper, and pine-fir woodland, foothill canyons in pinyon-juniper woodland, and relatively humid canyon bottoms with canopies of sycamore, alder, box elder, and maple, often along stream courses, in areas with rock outcrops or talus, or among downed logs (Lowe et al. 1986, Ernst 1992, Degenhardt et al. 1996, Ernst and Ernst 2003, Stebbins 2003, Campbell and Lamar 2004). At the southern end of the range, habitats include pine-covered plateaus with scattered open meadows, hillsides with scattered pines, oaks, madrones, and rocks, and brushy hilltops (Armstrong and Murphy 1979). This snake is basically terrestrial buy may climb into low vegetation (Rossi and Feldner, 1993, Herpetol. Rev. 24:35). It seeks cover in crevices, among or under rocks, wood, or other debris, in old stumps, or in similar sites.
Ecology
Distance per move in New Mexico averaged less than 27 m, and daily activity areas averaged less than 225 sq m, but annual home range size was not reported (Smith et al. 2001).
Reproduction
Northern part of range: copulates in midsummer to early fall; ovulation and fertilization occur probably in early spring; bears 2-9 young, late July through August; adult females typically produce young at intervals of two years or more (Holycross and Goldberg 2001).