Harmless · Native to the United States

Coachwhip

Masticophis flagellum (Shaw, 1802)

Also called eastern coachwhip, whip snake, red racer (western forms)
Data updated October 2026

Coachwhip moving across sandy ground, its dark head and neck fading to a tan rear body
Fig. 1 — Adult eastern coachwhip in open sandhill, showing the dark front half that fades to tan toward the tail.
Close view of a coachwhip's head with large eyes and round pupils
Fig. 2 — A narrow head and large eyes with round pupils suit a hunter that tracks prey by sight.

At a glance

A very long, slender and fast snake of open, sandy and rocky country across the southern United States. It hunts by day, chasing down lizards, rodents and other snakes. It is harmless to people, though it will thrash and bite hard if grabbed.

01

Identification

The coachwhip is long and thin, with smooth scales, a narrow head and big eyes with round pupils. In the East, adults are usually dark brown to black on the head and front of the body, fading to tan or reddish-brown toward the tail. Some are almost all black or dark brown, and some show broad pinkish bands. The scales near the tail are arranged so the tail looks like a braided leather whip. Young coachwhips are paler, with dark crossbands on the front of the body and white markings on the head and chin. Western forms can be tan, pink, red or banded.

  1. 01Two-tone body. Dark head and neck that gradually lighten to tan or reddish-brown on the rear part of the body.
  2. 02Braided-whip tail. Long, very thin tail whose scales look like the weave of a braided whip.
  3. 03Large eyes, slender build. Narrow head, big round-pupiled eyes and a body far thinner than a rat snake of the same length.

Commonly confused with

02

Size

01 ft2 ft3 ft4 ft5 ft Typical adult · about 54 in (137 cm)

Adults usually measure 3.5 to 6 feet (107–183 cm), which makes the coachwhip one of the longest snakes in the United States. Missouri gives an occasional maximum of about 102 inches (259 cm), and the largest individuals top 8 feet. Despite the length, the body stays very slim.

03

Range & habitat

Open longleaf pine sandhill with sparse ground cover and bare sand
Fig. 3 — Open, dry, frequently burned uplands with bare sand are typical coachwhip habitat in the Southeast.

The eastern coachwhip ranges from North Carolina south through Florida and west to eastern Texas, Oklahoma and southern Missouri. Other subspecies continue west across the southern plains and deserts to southern California and into Mexico. Coachwhips favor dry, open, sunny places: sandhills, longleaf pine, Florida scrub, old fields, rocky glades, brushy hillsides and prairie edges. They generally avoid swamps and floodplains, and they use burrows and rock crevices for shelter.

State guides: Texas · Oklahoma · Florida

04

Diet & predators

Coachwhips are active, sight-hunting predators. They cover a lot of ground by day, sometimes raising the head and front of the body high off the ground to look around, then chase prey down. They do not constrict; they grab prey in their jaws and swallow it quickly. Adults eat lizards, rodents, other snakes, small birds and their eggs and nestlings, and large insects such as grasshoppers and cicadas. Young snakes eat mostly insects and small lizards.

Feeds on

  • Lizards such as fence lizards and racerunners
  • Mice, cotton rats and other rodents
  • Other snakes, including racers and rat snakes
  • Small birds, eggs and nestlings
  • Grasshoppers and cicadas

Preyed on by

Eastern fence lizard basking on a log
Prey — fence lizards.
Red-tailed hawk perched on a branch
Predator — hawks.

05

Behavior & seasons

Coachwhips are among the fastest snakes in North America; Missouri clocks them at up to 3.6 mph, which is still slower than a running person. They are out on sunny days from about April until early November and shelter under rocks or in mammal burrows on cool days. Winter is spent in rock crevices, burrows or under large rocks.

When approached, a coachwhip usually bolts for cover. If cornered it may coil, vibrate its tail, strike repeatedly and release musk, and young ones sometimes play dead. An old myth says a coachwhip can whip a person to death. It cannot, and it is harmless to people.

06

Reproduction

Mating happens mainly in spring after the snakes leave their winter shelters. From late June through July, females lay 4 to 24 eggs with a rough, granular shell in loose sand or soil, animal burrows, rotting logs or leaf litter. The eggs hatch after roughly 45 to 80 days, usually from late summer into September. Coachwhips have lived more than 18 years in captivity.

07

Conservation

The coachwhip is not federally listed and remains fairly common where large areas of open, regularly burned upland habitat survive. Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats because each snake moves over a big area, and road mortality is one of the biggest causes of decline. It is legally protected in Georgia and South Carolina. In Tennessee it is uncommon but not protected. Prescribed burning and keeping patches of scrub and longleaf pine help the species.

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages