Some have recommended that A. elegans occidentalis be granted full species status.

However, they are smaller than gopher snakes, with narrow, pointed heads, and a variety of skin patterns and colors.

[6] They are shades of tan, brown, and gray with spotted patterns on their smooth, glossy skin, and a white or cream-colored unmarked ventral surface.

Habitat is normally semi-arid grasslands of the southwestern United States, from California in the west to Kansas in the east and as far south as Texas, and northern Mexico.

Adults breed in the late spring and early summer.