Often found in arid desert flatlands, loose, sandy washes, hard pan flats and rocky areas below 5,000 feet. Also common among hummocks topped with creosote where Kangaroo Rats and other rodents burrow. Mature adults grow 18 to 32 inches in length. It also has a dark eye strip extending back along its head. The Sidewinder has rough, keeled scales, which aid in its unique sidewinding locomotion.
Young Sidewinders prefer lizards while older ones prefer rodents.
Life Cycle Sidewinders mate April through May, sometimes in the fall. Females give birth to 5-18 young late summer to early fall. It ranges from extreme southwestern Utah, southern Nevada and the Mojave Desert of California. It ranges from south-central Arizona into Sonora, Mexico. Ranges from southwestern Arizona and southeastern California into Mexico.