Here’s my guy going into shed. I’m not sure what subspecies he is. He came to me as a captive hatched animal from eggs that someone dug up when they were putting in a fence. He’s from a spot where the ranges of P. c. deserticola, P. c. affinis, and P. c. sayi all come pretty close together, so he could be any of them, or maybe an intergrade. I give him a medium rat weekly, as well as whatever the ball pythons don’t eat. He’s friendly once he knows it isn’t feeding time, but he’s also given me a good chomp once or twice. That’s what you get when you feed a food motivated 5’ colubrid with 9 inch tongs.
I am on the verge of getting my first snake ever (from an amazing breeder here on MM!), an amazing yearling wild-type corn. However I am already day dreaming about a future Pituophis. One thing that I’m curious about is the differences between gopher, bull, and pine snakes. Is there one that has a reputation for being more docile/feisty/reclusive? Are they going to grow to fairly different adult sizes? I find conflicting info about them online. I know this is supposed to be a Pit appreciation thread, so feel free to ignore my noob questions. Hopefully I’ll learn as I get more experience in the hobby. Thanks for showing us your beautiful guy!
I have had wild caught and captive bulls that were very docile.(P.c sayi) I also had a really docile and awesome pair of northern pines, these were not even head shy. I prefer the larger bulls and even larger pines some of the gophers are smaller, but most all seem very tractable and can be very docile. You can occasionally get a hissy grumpy one, but like @monty_pituophis said most are somewhat friendly good sized snakes who love to eat for you! I would recommend handling a adult at a expo or from a reputable breeder, they are very impressive and a great snake to interact with!
They are great pet snakes! After yours sheds, maybe someone could try to identify the subspecies with you. Get some full body pics, very pretty bull snake! My pines were also the cleanup crew for my corns, kings, and ball pythons😂
I went to an expo this past Sunday and there was a seller/breeder who was holding a gorgeous albino? bull snake (it was very pale pink). Supposedly bulls grow quite large and are very messy/poopy but this one was just was just kind of hanging out. Quite docile.
@randall_turner_jr agreed! You can never go wrong with bulls. Even ball python breeders need to have at least one lying around, who’s going to eat all those rats that the BPs don’t take? My dream snake (along with a SD retic) is probably a high white northern pine snake, colubrids just don’t get much better than that.
My first snake as a kid was a Northern Pine. He was awesome! About 6’ long and very friendly, except for the occasional hissy fit when he wasn’t in the mood to be messed with. Never bit or struck at anyone though. This was before cell phone cameras so I don’t have any pics of him in digital format to share.
I had to give him to one of my HS football coaches (also a science teacher) when I went off to college. He messaged me on FB about two yrs ago to let me know that “Piney” had finally passed. I got him when he was already a few yrs old so he was probably around 20 yrs old when he finally passed.
I am looking at getting back into pituophis with some bull snakes and maybe a few pines.
I suggest a minimum of a 4x2x1 cage or an equivalent tub for a bull. So yes, Christmas tree tubs are a good size. Some will suggest keeping them in smaller enclosures, but they can get pretty big. About 5’ - 6’ is average, and they can get bigger. They’re also quite active, nothing like a boa or BP.
Well I guess I’m a Pituophis Person again. Just picked up two Reds from Fedex.
They’re 100% het hypo 66% het albino. Parents are a stillwater hypo and red het hypo. They female is very light and her saddles are fading down her back so maybe she’ll turn out to be visual hypo. Either way they are really sharp looking and have nice red coming in on their sides.
Wow! Those guys are so good looking! Their colors are popping in the photos so I can imagine what they look like in real life! I know this is a dumb question but are these guys bulls or pines? You have mentioned both in your previous posts and I can’t tell from my very limited knowledge of them…
I think keeping an adult pine or bull in a rack would be inhumane, they’re really active and diurnal. I wouldn’t keep an adult in a tiny 4x2x1 either. I think sticking to the Colubrid rule of thumb that the enclosure is at least as long as the snake is best for Pituophis.
4x2x1 is fine for most bulls, IME. They will use extra space, granted, but I’ve found them to be partially fossorial. They aren’t like a corn, they’ll stay buried in aspen for hours at a time. My male (5 1/2’) is in a 4x2.5x1.25, and it’s more than enough space.
