Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked up a trio of Albino Sonoran Gopher snake today.
One of the female is real mad and trying to bite all the time. Do any of you have any experience with this snakes?
Thanks,
Gai.

Nice pic. Beautiful snakes. I'm particularly partial to Pits. No experience w/ Sonorans, in particular, but I keep a WC adult male San Diego Gopher an a WC sub adult Great Basin female (currently quarantining). My adult male is calm as can be and handling the sub adult female yesterday for the first time I found her to be a bit jumpy, but not aggressive.
Where did you get yours from? How was she aggressive? Just striking everytime she saw you or only when you picked her up? I heard that for some strange reason CB Gophers tend to be more nippy or aggressive than WC. I guess just give your aggressive female time to settle. When acclimating new snakes, either WC or CB I usually don't try to handle for the first 10 days.

reako45

Thank you, I think the one large male and one large female are W.C. from New Mexico. The nippy one is C.B. She is hissing when i tried to pick her up and strike / bite me few times.
I'm going to let her adjust to the new home, Eat and then the old trick, handling her with my welding gloves till she get use to me. (it always work with my kings).
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1.2 Albino Sonoran Gopher,
2.3 W.C Okeetee Corn,
1.1 Abbt line Okeetee Corn,
1.2 W.C Miami Phase Corn
1.1 Sinaloan Milk,
1.0 Orange Pueblian Milk,
1.1 W.C Mexican Black King
1.0 W.C Cal King,
0.1 Durango Mountain King
1.0 Desert King,
1.2 Bearded Dragon
45 Tanks full with African Cichlids.
Many Mice, Rats and feeder Roaches

My WC male is almost always laid back. My experience with female pits is they are less laid back and will run through your hands for a few minute then settle down. The welding glove will work. what I do is I don't put it on. i lay it over their head and hold it down lightly and pick them up with my other hand. If they are still jumpy don't give them a target. Slide your free hand up their body from the hand holding the snake.

Feeding time is another story. Use tongs so they don't associate your hand with food. I really have to watch my hybino female. She will try to come out of her cage and take the rat. Another trick she does is if I catch her not paying attention I flip the rat to her and she catches a medium rat in mid air. If she is hungry I really have to watch her even when changing her water. I have been bit a couple times pulling out her water dish.

Mike B

Thank you for the info and the welding gloves tip. Do you feed them live? How long is the snake that eat medium rat?
My large female is about 3 feet the other female and the male are about 2.5 feet. I hope to breed them next spring.
My gophers are very active and alart. It is very hard to put my hand into the enclosure without them noticing me.
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1.2 Albino Sonoran Gopher,
2.3 W.C Okeetee Corn,
1.1 Abbt line Okeetee Corn,
1.2 W.C Miami Phase Corn
1.1 Sinaloan Milk,
1.0 Orange Pueblian Milk,
1.1 W.C Mexican Black King
1.0 W.C Cal King,
0.1 Durango Mountain King
1.0 Desert King,
1.2 Bearded Dragon
45 Tanks full with African Cichlids.
Many Mice, Rats and feeder Roaches

I think that alertness makes the pits special. All of my adults are around 6 feet and chunky. All the rats I feed are F/T. My male Cape Gopher and Sonoran will take a medium once in a while. Most of the time they eat 1 or 2 small rats(see Rodentpro site for size range) The female hybino in the picture will always take a medium and act like she would take another one. These three are my adults and even the Cape has some weight to him. My smaller snakes when they will take a couple adult mice I switch them to rat pups. The rat pups keep their shape and size. They don't get desicated(shriveled looking) like the frozen mice.

Mike B

It seems that you are housing them together and Pits especially do not do well in communal housing - it seems to enhance their activity level and make them more on edge. They should only be together during bredding season.
P&S Pituophis