Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Picked this male and female up from my buddy Howie Sherman @ Strikers Herps.They are both a little over 2 weeks old. Cant wait to see these 2 when they are huge !

Keith

The female. She is a little larger . These have the same father but different mother I believe. Im mostly a Kingsnake guy but now I see why you guys are so passionate about your Pits !

Keith

Female Pines tend to be larger than the males. You should be surprised at how much they can eat. They shold be on fuzzies not too long from now. Are they still hissing? The Northern Pines are great hissers also. They act up right out of the egg, but generally will stop acting up like that not too long after hatching. Good luck with that pair Keith. Bewsre, alot of the people on this forum a pituophis acddicts. That can happen to you too. LOL

>>The female. She is a little larger . These have the same father but different mother I believe. Im mostly a Kingsnake guy but now I see why you guys are so passionate about your Pits !
>>
>>Keith
>>

Hey Terry. I don't think I've ever had a snake nastier than my new little girl (La. Pine). I think she was spawned by Satan himself. If she even detects that I'm in the room, she strikes at the inside of her hide! Pure evil, lol.

Chris Kennard

You should be in heaven with her. LOL. Spawned by Satan himself? Was KJ ever left alone with the parental female? LOL. If he did, the LA pine offspring would still be pure. Congrats on the female LA pine; Del and I are envious. If she's too nasty for you, you can send her our way. LOL

>>Hey Terry. I don't think I've ever had a snake nastier than my new little girl (La. Pine). I think she was spawned by Satan himself. If she even detects that I'm in the room, she strikes at the inside of her hide! Pure evil, lol.
>>
>> Chris Kennard

LOL! You kill me! I kinda' like the spunky ones. This does actually have a little KJ blood in her, lol. She even hisses with a Louisiana accent.

Your description of the LA pine fits both the snake and/or KJ. LOL

>>LOL! You kill me! I kinda' like the spunky ones. This does actually have a little KJ blood in her, lol. She even hisses with a Louisiana accent.

Perhaps I'll name her Kay-Jan.

Will that be the Northern or Southern pronounciation? LOL

>>Perhaps I'll name her Kay-Jan.

That would be the "yank" pronunciation.

>>That would be the "yank" pronunciation.

LOL, what took ya' so long!

>>LOL, what took ya' so long!

I went herping and visiting...
KJ

>>>>That would be the "yank" pronunciation.

Instigator!

from me. LOL If we had known KJ was out herping, we could have really thrown out some good stuff. I wondered that he hadn't jumped right in on it.

>>Instigator!

That is a beaut! I love the northern pines more than the other subspecies, they are so beautiful! Good luck with them.

Hi. My Pine pair (Slitherdee & Slitherdum) have become much more aggressive in recent 2 years. Both are ~6 yrs. old, ~4.5' healthy, and breeding well for 3 yrs. now. Both, esp. 'dum, are lots jumpier, strike pretty regularly after feeding when approached slowly head-on & occasionally before feeding (never used to be a problem--always gave me fair warning & were calm if I moved slowly). Both eat 1 small, pre-killed rat ea week. 'dee gets kind of twitchy after eating & being put pack in w/ 'dum--have to do it carefully so they make head-to-body contact before head-to-head. One time, she was so jumpy after feeding that she struck at her own tail! They have a roomy cage w/ nice hidebox. They can bite hard now. They have always been my best teaching snakes in this state where Bulls are confused w/ Rattlers, but need to be tame & safe. Could this be from less recreational handling in recent years (ie, could they have learned to associate being approached w/ feeding day and developed a conditioned response)? Or something else?
Thanks, SnakeRanger

After feeding, snakes are usually still in the feed mode for an hour or so, and they will strike at anything that moves. You must be careful with them after feeding, stress may cause them to regurgitate their meal. As for the rest of the aggressive behavior, Im not sure what to tell you. I would keep being gentle with them showing them that you are a friend not a predator, and hopefully they will become accustomed again and learn that you are not there to harm them.

That makes sense, thanks. I can create a separate feeding place for them, and let them rest awhile after feeding before settling them back in. I have wondered whether snakes may change behavior w/ hormonal changes, since the change also seemed to coincide w/ their first successful breeding year, and 'dee went through an aggressive period before their first breeding year, too. She has a very colorful 'personality'! I wondered about the conditioned response because my young girl C. Rainbow Boa also went from total calm to routine biting when I retrieve her prior to feeding or anytime, since I had been hanging warmed, thawed mice down to her to train her (a fussy eater) to eat pre-killed food. But I had to treat her last year for mouth sores w/ HO2 washes & vit. C. and a couple of injections. But I wouldn't have thought a snake had such a long memory, so figured it may be conditioning.

I kinda figured you'd like the Pits since you're so fond of the eastern and florida kings. Good luck with those pines.
-----
Tim

Wow! Stunning for a baby pine. That's gonna' be a smokin' adult.

congrats on those. I know Howie has some really nice animals in his collection...but i didn't know he had Northerns. Very nice, thanks for sharing the pics, and please keep taking new ones so we can see them as they grow.
Have a good weekend,

Gregg F.

>>Picked this male and female up from my buddy Howie Sherman @ Strikers Herps.They are both a little over 2 weeks old. Cant wait to see these 2 when they are huge !
>>
>>Keith
>>
Gregg's RB