Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a wild caught gopher from S. CA. Do I have to hibernate her if I do not plan on breeding her? She is in the house (75degrees). Also how often do these creatures shed? She shed in July and seems to be getting ready to again. (skin dull and off feed) Her eyes have not clouded yet.
thanks guys!

Although you do not need to cool her, she will likely go off feed all Winter anyway. If she doesn't, fine, but if she does, it won't hurt to keep her in a cool, dark cage in the 60-65 deg range. It probably won't hurt to keep her heated even if she goes off feed, but she may burn more calories with the heat on. How about just under-tank heating a small portion of the cage and let her decide?

When do gophers start winter behavior? It is still in the triple digits here! She has been off feed for 2weeks now. Thought she was going to shed again. Could be wrong. . . won't be the first time for that *LOL*

If you are going to breed her, cooling them off for winter is good. After waking, she will eat a lot and get into breeding mode. If you caught her by you, you should be able to go by the weather, once it starts to cool off you may want to start cooling her off. Where about did you catch her?

I caught her in Riverside Ca and it is no where close to cooling off here yet! 100 today She was gravid when i got her so i have 14 eggs due to hatch any time now! wild bred and i have specific locale. . . pretty sweet deal! She is 5.5 ft long and very healthy. Quite an attitude though. Still wild *LOL* I look forward to taming a hatchling!

Being captive born, the young should tame up nice. I hear they are usually agressive when young and tame up later. Do you have a license for the gopher? Fish and game are really strict on cali locales.

or at least tell me where i can get info on it.

--->Evan

You have to request info from the california fish and game. I just sent a request last week. They are strick in California, at least thats what Ive heard. You may just need a nongame license for gophers.

>>or at least tell me where i can get info on it.
>>
>>--->Evan

>>or at least tell me where i can get info on it.
>>
>>--->Evan

I don't have a one yet but have applied. I have no intentions of being a breeder just a pet owner. She was unexpectedly gravid. This will be her only clutch! *LOL* She is beautiful, a rescue from the golf course, men with clubs are deadly.

if you breed her and then you only need it in the years you breed. You can legally possess 4 gopher snakes (any combination of subspecies) without needing a permit, but you need a valid California Fishing license for any that you personally collected. If you collect a gravid female, you have 45 days after they hatch to donate the offspring or technically you will need to euphonise them. Of course, if you thought you relatched the top on the enslosure when you fed them and you didn't and they escaped, I don't think I've seen any violations cited for that. Kind of scary when you consider it covers non-native nonvenomous reptiles also. Schools and kids are good sources to donate. Remember, you cannot release into the wild any captive bred or w/c reptiles. If you pick up a snake in California (you must have a California fishing license if 16 or older) you cannot technically put it back down and release it, even if its the exact location. That's a hard interpretation of the regulation, but it is technically correct. Email me if you have any questions at parks38@juno.com. My partner Del Alspaw and I have gone through and obtained the California Native Reptile Propagation Permit and renewal. If you fill out the application I recommend to mark both commercial and non commercial on it. There's no difference in cost. The advantage I see in marking both is that if you have it marked commercial, than you can keep more of a species which includes parental stock and progeny.
I recommend hibernating all snakes especially wild caught unless they are sick. Hibernating a snake is part of their physical cycle. It allows them to recharge so to speak. You don't have to put them completely down, but I give all my snakes at least a cool down period. The w/c female you have is probably going to slow her eating if not completely shutting down during the winter. When snakes slow down eating, you should slow down their activity or they will loose weight and that's not healthy. I'll put the address to our website on here and Del Alspaw has written and published a nice article on Breeding pituophis and has written one on Care for them. It has some great info on it. Of course, I'm biased. LOL.
BTW - If you have the locality of where your female was collected, I would like to inquire on a pair or 2 pairs of the offspring. They can easily be added to our permit in the year when they become breedable. Del's permit covers both commercial and noncommercial so he can have more parental strock. I have a copy of the California regulations published by the Fish and Game and I'll gladly send you a copy. If you've applied for a permit or requested an application, then the Fish and Game will send one. Several important regulations are left out (for some reason) on the Fish and Game Pamphlet that you can get at stores.

Good luck,
Terry Parks
Kern Reptile Research Center
Bakersfield, CA
www.kernreptile.com

>>I don't have a one yet but have applied. I have no intentions of being a breeder just a pet owner. She was unexpectedly gravid. This will be her only clutch! *LOL* She is beautiful, a rescue from the golf course, men with clubs are deadly.

i have another question tho. what king of permit do you need to breed and sell the offspring. i do not plan on donating them and i most deffinitly do not plan on killing them or however the government want to put it(hmm hmm murder hmm). thats about all the questions ive got right now for ya... thanx for the help.

-->Evan

I'll check it all out when I get home. It cost $49.50 this year I think. Del has helped (I have a little) several people out with applying and filling one out. It's not hard, but there's a couple things that are more advantageous to check or fill in. Same as all government applications. I'll post some more when I'm home.

>>i have another question tho. what king of permit do you need to breed and sell the offspring. i do not plan on donating them and i most deffinitly do not plan on killing them or however the government want to put it(hmm hmm murder hmm). thats about all the questions ive got right now for ya... thanx for the help.
>>
>>-->Evan

I don't have a one yet but have applied. I have no intentions of being a breeder just a pet owner. She was unexpectedly gravid. This will be her only clutch! *LOL* She is beautiful, a rescue from the golf course, men with clubs are deadly.

Good point. I resuce a lot of snakes off of the roads out here at night.