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When I was a young child, a lady I knew gave me this snake, he is now over 14 years old and the second snake I had owned (from which the addiction spawned ). She told me at that time that he was a Sonoran Gopher snake and since I was a kid I just went with that, but now, years later I know about all the different Pits that exist and I'm having a hard time pinpointing exactly what he is by photos alone.

I don't know much about his history except that he was wild caught as a baby, and passed around from place to place until the lady I got him from had him. I got him when he was about 3. Despite being a hearty eater he has always been on the lean side when compared to most photos of Pits that I have seen. He is roughly 5.5 ft. long.

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1.0 Gopher Snake(Oshy)
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python (Taboo)
1.0 Macklot's Python (Pixel)
0.1 Ball Python (Nagini)
0.1 Yellow Rat Snake (Ember) (For Sale)
1.0 Albino Black Rat Snake (Vegas)
1.0 Smooth Earth Snake (Little Zuni)
1.0 Citrus X red phase bearded dragon (Twyman)
1.1 Oriental Fire Bellied Toads (Spott and Dott)
2.5 American Toads (Kirk, Marcus, Bertha, Ethel, Lucy, Olga, Starlet)
0.1 Red Foot Tortoise (Marzipan)
2.0 Equines (Sherlock the draft and Cleatis the donkey)
4.0 Felines (Caesar Ray, Pharoh, Phoenix, Boomer)
1.0 WC boyfriend (Ryan)

Like you said, sometimes it is a little tough to go on pictures alone, but that sure looks like a San Diego gopher snake. Locality data would certainly confirm/deny.

The pale brown saddles and somewhat fused neck saddles makes me think it is a Pacific gopher (Pituophis catenifer catenifer). However there is a broad intergration zone between the Pacific gopher and the San Diego gopher and definitely some overlap in characteristics with those two groups. It is one of these two for sure and I would vote Pacific gopher. Sorry, I looked for a an image of each but couldn't find one handy.

Gopher ID can be tricky, but that looks like a Pacific Gopher to me. Here's one that I found in Los Gatos this year.

Tim

Third Eye

My first inclination is that its a pacific from the coast(Santa Cruz area). However, the pacific coastal morphs resemble San Diegos so I'm not positive.

PB

At first glance, without looking @ other people's responses I'd say either Pacific Gopher (P.c. catenifer) or Pacific/San Diego(annectens) intergrade.

reako45