Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
My name is A Marty. In 1990 a good friend of mine by the name of Bill Fitzgerald, owner of Riverside Reptile Ranch a private zoo in Stanton MO, went to the Waynoka rattlesnake roundup west of Stillwater OK. He did this often to rescue snakes. He noticed a bucket of bullsnakes that had a nice looking orange bullsnake in it. He had to purchase the entire bucket for that one snake. He paid $15.00. He released all the other snakes and kept the 5 ft female that was obviously gravid. She laid 7 very large eggs. They all hatched. He gave me a pair of the offspring. In 1994 I bred them and ended up with a mix of hypo's and normal patterned orange bullsnakes. In 1995 I did the same thing with similar results. In 1996 I was going through a divorce and had to sell all my herps for financial reasons. Ginter purchased all my bullsnakes. I am so very happy that so many people enjoy the Stillwater Strain. If any one Knows any breeders working with the pure stillwater strain please let me know I would love to here from them.

Thanks a lot for posting this Marty. We have all heard about the history of them over the years but it's really cool hearing it from the horses mouth so to speak. They are definatly one of, if not the prettiest line of bull snakes out there. Luckily John has kept the line going for many years and spread a lot of healthy offspring around over the years. I have had them in the past but don't anymore but I know several people that breed them and will send you a private e-mail with a couple of their names. They are so unique that several still keep the line pure although a lot of people have been breeding the line in with red bulls and others over the last few years. Thanks again. Randy W.
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Randy Whittington

Who knows what generation my '08s are from, but they are awesome in every way. Got 'em from Jonel Lopez. I wonder how with such limited origins the line can stay healthy without new blood. Mine are from to different females but the same male. I might like to breed them to Crumbly Reds and then maybe cross back, just to get some fresh genes in the mix...and besides, Stillwater x Crumbly apparently makes some killer snakes. On the other hand, I really like the "purity" concept, if sustainable. What do the experts say???

I would say that any bulls that exhibit the stillwater hypo trait are "pure" in that sense, as long as they do not show or carry any other mutations. Even the original founder that was rescued at that rattlesnake roundup was not a "pure locality" animal, in any accepted sense of the term, since its actual point of wild origin is unknown.

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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Hi Marty,

Thanks for putting up this excellent post and sharing the info....Superb!!

The nice part is what started as an act of pure compassion on Bill's part has yielded such wonderful results.
karma n all that good stuff methinks.

Thanks again for sharing and god bless Mr.Ginter

AL U.K.

Mr. Adam! So good to have you back in the Pituophis world! I hope that you get many calls offering you a free pair of 2009 stillwater hatchlings. I will not have any until 2010 so if you don't get set up before then you where to look. As a result of your passion for pits and keen observation (and a little good luck) we have this strain to enjoy nearly 20 years later.

Come on guys, will some one offer Adam a pair after all he has done! I will even pay the shipping!

John,
Bless you. I am humbled.

Thanks
Adam

so i m actually a new pituophis keeper,long time boid keeper.i have to say,that these snakes were the first pituophis i saw and was quite attracted to.i own a normal bull(really bright colors though)and a jersey pine.i am declaring the stillwater hypo my next!

Adam,

I do Pituophis with Phil Ferkel, who knows Bill quite well. The big female below is as I recall him telling, one of the originals from your breeding, I believe. Unfortunately, we lost her a few years ago, but we still have some offspring that are 2 generations down from her that still show some resemblance(they actually look more like her than the direct offspring did, which were outcrossed, of course). The pics of them are old and they are much bigger/prettier now, but you get the idea. The one in the third pic is especially weird - it has less of the orange, but a very washed out "hypo" like look to it (the color is bad in that pic b/c the flash wasn't working that day). I will have to get some more pics of these and of another that is down from that old breeding.