Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just want to get your ideas on why Pits don't seem to be as popular as Kings, Corns, Ball Pythons. Whenever I go to a show it seems like I can count on 1 finger the amount of Pits I will find at a show. 1 reason I got was all Pits do is eat and crap. I think they are a great fmily just misunderstood.
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1.2 Black Pines
.1 Albino Northen Pine
1.1 Northern Pines
1. Hypo Bull
1.1 D. Deppei

I think baby pits intimidate people more than corns and kings. They are pretty wriggly and hissy. However, if you just minimize handling until they get some size and confidence, they handle just fine. Also, I think the large size of adults is a problem for people used to corns and kings.

Beautiful Northern in the photo you've included. Did you produce it?

That is an exceptionally handsome pine you have.
I too have noticed that at the shows pituophis is under represented.
I think because the babies tend to be little air hoses spitting steam that people think the adults will be hard to handle.

Not all babies are hissy, though. A baby picture of one of my handfeeders. (we have since moved on to tongs as the feeding response is quite enthusiastic! LOL!)

Like any animal, if one is gentle and patient with it the animal will come to trust its keeper. Of my pair of bulls the male has always been very tame and trusting but his sister was a buzzer and shy, but with gentle conditioning she is also easy to handle now. I have some '09 Pacifics who have begun to outgrow the hissy stage nicely.

When they are hungry my bulls come out and tell me, and are more interested in the goings on around them than my other colubrids.

Pits need more room, too, being a fairly large and active snake. They are not big on staying wrapped around ones arm, etc, like pythons or boas, but like to move from hand to hand more.

The exception to that rule! She will stay clamped onto my hand for up to an hour.

I think people are missing a good thing in not having pits in their collections.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

They're special animals appreciated by special people. That's all you really need on this topic.

Bart Bruno

I could not have said it better myself!!!!! Perfect post!

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Genesis 1:1

Ditto!!!! And Billy, that is still the best N. Pine around, until someone shows me different!!!! Just my $0.02!!!

Shalom,

Pat G-C

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2 Chronicles 14:7

Thanks Pat!!
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Genesis 1:1

I think its that the combination of their size and activity level requires conditions the casual herper isn't willing to provide.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

up from Corns and Kings but do not want a Boa or Python some flip for Pits and become hooked. I find Pit people to be more "passionate" about the animals more so than other types of snakes... a bit like Indigo people... or Asian Rat snake type people...
We know these animals are a lot more exciting than most, and find interacting with them more rewarding. My guess is tons of keepers still want a snake they can have in their lap while they watch tv.
Many people told me I was nuts when I was buying Pits for breeding projects years ago...and they have been the coolest snakes I work with since the beginning.
Too many people are intimidated by the displays they throw at you... to some it's horrifying and to others its the freakin coolest.
Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com
twitter.com/TomsSnakes

Hi think i will chime in with my response...My first snake and the very snake that got me hooked was a pit a bull snake in fact at just 4 weeks old i knew straight away this was the snake for me the look in the eye which you all know the cool brown saddle markings with the yellow base colour WOW! turns out this was the most placid snake ever.he has never bitten hissed or even remotely looked upset.he will gladly clamp round my hand until i stick him back in his home(this has been know to last 2 hours)what a snake....

I now have a second bull a female, who let me tell you is quiet the opposite to the above mentioned...she can flair up at the drop of a hat without warning just BAMM and she is on you like there is no stopping her.she wont back down until she is picked up and reassured that daddy is not going to eat her.she is alot more active and full of energy(doesn't like to sit for to long in hand.) I have received several bites from this little beauty but let me tell you it doesn't put me off it makes me want more and more of these fellows.

I really like the two different personalities of these snakes and think pits are way cool.they get my respect any day of the year and will always be a must in my collection.My next pick up are some Jani from Al Stotton.cant wait to see what these are like regarding attitude etc etc.. Thanks guys Pits rule...
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Cheesemonkey

I decided I wanted a gopher snake after I found a poor little dead hatchling out by my swimming pool a few years ago; the victim of a predator that didn't eat it. I already had a collection of pyros and thought another temperate zone snake would be nice. Now I have several gopher snakes and a pair of bulls. The bulls are my favorites, having the most personality. even my spouse, who is not into snakes, likes the friendly bull snake Alfonzo.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Never kept Bulls or Pines, simply because of space concerns, but I have a WC annectens and a WC Great Basin. Both are the darlings of my collection. Sure size and activity level may put some people off, but if you want snakes w/ TONS of personality (and dare I say intelligence) PITS of any kind can't be beat.

reako45

Tom nailed it!

//Todd

I LOVE Pits but because they need to be cleaned pretty much every day, I don't keep them anymore. Sucks.

Although, in my opinion, ALL Coulbrids have way too fast of a metabolism for me.

I live on the NM TX border where we can get both bulls and sonoran gophers, and even some that are mixed. Can someone show me the difference between a pure bull and a pure sonoran?

I ask because I've had several sonorans (?) come in my house. I gave one to a friend and took the other way out in the desert so the neighbors wouldn't kill it. I just had another one come in yesterday and I found it stuck on a sticky trap. He was only about 14 inches long. He was stuck good. I used veggie oil to get him off. Poor guy kinda went limp there for a while because his head was upside down in the glue. He seemed mighty grateful. I put him in an aquarium till morning. He was quite cool when I got him out today and he didn't even attempt to bite, until he warmed up on the way out to the far desert, then he hissed, and banged against my hand though didn't latch on. He even took a dive at my face a few times. The little cutie. I sure was temped to keep him. I have a Desert king that came into my house 6 years ago and also a pure lizard eating wild caught Glossy I've had for eight. I've owned about 30 different kinds of snakes when I raised mice a few years ago, but don't do that anymore. Health reasons.

Anyway, this last little guy looked a bit different than the other gophers I've had and wondered if perhaps it was a bull. How can you tell the difference? I thought the bull was lighter, but I don't know much. Any photo's out there to show me?