Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are some new pics of my Axanthic Sonoran Gopher from Byron D. This guy is doing great and has gained 100g since i got him back in March.

I do have a couple of questions that i hope someone with more experience can help out with:

1) I keep him in a 32qt. tub with a cool end of 75 and a hot end of 82-84, however even after eating, he stays in the cool end. I rarely see him in the hot end. Maybe once or twice a month i see him in there. I have identical plastic hides in both ends. Is his behavior normal or is it an indication that i have my husbandry wrong?

2) I also heard that gophers poop a lot, but he poops around as often as my corn, but less than my king. When he does poop, it looks fine though. He weighs around 170g at the moment and i feed him 2 hoppers every 5 days.

3) I also keep a humid hide with sphagnum moss in it in the cool end. He likes hanging out in there even when he's not in shed. The humidity in the tub is around 60%, so i doubt he needs more humidity. Why does he like hanging out in there?

Thanks for any feedback!

Correction: I recently moved him up to 1 weanling and 1 hopper every 5 days.

Beautiful Sonoran morph! Sonoran's are my personal favorite and currently have two that I have raised up from wild caught neonates. My two also trend mostly towards the cool side hide until time to poop. They always move into the warm hide just ahead of relieving themselves.

Ambient house temp and humidity may factor into this as well as I live in SW Arizona where outdoor temps often soar into the low hundreds this time of year and humidity is low - sometimes inside of 5%. We keep our house at around 80 or so all summer too. More of an acclimation thing for us and a power saver.

Sonoran's are desert snakes so I'd be careful with the constant humid environment. A constant humid environment on the side that he favors may not be in his best interest long term.

My snakes both poop within three to five days after feeding. On occasions when they get a large meal, they may poop twice over a period or two or three days. My male routinely goes off feed for several hundred days (late summer until early spring) and then again during "cruise" or breeding season. This time of year, he feeds like there is no tomorrow and puts on his greatest annual growth and associated weight gain.

Periodically, during his long season off of feed, he will poop infrequently as he burns of reserve. He still sheds some during the off feed period as he is still growing some.

My female is a reliable feeder all year similar to other female snakes and I have to watch her weight accordingly.

Overall, the Sonoran's are very hardy, colorful, somewhat personable, safe and reliable pets - my personal bias aside!
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"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

Thank you for the detailed response. I read somewhere that pits do prefer cooler temps, but i wanted to make sure because knowing that they are desert snakes, i thought they would be used to hotter temps. Similarly with humidity, i thought they would prefer dryer air, but i decided to give all my snakes a wide choice between temps and humidity. I know that too much humidity can cause respiratory issues, but i guess we'll find out in the long-term. Hopefully the snake will be smart enough to choose what is best for them. I just wanted to find out what other people have noticed regarding these issues. Thank again =)

And to clarify, he has a normal plastic hide in the cool end , another one in the hot end, a separate humid hide in the middle of the tub, and a cardboard box in the middle too. He's never in the cardboard box though. It's cool that they have their own personalities and preferences. My king and okeetee love their cardboard box, but my gopher doesn't care for his at all.

Sounds like you have a good range of alternatives for your Sonoran. Mine are of obviously of local desert linage and I manage them accordingly. Be patient with him if or when he decides to fast. I see a lot of concerned keepers here and elsewhere posting about their snake's refusal to feed. Pretty normal from what I've experienced, particularly among males. Some may even go over a year without taking food. A little frustrating when it goes prolonged like that unless you have other snakes that can accommodate the uneaten meal.

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"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

Pretty much all my NA snakes seem to prefer the cooler 70s end of the spectrum. Many by choice seek the coolest hide on the floor when they are out. My thinking is that, if they are not actively digesting they prefer to be high 60s - low 70s. Heck, they'll even go to the cool spots after a recent meal. But they can't have it their way without a choice.

I wouldn't worry about your set up at all. Sounds just fine.
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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com

Thank you for the feedback.