Well, not actually a Pituophis, but African Mole Snakes are very Pituophis-like. They are robust with an enlarged rostral scale for digging and their heads are similarly shaped to pituophis. They also act very Pituophis-like when threatened - rearing up and making a very loud raspberry-like hiss. One difference - they are ovoviviparous, live-bearers. I hope to have my 3 foot (yearling) cb pair up to size for breeding in 1-2 years.
Ophidiophile Farms
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Pituophis of South Africa
Ophidiophile
May 31, 2003 09:31 AM
Replies (7)
aunteye
May 31, 2003 10:12 AM
More than one difference. I don't see heavily keeled scales and most pits have four prefrontals.
Ophidiophile
May 31, 2003 02:49 PM
>>More than one difference. I don't see heavily keeled scales and most pits have four prefrontals.
Right on both counts and there are many more differences too. They are not even vaguely related to Pituophis. What I mostly meant is just that they seem to fill the "Pituophis ecological niche" in Africa.
aunteye
May 31, 2003 02:56 PM
I understood your point. I was just making observations, not trying to discredit yours. Interesting subject.
Jason Nelson
May 31, 2003 10:27 AM
Pretty cool. I have couple questions . Is there any other subspeices or any other colors or patterns of this species .Hows is there temperment are easy to handle .
thanks jason
dan felice
May 31, 2003 12:46 PM
highly variable and differ in shading from place to place. i've also heard that they're quite abundant often being run over by cars and possess a savage bite.
KJUN
May 31, 2003 01:35 PM
I'm dying to get some locality matched pairs of those guys...and have been wanting them for over a year now. There are currently numerous different species and subspecies "hidden" since they haven't been evaluated properly...or that is the current hypothesis anyway. That's why I need some that are from the same general areas if I plan to work with them. I'd hate to accidently produce hybrids.
KJ
Ophidiophile
May 31, 2003 02:53 PM
>>highly variable and differ in shading from place to place. i've also heard that they're quite abundant often being run over by cars and possess a savage bite.
Yes. They are very variable in color. As the photo shows, my female is a red brown. It's still hard to tell what color my male will be as he's taken longer to go through his ontogenetic change - as neonates they are heavily patterned and often a different color than they'll be as an adult. My male is probably going to be dark ashy grey or maybe black, if he continues darkening with each shed. My male, obtained as a neonate, is very docile. The female, obtained some months later but also as a captive born from the same South African population, is downright feisty - hissing, spitting, musking and biting. But I find her bite to be no more a problem than that of the average rat snake. I'm hoping she calms down though before she hits 5-6 feet!
