Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok I am thinking of getting my first Pituophis, I have a few questions first what kind gets the largest? witch is the smallest? I really like the pine snakes and what do they eat when adults? can you keep them like most milks,kings, and such except bigger cages? I have kept kings,corns,milks and want to try something new and bigger thanks for your help
wayne

Wayne,

this question always starts everyone to talk about the favorites they have. So to get it started let me give you mine for folks getting the first pit in the collection. Any of them will be a winner for you. Caution though they are habit forming!!

1. Bull Snakes - large, lots of color and locale morphs
2. Southern Pines same as above but usually with a bit more attitude
3. Northern pines large cool animals
4. Sonoran Gopher - lots of contrast as a normal and awesoem as an albino.
5.San Diego or Pacific gophers - a little smaller but very docile and awesome with the striped and anthy. morphs very intersting animals
6. Black Pines - beautiful sleek black heavy bodied animals, one of the rarest of the pits in the wild.
7. Great Basin Gophers - good size and lots of variable animals
8. Deppei Deppei - Durango locale animals that are every shade of pastel ground color to be found, orange, green, white, tan and blue with dark blotches.
9. Deppei Jani - Kardon line lots of orange ground color and really neat docile animals
10. Cape Gopher - beautiful but touchly as youngsters
11. Bimaris - cool little guys
12. Pumilis - same as above

And then add all the others in for one reason or another.

Good Luck with whatever you decide if we can help lets us know.

John Cherry
Cherryville Farms

Cherryville Farms

Wayne,

The biggest?........Bullsnakes, especially 277 locale in Val Verde County(gotta be something in the water) or Northern/Southern pines. If you want a big one, keep in mind that males attain greater lengths.

The smallest?........probably pumilis or another of the North American gopher snakes at the northwestern extremes of their range.

What do they eat?..........rodents.......with a vengence!

How much space do they require?........nothing more than a corn snake of the same size. I keep an 8 foot plus Northern pine in a 4'x2' cage. He gets occasional field trips to the back yard(much to the consternation of the squirrels, blue jays, and my neighbors Golden Retriever), but he appears to be content in his usual confines. I am personally partial to pine snakes, especially northerns and jani. I like the classic black/white fewer blotches pattern of northerns and the complicated color schemes of my jani............but.......there are plenty of very interesting morphs out there.

You can keep them like a kingsnake, but in most cases pines and bulls get much bigger than your average colubrid (corn, king or milk). They also require larger food items and go through phases where they want to eat a lot. Pituophis are an excellent "next step" for those who have experience keeping corn snakes and kingsnakes.

Tim

Third Eye