Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found a snake in my hallway today. I have no idea how she got there. I'm just calling her a her for the time being.

The closest ID I can come to is a glossy snake. Any opinions?

She's extremely docile and if possible, I'd like to keep her.

Harmless constrictors. Probably a pacific, but honestly I couldn't tell you which subspecies, especially since I am not 100% on where fremont is in CA.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

And the sign says "No long hair freaky people need not apply." So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why. He said you look like a fine outstanding young man I think you'll do. So I took off my hat I said "Imagine that Huh Me working for you."-Tesla

Thanks. It was my understanding that gopher snakes had four scales behind their eyes? She only has two.

The head scalation just isn't right.

A glossy snake with an aberrant pattern or maybe a glossy x gopher hybrid. While the pattern really looks like a Pacific Gopher, the head scales are all wrong for Pituophis, but match Arizona. Cant tell very well from the pics, but it doesn't look as if it has the keeled scales you would have on a gopher. The area it was found in at the northern tip of the glossy's range.

Thanks so much. That's what my friend was thinking but she wasn't sure if gophers and glossies were close enough to breed.

She's just so docile, its incredible.

Should I get her wormed/checked for internal parasites if I plan on keeping her? What's the best method for that?

While it is very uncommon for North American Pituophis to have just two (instead of four) prefrontal scales it is not impossible.

The Baja gophers: P. deppi, P.janni and P. lineatus all normally have two.

Your snake definitly is a gopher. Just an unusal one.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Thank you very much. I'd never heard of that before.

Is there anway you could wager on how old she is?

My guess since she is w/c is probably 2-3 years old. Nice snake!

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

You think she wants to be kept. Go get a captive-bred. After living a free life and cruising through the woods eating whatever she wants, going wherever she wants, the last thing I would want to do is give her anything less. She already has the perfect home...hers. We all want to keep snakes we find sometimes but it's not right. Especially, when there are so many pits available out there.

There is nothing wrong with keeping a w/c snake, common or not. As long as populations can support the take, then I say, go for it. Anthropomorphizing snakes might help you justify your position, but it is not particularly useful. If you don't want to keep w/c animals, then don't, but don't chastise others. my $0.02

As long as there is no problem with the population, I agree, there is no problem with keeping W/C snakes. Many times I would say snakes couldn't care less where they are as long as they get food, heat, and hides. And saying the gopher snake has a perfect life is far from true. She could get smashed by a car tomorrow, eaten by a fox/coyote, or killed by someone thinking she was a rattler.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

And the sign says "No long hair freaky people need not apply." So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why. He said you look like a fine outstanding young man I think you'll do. So I took off my hat I said "Imagine that Huh Me working for you."-Tesla

I guess it's ok cause snakes arent too smart but saying thats not the perfect life is wrong. If you're put in a padded cell there is no chance of being mugged, hit by a car, murdered so I guess thats the perfect life huh.

People aren't snakes. You can't compare them as such. That is like saying..."well, I dont eat mice. Therefore my snake shouldn't." Because if you are going to compare snakes and people, make sure to compare them in every aspect.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

And the sign says "No long hair freaky people need not apply." So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why. He said you look like a fine outstanding young man I think you'll do. So I took off my hat I said "Imagine that Huh Me working for you."-Tesla

Well it probably would be the perfect life if you had no understanding of inside/outside, freedom/imprisonment, sense of self, etc, etc..... The fact that they are not capable of understanding the concepts that would make a person resent captivity, doesn't make it right or wrong to take them from the wild. It just makes your argument moot.

Actually it's not even as simple as you all are arguing. For example an Arboreal or racer type species is much more umlikely to feel comfortable in a cage, as it is their nature to move around a lot. Fossorial species like kings, gophers etc...spend a great deal of time underground and so are more comfortable in what might seem to us to be cramped quarters. To them a cage is a den-with no enemies and good food.

Then add the issues of specialized diets and enviromental needs and you have more species that don't do well and don't really belong in captivity. Our native (fossorial) Scarlet Snake is one good example.

While anthropomorphizing animals is a human weakness, it is foolish to allow it to get in the way of the animal's needs. Which is why some species are definitly better off in the wild IF THEIR HABITAT IS NOT BEING DESTROYED BY MAN. However, several species and/or races of snake would be in danger of extinction if it wasn't for captive production.

One thing is for sure and that is it is human nature not to care about what we don't see. If snakes were only in the wild or behind glass in a zoo, then the average public's perception of them would only be that of "dangerous predators" that they saw or read in the news. Familiarity breeds understanding and sympathy. A price the captives pay to aid their wild brethren.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Frank, I never meant to imply that not anthropomorphizing animals is an excuse for not providing proper care of them. I agree that you shouldn't take an animal from the wild if you aren't able to provide the proper care. Racers and Coachwips are kept in captivity. They don't have the same needs as a kingsnake, but they aren't a definite no. If you have a good supply of reptile eggs, then I say go for it with the scarlet snake. I have heard of some that were able to get them to eat raw eggs from a dish. I just don't but the argument that we shouldn't take them from the wild because "they yearn to be free" or "they miss their friends or mommies"

Mommies and daddies??? (lol) OK....now that we have entered the Twilight Zone of herp care.

My concern had to do with humans transfering their emotions into improper care concerns. I.E. a fossorial species recieving a cage that is too big...so it can't catch its food, or a desert form reciecving a water dish, or being over fed when both would be detrimental.

Or the butterflies are free group who think all herps suffer the need to wander freely on the earth. Thry ain't that smart. Enough food and the right enviroment is enough.

I have seen scarlett snakes that have been maintained on Egg slurries. But even that is not a good solution. The species rarely does well in captivity.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Check with your local department of natural resources... here in Ohio we have to get PIT tags for them and a license, but thats about it.

As to keeping "her", gophers are colubrids, and most of them can be kept the same way. Check out some websites and look for gopher care sheets.

She will most likely accept frozen mice...
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Currently have:
0.1 Antherystic Elaphe guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe Vulpina Gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
0.1 Leucistic Elaphe Obsoleta Linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake
1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python

Saving for:
Agkistrodon Contortix Mokasen - Northern Copperhead
Epicrates Cenchria Cenchria - Brazilian Rainbow Boa

Thanks. I will check it out.

She's already eaten a frozen fuzzy quite well. I was very suprised, but pleased.

pituophis NEVER surprise me when they eat

seems like you can catch em, put em in a bag, drop a prekilled rodent in the bag with it, and the rodent will be gone before you get home

i love pits !

That's great!

All my experiences with gopher snakes in the past have been pretty traumatizing.

They usually seem pretty downright vicious to me. Is it because she's so young that she's so docile (all the ones I've had the pleasure of being chased by have been very large) or is she just a cool snake?

they tend to mellow out with handling...that being said, ive only had a few wild caught pits try to bite me (out of probably 150 caught)

crazy Pits. It is a 6 ft live oak county bull. Really pretty snake. But he would love to latch on to you as soon as look you haha. Got the personality of most texas rats (or even worse...he hisses when I walk into the vicinity of the tank).
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

And the sign says "No long hair freaky people need not apply." So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why. He said you look like a fine outstanding young man I think you'll do. So I took off my hat I said "Imagine that Huh Me working for you."-Tesla

I totally looks like a pacific gopher.
Nice snake:
Jason Mc

Any competent vet should be able to check a stool sample & tell you what parasites may be present.

~~Greg~~

...a bit of flagyl and panacur will kill about any worms/parasites that might be present....the vet will most likely prescribe these meds....

mmmm...mmmm....good !

Thank you!

I don't really trust the exotic vets in my area, they usually don't seem to know what they're doing so I want to make sure I have the normal 'routine' down so in case they prescribe anything weird I can question them about it.