Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wanting to see if anyone had any pics or info on pits from colorado, so I could compare it with mine. I just got it and it doesnt look like any bull or gophersnake I've seen before so I am wondering if it is an intergrade or possibly a morph of some sort.

Thanks in advance
WES

Yo Wes,
Check with Shannon at high Sierra Reptiles, Jason at Envy Reptiles, John at Cherryville Farms, Ron at The Crawl Space, and Gregg at Greggs Reptile Basement. These are five of the best working with Pits in my humble opinion and have extensive photo collections. And, most important, they bend over backwards to help and answer questions. If they don't have the Pics they can put you in touch with someone who might have them (I would also include Ginter and KJ in this group but they are more difficult to lure out into the open!!!! When you are a legend you walk a different sort of walk!) Shannon has a picture of an aberrant Colorado Bull on his web site. OOPs, almost forgot Jonel at Selective Prop. and Del at K.R.R.B. All of these guys except the aforementioned recluses have replied to something on this forum in the last couple of months. Good Luck!!!

Pat Glazener-Cooney

Chris Kennard keeps quite a few bullsnakes from specific locales. Here's a pic of 2 of his Denver,Colorado locale bullsnakes. Chris sends me a couple pics of his snakes just to eat me up. His locale bullsnakes rival any in the hobby.
Terry Parks

One of my favorites that Chris Kennard is working with. I can't wait until he produces some of these.

Terry Parks

Very Nice , I like the dark blotches.
They are very simular to these FT Collins Locality .
Jason

Thanks for the comments Jason. That's a pretty Fort Collins bullsnake in your pic. I would think the Denver locale would be darker because of Denver's mile high elevation. One of my favorite bullsnake is the Iowa bullsnake. I remember when Del was getting a pair of the Alberta, Canadian bullsnakes. I was expecting to see a dark colored bullsnake intead of the nice lighter colored pair he received from Bart Bruno. That's when I realized what people were posting about the bullsnake range and variability. Even though Alberta approaches the northern limit of their range, it's elveation and habitat (I believe) is similar to some of the Texas locales.

Terry Parks

Interestingly, my Alberta female is fairly dark(black blotches near head and tail), while the male has medium brown markings everywhere.

Interesting. The Alberta bullsnakes I've seen had light groundcolor with medium brown markings as you describe your male. I wonder how many others have darker Alberta bullsnakes like you female. Like I mentioned, I was expecting to see a darker bullsnake, but the ones that Del received were lighter than I expected. I only saw them as hatchlings and yearlings. He doesn't have them any longer. I don't know how they look as adults. I just love the variability bullsnakes can have. They would need this for their adaptability in such a large and varied range in habitat, elevation, and environment (maybe the same as habitat).

Terry Parks

Yeah, I think the male is more typical of the Canadians; the female is almost as dark as an Illinois Bull, and less yellow than the male. I don't have aghreat pic of the male currently, but here is the female:

Thanks for posting a pic and your comments Shaun. The female is a real nice looking bullsnake. I like her pattern. Real nice pattern. Here's a pic of one of Chris Kennard's Minnesota bullsnakes.

Terry Parks

my female alberta [from bart bruno] looks exactly like shaun's except that @ 2.5 y/old she is about the size of an average garter snake! she eats all the time but just never grew for some reason. despite this, she doesn't take up any space, is very cooperative, calm and pretty so i guess she has a permanent home.....

Dan, my pair really grew after they were three years old, so she may still reach 4' eventually. Mine are each around 5'. I'll have to get a good pic of my male because he is really different than the female.

Couldn't agree more on the Iowa bullsnakes Terry. Sorry to stick in my $.02 worth on a CO bull discussion but I moved from Denver back to Ia a while back so I'm at least a little qualified to judge. Iowa bulls are some of the most magnificient native snakes in the US (imho) but unfortunately are almost gone due to habitat distruction and such. Due to their rapidly declining #s it is important for breeders to keep the Ia strains going. (And of course to post pics! lol)

I've heard that they are declining in numbers. I believe they are protected in Iowa. I love the Iowas not only for their color, but they have one of the nicest patterns I've seen. A gorgeous snake in my opinion.

Terry Parks

Yes they are protected here but that hasn't stopped the urban sprawl (yes it's happening in Ia too) and distruction of the native prairie habitat that they need.

You will hear a lot of people saying they saw a bullsnake in their yard/garden or slithering across the road but 99.999999999999% of the time it is fox snake which are still rather prevalent here. If a non-herper tells me they had an encounter with a bullsnake I ask them if they p!$$&d their pants and if they tell me no I tell them it wasn't a bull. Not many outside of this forum will come away with an unexpected encounter with a 6 ft prairie python as thick as a man's wrist and hissing louder than a punctured tractor tire and not be shaken up a bit. Gotta love 'em.

Thanks for all the responses and pics! Im starting to think the 2 pits that I currently have are not bullsnakes like I thought they were, but actually I think 1 is a sonoran gopher and the other a great basin gopher. I never really paid much attention to pits before but they are quickly becoming one of my favorites.they seem to be pretty challenging to tell apart, they vary so much from locale to locale!

Thanx Again for the info
WES