Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I only get my full of herps these days from what I come across in the field. I recall having some very large pits. Any of you have pics of some that you would consider large you would like to post?

Are you the same person as the one on bp.net asking?

Nope, not even heard of bp.net until now. While we are on the topic, has anyone satisfied the question on bp.net because it is most certainly slow here?

Lucas,

What is the locality of that bull you showed off on bp? That is a gorgeous big specimen. We used to catch them about that size on our hunting ranch near Brownsville, TX, but they weren't that dark. My understanding was that most of the big bulls came from Texas.

The bulls I grew up catching in Colorado, with one exception, never exceeded 6ft as adults.

Gorgeous snake.

-C

Bulls I caught in Colorado were typically short and on the slender side. Big bulls I have seen although very long don't seem to have the true size/girth say of some Black Pines I had that easily consumed jumbo rats. Although not as large as the longest bulls I have seen, their girth was impressive.

One breeder I know of that at one time was a regular here I believe may still have such massive Black Pines I speak of. Hoping he posts some pics.

Ball Python sites get more Pituophis hits than here these days? Times have changed. Pity.

I have an awesome herping site in Adams County Colorado for bulls if you are still in that area. I wouldn't mind sharing offline, just message me. In 1997 I caught a gravid female morph that was incredible looking. She had a faded pattern and looked lavender/purplish in the sunlight. I was more excited with that catch than any other in my life to this date.

Unfortunately, I didn't know she was gravid (she was only about 4ft) and while I was away for a long weekend she laid eggs and died from being egg bound.

I was fishing in Teller County in 1996 and happened upon a 7 ft bullsnake along the river. It's the only bullsnake I ever caught in Colorado over 6ft, and most were in the 4-5ft range.

Regards,
-C

I would definitely take you up on this but we now reside in Florida. But if ever in North Florida I'll take you out herping locally. I can promise we'll see some EDBs and a Mugitus or two. Maybe a blue tongue or spur thigh as well. Never know in Florida anymore. Kid last year showed me a snake he found. Hatchling banded CA king. Right in a State Park.

I'm blessed enough to live right on Hwy 277 in Texas, so I have found several specimens exceeding 6 ft. I have a Kingsville Red that is right at 6 ft, and weighs about 6 lbs. I'll get pics posted as soon as I slow down long enough to take them. He's also in blue right now, so quite dull looking at the moment.

Here is a picture of my biggest. She is just over 7 feet. She was bred by John Ginter and is a Kingsville Stillwater Kankakee mix.

Yeah, this is one long bull. Nice. Ginter mixing up his bulls these days?

I got a bit creative with a couple of my sayi lines a few years ago. ended up only having room for the pure lines and a red/hypo sayi mix. space is always the issue right!

Nice Bull. No snakes in this house. Few crawling around the yard types depending on season. Forty years of it knocked me out. I was never good with change.

Speaking of space restrictions, we have Aquariums through out the house. Custom types, furniture quality. Ran out of space so my wife built a koi/water garden in the yard. 1,000 gallons so that we can now feed the wild bird population. Problem with Aquariums is, once put in place, you can not easily move them... Should have stuck with snakes.

John, curious to know your views, if any, on Mugitus populations in Florida, particularly NE Florida? Past 2 years I have come across more individuals than I had over the previous 18 years. Along with a rattler explosion that at times is nothing short of amazing.

hey that is an interesting observation. I have not heard of this but there are several other biologists/naturalists in that region that may also have insight. i wonder if this is showing up in any census studies. That would be good news. Biologist struggle with these sorts of phenomenon because they can be difficult to quantify. We always worry that the numbers may represent a false trend as in the observer changed jobs and now they are traveling through habitat at a different time of day, etc and having more encounters, or maybe you have gotten better at finding them so there are not more animals but more frequent encounters? I remember conducting surveys for particular species and thinking, " I know I could find more animals if I didn't use this pesky survey protocol". but of course it isn't about how many I can find but how repeatable the survey techniques are for accurately measuring trends over time.... Sorting out all the potentially confounding variables can be a [bleep].

With that said, maybe some of the habitat conservation measures, educational programs, land use changes, etc. are actually working and local populations are increasing.

Are you seeing an increase in all age classes or an increase in the numbers of yearlings or 3 year olds, or adults?

Post that observation on the FB Pituophis page and see if any of the many Florida folks have a shared experience. That would be great news.

John, not new areas but they are new sections of areas we have been freguenting for several years. Never a hatchling or breeding size adult. Our focus has been Duval County. It started years ago in the hopes we would come across some of the naturally occuring Florida/Eastern kings that were once known to the area. Kings I can not find :::: Instead we found these.

I'll make notes of all your guestions and pay more attention to such from here on out. Although many may seem obvious to others and to myself after the fact, a few though I never gave any thought to.

Thanks for the direction on where to post info. such as this. I've been asking for months from others and never put it together myself. FB is the way to go it now appears. I have had posts in KS field forums hang empty for months.

Hey Rich, I just wanted to clarify that there is a facebook page called the "pituophis project" run by Sean Antonio, search it and participate.

Sorry, I forget to mention to click on the tab titled EPLM.

Well, you can send this one to me, and then you'll have more room!!

I was going to ask the same but this is a "large" pituophis thread and well, this bull although nicely colored is on the small size. Wonder if they come in an adult size?

Still no big ole black pines. Hey Boyle, where are you?

Are you referring to the one I posted or the one John posted? The female I posted is just over 7 feet.

My black pine male is getting there. He is around 6 now.

Nah, not your bull. It most certainly has some length to it. I'm referring to that puny bull pic this Ginter guy posted. Damn pretty but so small. Who is this guy anyway? Think he keeps any larger pines?

LOL! He probably has one or two that are pretty large.

I must admit that I am spoiled by the ease of posting images some other sites offer and I guess that makes me lazy...

Let me see if I can recycle an image of a huge jani from a few years back. This snake would have been a formidable rabbit eater in the wild. Bad news killer for sure.

Some of my lineaticollis are upwards of 7 feet long, my old female kingsville TX sayi is an easy 7 ft long, My blake pines both topped out just over 6 despite being 20 plus years old, my old los Mimbres deppei male has got to be a bit over 7 ft long if he is an inch, I have an older bimaris that is probably 5 ish which I consider big for that subspecies, all my Duval Co. FL animals are between 5 and 6 ft long, I have an 21 year old northern that would have to be over 7 ft, my santa crus island animals are a whopping 30 inches! I have never been much for measuring the snakes but these estimates are close...

I figured you had one or two John!

Nice jani!

John, nice "Jani". It was actually this photo of yours that motivated my interest in these pits. I had thought my previous pic posted was one of yours but realized afterwards that particular "Jani" was from Jonel's peach phase.

I doubt it. I think he's into that scrawny stuff only.

My five year old Pacific gopher at 1719 grams.

My 2 year old hypo bull Rozy and her Kingsville x Stillwater mother Zoey who is a little over 4 years old. Rozy weighs 1890 grams now. Her birthday is tomorrow, exactly 2 years and still growing. She is destined to big a big one!
-----
Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Nice group. Good weight on these.