Dave and Jeremy highlight a super cool genus of snakes in this Pituophis party. These unique snakes make great pets as well as super cool animals to see in the wild.
I have a wild caught bull snake we caught a couple years ago as a juvenile and he is one of the coolest snakes I've ever seen! He is now over 4½ft long and 1½in in diameter
Watching any Pituophis eat is crazy. They waste no time and go right for the head and immediately start walking their jaw over the prey item. They definitely “vacuum” rats and chicks like it’s their job.
So they will eat any kind of rat basically xxxL,jumbo,collasal? Somebody told me they similar size to rainbow boas length in girth wise. I'm a ball python owner they slightly smaller than bulls,pine, gopthers they reach 6 ft but very sticky , bulky built so they still able to eat jumbo rats and small guinea pig, 🐿️,pigeon . But balls aren't big enough for rabbits . So I want upgrade .
My husband & I have been enjoying our corn snake and King snake, and are looking into acquiring something a little bit bigger. I’ve been researching bull snakes and am finding them fascinating! This video was helpful in understanding the difference between these three…thanks for info!
I just found a nearly 6 foot gopher in my driveway..he had a hurt tail, lots of blood. so my neighbor took him next-door covered him with cardboard and a towel for warmth while he healed and two thrashers tried to get him but we protected him from them. Today he feels much better and is trying to be on the move.
Thank you CCA! We obviously agree with you, Pitties are incredibly awesome serpents, especially when finding one in the wild, gets the heart pumping every time! Thanks for commenting.
I just got one today actually! CB Yellow Bullsnake baby about a month old, shipped from a breeder states away, and she’s just the sweetest thing! Only “rattled” once and never shows any signs of biting or posturing. I’m blown away by how sweet she is, I can’t wait to watch her grow into a big beautiful girl! ❤
Pituophis is one of the coolest genera of snakes in North America, some of my favorites to work with. I can’t wait to see one in the wild one day, I’m not really in range of them but I look forward to exploring in some proper habitat some time. Great facts and stories as always, really good work guys! - Harrison and Evan
Agreed 💯. That’s why we try and educate people about their importance. If they can’t see their beauty then at least try and find value in the important role they play in the ecosystem.
Hey there! I've recently adopted a very young bullsnake, 3-4 months old, captive bred. He's quite nervous and alternates hissing/rattling to quick escape attempts when I try to handle it for cleaning his box. How do you advise to proceed in order to get him more acquainted to handling? Many thanks!
You have to ignore the hissing and tail rattling and gently pick them up. You could try a small snake hook to lift it out and then work it through alternating hands slowly without grabbing quickly or to tightly. Some of ours will still hiss and vibrate the tail when you go to handle them, but once picked up they’re much better. Just be consistent and show them that hissing won’t stop you and you’re not a threat. Tong feed them dead prey as well if you aren’t already
First off, gopher snakes - I used to be super happy and interested to see in nature, but I never had an inclination to keep them due to them being common. Well, a few decades later, I think they are fantastic captives, among the best colubrid snakes for a person that has some experience. 2nd - pine. Funny you mentioned it. Back in the 80s, all we had was pine, with "sani-chip" coming out later. In any case, many of the Cal king strains (albinos, lavenders, B&Ws) that exist today came from stock kept on pine. In fact, many of those adults lived passed 20 years easily. (I have found California mtn kings under pine needles where I got sticky pine sap on my hands..) Kiln-dried pine can be perfectly safe, especially if the shavings are screened (by the user) to get rid of the fine dust. I use a mix of screened pine and screened aspen - I like the qualities of the mix. Keep the vids coming!
The whole Pituophis genus is incredible to see in the wild and keep in captivity. It is funny how people get on a kick without any hard evidence and based solely on what they “feel” is right and next thing you know it’s the only way to do it. Thanks for watching and for the comments!
Hey, just saw you at the reptile show! Really great, I remember coming to your show as a kid and seeing Sunny! I now have two crested geckos and a Mexican Black Kingsnake!
Definitely the corn snake. They don’t get as big and chill out much easier with handling. Once you’re comfortable handling a snake then a gopher would be fine. They can be intimidating when they hiss if you’re not used to it. Corn snakes make great pets.
How did I miss your Bull Snake vid and Channel!!!! I feel cheeted I just subscribed. Will check in your vids. Got my first 5 bulls two years ago babies. Have had other reptiles over the years. Any more Bull vids updates?? Great show!
Well we’re glad you found our channel! We do have videos of wild bull snakes and gophers snakes as well. We will need to do a follow up video on the bulls though. Thanks for commenting!
They are one of our favorites as well. Finding them in the wild never gets old. We will eventually do an episode soley on wild bull snakes. Thanks for commenting!
East San Diego county, I was walking a dirt fire road. The berm at the side of the road had brush overhanging. Many lizards were scampering around underneath the overhang. A young Gopher snake had his head and shoulder underneath the brush. His head was elevated and bobbing up and down like a lizard. I've never known of a snake that knew this strategy. Provoke dinner to come to him. How did this animal figure this out?
That's amazing! Snakes are much more intelligent than people realize. We have seen snakes do some amazing things, both in the wild and in captivity. I witnessed a gopher snake in Arizona, climb and coil around a cactus to avoid predation. It seemed to know that it was safe among the sharp needles. In captivity, I had several snakes return to their enclosures after escaping for several weeks.
What equipment/enclosure needs would you recommend and/or use for a gopher snake? I’ve read different things online. I’ve seen that heat mats are both good and bad and a halogen heat lamp and T6 UV lights are good as well. We have a 48x13x21 55 gallon tank, but I think it’s a little small depth wise? Are the heat and humidity requirements for our Oregon regional gopher species different for other areas? Thanks for your help!
A 55 gallon would definitely work for a medium sized gopher snake. They are good on the ground in burrows, but they also are excellent climbers. So providing good hides as well as branches would be a good start. Depending on how cool your room where the snake will be is depends on how you want to heat the snake. During the day reptiles get heat from above via the sun but in the evening/night they use heat sinks from below them. You could use a heat pad under a hide spot but provide daytime basking area as well. The Pituophis genera can definitely tolerate hot sunny temps. All replies can benefit greatly from UV but it’s not 100 percent necessary for this species. We aren’t advocating against uv just saying you can add it later. You could always build on top of the aquarium and increase the depth of substrate in the tank. Not sure on the Oregon climate but do know that gophers can be found from arid desert conditions to much more humid forested areas. Are you keeping a wild caught individual? We tend to keep them drier but provide a humid hide/side for them to choose and most them down every once in a while, especially while shedding. They are beast when it comes to eating and are generalists so that’s fun to watch them eat. Hope this helps feel free to ask other questions
@@NatureInYourFace we are going to purchase a captive bred. Are you sure that the 13 inch width on a 55 gallon tank is enough moving space for an adult? We weren’t planning on getting anything bigger than that. We do have a taller tank so the height would make up for it. I didn’t realize that UV isn’t 100% required either!! Any recommendations for a specific heating lamp?
Arcadia makes some really good lamps and heating elements. You can also use flood lightbulbs but just not led ones as they don’t produce heat haha. You want a porcelain socket either way to handle the prolonged heat and prevent a fire.
@@NatureInYourFace Hello there, our gopher snake just turned a year old, but has not eaten since 12/13/22. I've been reading online about it for a bit and some people think that it could be brumation instincts, but I am not quite sure. I also found some slightly stinky aspen bedding under his water bowl that I immediately cleaned out and ended up replacing all of the substrate in his enclosure. He just shed a couple of weeks ago and his underbelly scales are slightly pinkish, but I cannot tell if that is just his natural scale color changing or potential scale rot. There is also one tiny spot on his underbelly that looks almost blueish like it's bruised. Any thoughts? Just want to make sure that he is doing okay.
How are you heating the snake? I’ve seen snakes get burns on their bellies and it look pink like that. Also make sure the substrate isn’t getting too moist. We would try increasing temps to get the snake motivated to eat. What are you feeding it?
@@NatureInYourFace ok I kinda figure they were biggest but what about pine and gopher snake what's the biggest ? So typical wild rabbits are bigger than petshop rabbits so if was feeding a bullsnake let's say 6ft will it handle petshop rabbit 🐇 or it's best to get guinea pig, squirrel 🐿️? In will it manage a pigeon or be able to kill something like a bearded dragon lizard? Also I wanna know do they take long to grow ? Cus I'ma ball python owner these things are ok but grows slow . Need a upgrade . Can I house a large adult in 125 gallon 6 ft tank?
Gophers get bigger than pine snakes typically, but pines can get big. Wild rabbits tend to be skinnier so a smaller pet store rabbit. Rats and guinea pigs would be better once large. Yes it could it a pigeon or squirrel. Probably would eat a bearded dragon but that would be a pricey meal with not much meat. A 125 gal would be good and you could build on top of that for climbing height as well.
@@NatureInYourFace you can give it the big beared dragons they have really nice big ones at our petstores here nyc .they are sticky so it should be meat in they weight same in bout same size as xxl rat 🐀, 🐿️ are thin but long ,pigeon is short , wide , kinda fat. In a guinea pig is like equal to small 🐇. So bulls reach carpet python's, dumerils, coachwhip and eastern diamondback rattlesnake size in length
But they lack they girth that's why I'm tryna make sure it can eat all the above prey . Plus I want to buy one or a pair this summer . A 125 gallon tank is 6 ft lengths 2 ft high . Somebody else who had a bullsnake said they grow almost like a rainbow boa just add a ft . But I say idk cus I would 🤔 a ball python , emerald tree boa, are more so closer in size to rainbow boa not bullsnake. But I do know indigos get slightly larger than bulls 8.5ft. will a racer snake and black rat snake be about same size bullsnake?
Yea we don’t typically collect from the wild but aren’t 100 opposed to it unless the animals are protected or low in numbers. It’s hard to remove animal from the wild when they live in an awesome habitat. If it’s in an area that’s being developed or destroyed that’s justifiable.
@@NatureInYourFace I've spotted them in Kentucky & West Virginia mountains & forest's many years ago... The Kentucky Pines are considered of great concern of going endangered in the wild in Kentucky... I really miss that part of the country! Kentucky & West Virginia are awesome!!!
