Let's Talk Pits...

Re: Loud...

That sounds like a fun snake. =) The milk has head-butted me a couple times when I startled him, so I know what you're saying there. I've seen some really pretty pine and bull snakes on breeders' sites. I might have to put those on my "one of these days I'm going to figure out how to talk my girlfriend into getting one" list. So far, I've only got her sold on the boas, she's not a big fan of colubrids.

I think the bullsnakes are the best. I have a pair now that are awesome. The male is close to 7 foot and when out of the cage very tame. In the cage is another story. The female is close to 5 foot and I hope they will breed this year. He is a normal bull with normal coloring. She is a normal but has very light markings. Both will rattle their tales and get up and hiss at you if you approach their cage but once you get them out and *call their bluff* they settle down and like to roam around.

I currently only have one in my collection, a female Northern Pine... but my wife and I are planning on adding a Durango Mountain Gopher and Mexican Pine this year.

My female is 8 months old around 32 inches long and completely calm and mellow. I have taken 2 closed mouth hits from her in the past but she has mellowed nicely.

I seriuosly do not understand why Pits are not more popular... I know that the fancier morphs/phases of the Kings, Corns and Milks plays into it... and yes I own corns and a king:-)

Unpopular or not my girl is definately cool...

Charles...
(Damn I ramble *lol*)

I like em all but am very pfond of the Sonoran Gopher Snakes. My guess is that this poll is kind of slanted toward Pine Snakes since you listed so many of them and lumped Gophers all as one. Right now I sort of have two Gopher Snakes. BI say sort of because both are loose in the house for about a month or so now. It has been ay too cold for them to venture out and I am hoping the bigger one does not get hungry and go for my wife's mini Dachshund. I know it would not be able to eat it, but the snake is about 5 1/2 to 6 feet long and the dog would be a pretty easy kill for it unless our other dog got protective. Then again it may go for our cat, which would make the wife very happy. Oh well, I'll just have to keep an eye open but the wife is usually the one who finds them.

Best regards,
Glenn

Hate to laugh but the humor is there:-)

As for Gophers... I for one intend on getting atleast one. John at cherryville farms said he should be producing some Striped Durango Moutain Gophers this year and I am definately interested in those as well as normal Durangos...

I have not looked much into sonoran gophers... mayhap something for me to look at:-)

Charles

Originally posted by Glenn Bartley
BI say sort of because both are loose in the house for about a month or so now. .......Oh well, I'll just have to keep an eye open but the wife is usually the one who finds them.
Best regards,
Glenn

Hehehe.....

I too currently have a Sonoran that's made a bid for freedom. Been loose now since about Christmas. Little hard to find since she's a yearling (approx 24"). Hoping she's found by me and not by the dog. Or the cat. In my case, it was the wife who set her loose - improper closing of cage one evening after a handling session.
Wife no longer allowed near snake cages.........Fortunately still have a 1.1 het pair so breeding project still intact - though this female (being a WC) is/was to help as a cross out for genetic diversity).

I was very glad to see this pit site here on Fauna!

Pits are my fave and have been for about 5 years. Here is what I have and who I purchased them from:

1 orange cape and 1 red cape-Vivid
1 Stillwater hypo bull, 1 rusty hypo sonoran, -John Ginter
1 albino northern pine-Wesley Chapel Repiles
1 snow Southern pine-Mark Bell
1 hypo Northern pine ( Alabama locale )-John Meltzer
1 Jersey black and white Northern pine-John Melzter
1 Albino Sonoran
1 White bull
1 Tx Bull het for albino ( large bloodline )-John Cherry
1 Applegate Gopher-Dave Jaques

These snakes have made my hobby much more enjoyable!
I have heard about pits giving attitude, but I have had about 90% success in mine not putting on displays.

What I love about pits is that for me, they have been much more into being handled than other snakes. Most of mine, I can hold for hours in one hand as I relax, chilling out on the couch, etc.

Take care guys!

Billy Fraser

Originally posted by DISCERN
Pits are my fave and have been for about 5 years. Here is what I have and who I purchased them from:
<snip>

I have heard about pits giving attitude, but I have had about 90% success in mine not putting on displays.

Nice collection! Ginter and Cherry both seem to produce really nice animals.
For gophers (particularly Sonorans) Jason Nelson at Envy seems to have really nice stock (that's where my 3 came from).

Success NOT putting on display? I think their "grumpiness" sometimes is part of the charm of the species I'm gradually getting a yearling male calmed down though I hope he never completely loses his display (real lovable little prick!) - though I may feel different about it should he get up in the 6-7 ft range as an adult, LOL.......

As long as it is all display and no teeth sunken into you hand it is usually pretty neat.m They surely can hiss up a storm, I guess that with their fairly impressive size made them a favorite of many a side show snake handler.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I have NO problem with Gophers at all. lol

There are two reasons I lumped the Gophers all together.
1. There are alot of subspecies of Gopher snakes out west. The poll option only has room for 10 choices, so I figured it would be easier to just put the Gophers together. Sorry if anyone thinks I was trying to slight them in any way, as that was totally not the case.
2. Growing up in the southeast, I know Pines MUCH better than I know Gophers. lol As I said, I know there are alot of Gophers out there, but honestly, I don't know them all. lol So instead of REALLY offending someone who might be a big fan of one of the subspecies I have no knowledge of, I figured that lumping them all together would be kind of all inclusive and that discussion would pick up on the ones you guys like. I'm glad to see that it has