Bottomless Pit

[EL Ziggy]

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well. I'm wondering about my new bull snakes appetite. She's 5 months old and I've had her for a month now. I've been feeding her 2-3 hopper mice every 6 days. Its about 15-20% of her body weight. They leave a slight bulge which is gone 3 days later. She seems to have a faster metabolism than my kings and is usually out 'hunting' about 4 days after she eats. I've heard bulls can be pretty ravenous eaters and that they should be fed larger meals than a comparable king snake. She's gained a little bit of weight since I've had her but hasn't shed yet. She downs hoppers pretty easily and quickly. The next step up is a small mouse, which my yearling kings are eating. She's a little smaller than they are and a small mouse looks a little large for her but may not be. My question is should I increase her feeding amount, the frequency of her feedings, or leave things as they are? I appreciate any input.

[Terranaut]

Pits are eaters. I would up the amount and keep the schedule the same.
Just watch your snake doesn't get fat. Pits should be lean until well into adulthood. Kings are typically a thicker, heavier snake so if your bull gets thicker than your king you might want to back off the food a bit.

[EL Ziggy]

Pits are eaters. I would up the amount and keep the schedule the same.
Just watch your snake doesn't get fat. Pits should be lean until well into adulthood. Kings are typically a thicker, heavier snake so if your bull gets thicker than your king you might want to back off the food a bit.

Thanks Terranaut, I didn't know pits were typically leaner than kings. I thought pits were the larger bodied snakes. I learn something new every day. Thanks again.

[Terranaut]

They are at that age. Just a little. I have seen a few on the net that are grossly overweight. A few shots of my gopher.
At about 2 months

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j9/terranaut0/IMG_0686_zps91a9ccf4.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/terranaut0/media/IMG_0686_zps91a9ccf4.jpg.html)

At about 2 years

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j9/terranaut0/photo-1882.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/terranaut0/media/photo-1882.jpg.html)


Now at 3ish

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j9/terranaut0/20130921_185242_zps794d4da2.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/terranaut0/media/20130921_185242_zps794d4da2.jpg.html)

[kwhitlock]

Terranaut, your gopher is a monster lol

[EL Ziggy]

Very nice gopher Terranaut. Is it just the lighting or was there a significant color change?

[Terranaut]

She is about 5ft and will most likely keep growing a bit more.
Skittles has had a bit of colour change but most of it in the pics is lighting.

[sharthun]

Beautiful snake! Ever vigilant!! :)




They are at that age. Just a little. I have seen a few on the net that are grossly overweight. A few shots of my gopher.
At about 2 months

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j9/terranaut0/IMG_0686_zps91a9ccf4.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/terranaut0/media/IMG_0686_zps91a9ccf4.jpg.html)

At about 2 years

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j9/terranaut0/photo-1882.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/terranaut0/media/photo-1882.jpg.html)


Now at 3ish

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j9/terranaut0/20130921_185242_zps794d4da2.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/terranaut0/media/20130921_185242_zps794d4da2.jpg.html)

[Terranaut]

Lol. My wife is more fearful of small snakes than big ones.
Skittles is great. She has cool colours and patterns but seems to think she is a rattle snake. She will hiss and shake her tail but as soon as you touch her it all stops. She has never struck or anything.
More people should keep pits.

[EL Ziggy]

I have to say I love the pit attitude. My bull snake will hiss, huff, puff and bluff but never strikes at me (anymore). She did try to tag me with a closed mouth the first time I handled her. It was funny because she's so small but I imagine a full grown pit could be a bit intimidating. We're on much better terms now :)

[EL Ziggy]

A bit of news...My Albino Bull snake shed yesterday which was a pretty big surprise because she never went blue. My Cal King has done this with his last 2 sheds as well. Yesterday was also feeding day and everybody was pretty hungry. I gave them all one small mouse and a hopper each. She-Ra, my bull snake, inhaled the hopper and then took down the weanling pretty easily too. She was still searching for more but I figured that was plenty. She really is a bottomless pit :)

[sharthun]

She-Ra will be over 5ft before you know it!;):p

[EL Ziggy]

She-Ra will be over 5ft before you know it!;):p
She is growing fast. She was about 50g when she arrived a month ago and she was 95g before feeding time yesterday.

[Terranaut]

Albinos go pink or lavenderish and not blue.

[EL Ziggy]

Albinos go pink or lavenderish and not blue.
It was almost impossible to tell she was going into shed Terranaut. I wouldn't have handled her the few days prior to her shedding if I had known. I'll try to be more aware next time. Thanks for the tip.

[sharthun]

Yeah same thing with my albino prairie king, it's hard to tell when he's going into shed.


It was almost impossible to tell she was going into shed Terranaut. I wouldn't have handled her the few days prior to her shedding if I had known. I'll try to be more aware next time. Thanks for the tip.

[CosmicOwl]

Yeah same thing with my albino prairie king, it's hard to tell when he's going into shed.

That's funny. It's very similar with my gold dust corn snake. you can see cloudiness in his eyes, but that's the only giveaway. My grey rat snake on the hand, I can just glance at him and tell that he's in shed. He gets really dark and brownish in color.

[LiL Zap]

Do you have any pics of She-Ra?

[EL Ziggy]

Do you have any pics of She-Ra?

Hey Zap- I need to take some new pics of all my crew. Here's pics of She-Ra when I first got her. She's a little bigger now.
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-colubrid-forum/103808-new-snake-thursday.html

[LiL Zap]

Hey Zap- I need to take some new pics of all my crew. Here's pics 8f She-Ra when I first got her. She's a little bigger now.
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-colubrid-forum/103808-new-snake-thursday.html
She looks great! My friend is a huge fan of bull snakes, the dude goes nuts over them lol. I'm gonna show him yours since I know he's dying for an albino.

[EL Ziggy]

She looks great! My friend is a huge fan of bull snakes, the dude goes nuts over them lol. I'm gonna show him yours since I know he's dying for an albino.
Those pictures don't do her any justice. She's a beautiful yellow/orangish color. I love her feisty attitude and she eats like a beast. She's almost doubled her weight in a month. I highly recommend them.

[LiL Zap]

Those pictures don't do her any justice. She's a beautiful yellow/orangish color. I love her feisty attitude and she eats like a beast. She's almost doubled her weight in a month. I highly recommend them.
Where did you get her?

[EL Ziggy]

Where did you get her?

I just PM'd you Zap.

[reptocarl]

Hello, it's been awhile since i've posted anything but something weird happend with my 3yo male bull snake Hissy. He just stopped eating. I know that all of the pituophis clan is notorious for doing this from time to time but Hissy never had. I keep him on a seven day feed schedule and he went an entire month. I even tried live. Today I tried feeding him to no avail so I left the thawed rat in his feeding tub and put the lid on it so I could clean his cage and change the bedding. His feeding tub is a rubbermaid with a solid black top. When I returned the rat was gone. I don't handle him very often but he's always eaten out of my hand. Should I handle him more often or does he now just want to eat in private? He's aboutfive feet in lenghth and lives in 48x24x18 proline cage with an rhp controlled by a pulse proportional thermostat. His warm side is 81°f during the day and shuts off at night. His lighting is timed with his heat cycles. Any thoughts? Thanks,
Carl

[EL Ziggy]

Hi Carl, I'm new to the world of pits but could it be a breeding season thing? I keep my bull a little warmer than you do, my hot side is 86, but I know others keep their's cooler too. If your husbandry is on point maybe it was just a fluke.

[poomwah]

Hey Zig, I thought I had wasted a rat pink tonight, I put one on Norma Jean's "plate". You know how normally I get the snakes out and leave the room while someone else puts the food in the enclosure.... well we were in a hurry today so we just put the food in their enclosures while they were hidden. The reason I thought I had wasted one is because a few minutes later, I saw Norma's head poking out of a hide and her eyes were completely clouded over and her head was pretty cloudy. I went in the kitchen to wash out the container I thaw the pinkies in, came back and the pinky was GONE.
She's living up to the pit appetite :]

[EL Ziggy]

Hey Zig, I thought I had wasted a rat pink tonight, I put one on Norma Jean's "plate". You know how normally I get the snakes out and leave the room while someone else puts the food in the enclosure.... well we were in a hurry today so we just put the food in their enclosures while they were hidden. The reason I thought I had wasted one is because a few minutes later, I saw Norma's head poking out of a hide and her eyes were completely clouded over and her head was pretty cloudy. I went in the kitchen to wash out the container I thaw the pinkies in, came back and the pinky was GONE.
She's living up to the pit appetite :]
Poom-Glad to see NJ is putting the hoppers down. She's growing fast. I feed all my snakes in their enclosures with tongs. I love to see them 'attack' their prey. I get back home tomorrow and can't wait to kiss the girlfriend, kiss the baby, and feed the snakes :).

[reptocarl]

Hi Zig, I think it might be just a pituophis not eating for no reason thing like they're well known to do. I used to keep his warm side at 87°f but noticed he was staying on his cool side. I then lowered his temp to 83°f and he seemed to use both sides of the cage better. I lowered it down to 81°f in an attempt to get him to eat because I know too high of temp can make them not eat. Let your pits behavior tell you what temp they want. Cape gophers though do like it much cooler than the rest of the clan, like the upper 70's.
Carl