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Pituophis care?

AliCat37

AliCat37

Michelle's Candied Corns!
I just got MY first bull snake. I'm just wondering what their care requirements are? He'll be going into the 2x4 four cage my ball is in right now after he moves to a tub. I got him from a couple work friends who's brother was not caring for it properly, so they gladly let me have him because I have others.
So, any and all advice appreciated. I'm excited to add him to my pet collection :)
 
You can keep bulls much like a cornsnake. Their needs are similar. they are fossorial so like to burrow. I'd keep a deeper substrate for that, but otherwise, temps etc are similar.
 
Awesome, I was hoping to hear that haha. I'm really excited to have him.. I've been needing a garbage disposal! He seems pretty young, he's not nearly the size of the one I found in my chicken coop a few years back!
 
Only thing I would suggest differently is that they do prefer it abit cooler than corns. I believe they are more like the Northern Pines... and I know I have to keep them abit cooler because otherwise they get Really cranky! lol
 
Dang! Lol. I'll have to get another thermostat then, since I was just gonna pop him into the cage that is at 88 on the hot side. Right now he has no heat on him though since the whole room is heated. I feel so bad for him right now since he's in a 12 quart tub for the night, but I have an extra 90 quart sitting in the garage I'm going to fix up for him tomorrow morning.
 
I keep my cornsnakes at 82-84 on the warm, never higher than that. They are indigenous to SC and our temps have a wide range....generally around 82 should be sufficient.
 
MegF. said:
I keep my cornsnakes at 82-84 on the warm, never higher than that. They are indigenous to SC and our temps have a wide range....generally around 82 should be sufficient.
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The thermostat at 88 is on the ball python and boa, not the corns.



ShenziSixaxis said:
So... why'd you get a new pet if you didn't research its care prior?
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I've had pine snakes before, and was under the impression that they ate a lot more frequently and needed to be kept warmer than corns. I was going off of what my ex, who believed he knew everything, told me. He would have me feed her a jumbo rat every week, or smaller rats every 5 days. I had been told previously that this particular bull snake was being maltreated. This snake was being kept in a dirty, broken aquarium and offered food rarely and had no heat on him in a room about 60 degrees. When they did offer him heat, it was through a heat rock, and when they did offer him food they offered him live and left it in there for days at a time until he'd eat it. He also had no water in the bowl when I got there, and it looked as if it had been dry for quite some time. So I felt that it was better for the snake to be in a home where at least it would receive food, shelter, water, and warmth, than left in a small dirty aquarium. I'm asking for basic requirements, like do I need to feed him more often than corns and what temperature should his warm side be? Should he have a light, or is the UTH good? Things like that.
 
I see nothing wrong in asking even the basic questions when your not sure about something. Everyone does things abit differently for their animals and of course, we all think we are right ;) Especially with rescues, I think it double important to ask things just because of the background of the animal is different than one from a careing owner.

Good on you for rescueing him from that. :)
 
Good luck with your new bullsnake! I have been really wanting something from the pituophis genus for a while now, so this thread is really helpful.
 
Thanks, he's definitely got the life now. I just got him set up in a 90 quart tub with water and hides. Once I order my rack he gets the really nicely decorated 2x4 cage :p I'm hoping he'll switch to f/t food without problems.
 
I would not feed him more often than cornsnakes. In general, the pituophis are messy snakes..the more you feed, the more they crap...and they crap a lot! I only feed my cornsnakes every 2-3 weeks when they are adults and feed something only a little larger than their body size. I guarantee you that a bull living in the wild would not eat every 5-7 days. They do fine on less and will be better for it. There are very few species I feed weekly...my snail eaters are one and generally my false water cobras since they have MUCH faster metabolisms than the colubrids. I'm glad you've given him a new home and better conditions.
 
I have two smaller cousins of the bull, San Diego Gophers and now that my male is adult he does get a rat pup sized a little thicker or about the same as he is every 14-21 days. He measures about 180 cm. My female, who is smaller gets a smaller rat pup every 12 or more days now, she is younger and planned to be bred next year. When they were younger I followed corns snake feeding frequency too and just looked at his girth for prey item size. The females tends to get squishy so thatis why I lessened the frequency to at least 12 days in between feedings. Both my gophers stop eating or skip meals in winter time.

I have read that they need loads of food but mine does well on this frequency. He seems to be looking for food sometimes but that will give him some exercise.

I give them slightly warmer warm spots than my corns and I do provide a warm spot during the night in winter, like I do with my corns, only I start doing that earlier in the season with my gophers since I consider them ore desert like animals. At the other hand, at night is does get quite cold in the desert.... anyway, they do great.
 
Awesome, I'm glad that they can be fed the same as corns. He's a little small compared to what I've seen out here, he's about the size of an adult corn snake.
 
Than he is still young or was not cared for sufficiently. Since you described the conditions he was in, I think it us the latter: not enough heat leads to bad digestion, hence growing slowly.
 
Growing slowly is not a bad thing folks. We're so used to oversized, obese snakes that we hardly recognize a normally sized snake. They grow very slowly in the wild...they eat rarely compared to what we feed them. My snakes are not even bred until they are 4 or 5 years old because they grow slowly. Filthy conditions and too cold are bad, but not feeding weekly is not. There is no snake on the planet except for insect eaters perhaps that feed weekly. Their digestive tract is not even set up to have food in it all the time...part of the reason most people's snakes sit in hides all the time. The animals are trying to digest all of the excess food in them. Most knowlegeable reptile vets will tell you that every 2-3 weeks for a snake is more than sufficient. As long as spine and ribs aren't sticking out, they are in proper weight. Let's see a picture of this guy!!
 
Alright, here he is! It's amazing how quickly a snake that was docile when you first handled him, turns into a psycho, typical bull snake once warmed up. He sure is a hissy thing!! And squirmy! I should mention that I keep saying him, but I really don't know. He's going to get probed on Tuesday so we'll know for sure soon :)
 

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What is wrong with his nose? He does look a healthy weight but since we do not know its age it is impossible to say if he is small or not.
 
He looks to be in excellent weight and very much the typical bull. Looks very much like our Eastern pinesnake (pituophus melanoleucus)..the markings are very similar. Looks like a rub on his nose, most likely I'd suspect from being in too small a tank. I'm betting he'll tame down after a bit. They usually get to be pretty good. The pinesnake that's at the SREL is pretty mellow for the most part although he can get a bit testy if he gets fed up with something. I generally kept the bitey portion away from the kids when they were petting him.
 
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