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Greatballzofire JackAsp Concolor1 Greatballzofire Greatballzofire Greatballzofire |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Pacific Gopher snakes
My new pair of Pacific Gopher snakes, photo taken soon after their arrival 1-22-08. They were sort of a Christmas present from my partner; I said golly I sure would like to have a gopher snake and he said Okay go ahead and get it. LOL! Zilla is the female at the top of the photo and Gonzo is the male below her. They were hatched August 24, 08. They look a little dull as they were going into blue. None the less they both ate the next day, and have been enthusiastic eaters of live fuzzies ever since. They will also eat the pinkies my kings sometimes refuse (the kings pretty much slow down eating over the winter) which pleases me, as the fts don’t go to waste. It is a real pleasure to have snakes with robust feeding response! My kings will pick up in the spring. They are still feeding sporadically, though, being as they are 08 and 07 babies. The gophers eat every time! This species is native to my locale. One of my cats caught and killed a hatchling gopher snake this summer, and I felt so sad when I found the poor little dead body. That’s when I decided to add gopher snakes to my collection. Will post some more photos soon. |
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| 01/12/09 07:53am |
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JackAsp View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 1930865 Pacific Gopher snakes
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| 01/12/09 05:09pm |
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Concolor1 View Profile |
Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1931136 Nice, Welcome . . .
By contrast my sixteen inch GB gopher (a hatchling last summer) turned her nose up at a f/t fuzzy last night (might be getting ready to shed; might just be holding out for a live one), and I’m still brumating a w/c gopher that went off its feed near the end of August (I started cooling him the first week in December) in order to jump start its appetite. Of course my big Texas bull is already letting me know that adult mouse a week ago was nice, but something more needs to be forthcoming . . . As for keeping snakes together, I generally agree with the conventional wisdom (having had a case of hatchling corn cannibalism two years ago), but I also have two snakes--different species--in one cage as an economic/space measure; the important thing is to feed them separately . . . I’m a supporter of outside feeding in general anyway; none of my snakes strikes when I open the cage (even my pits whose attitudes seem to have mellowed lately) since they don’t make a Pavlovian association of the cage opening with food appearing . . . Gophers with red on them, interesting . . . Gonna look for some real pale/white ones that live west of here according to something I read on another forum . . . |
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| 01/12/09 08:20pm |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Concolor1 In reference to Message Id: 1931246 Nice, Welcome . . .
When I feed them I put them in separate feeding containers. That way I know who ate what, and avoid sibling rivalry. Gonzo is pretty laid back but his sister Zilla gets pretty excited at meal time. After they eat I wait a few hours, then gently put the feeding containers back in their big tub with the lids off, and they can leave at their leisure. That way I don’t have to handle them and risk anybody regurgitating. They like to coil up together over the UTH area under their hide.
Their tub. Just before I got them I had a great deal lined up on Craig’s List for a big tank but then got snowed in and missed out on the deal. The delivery guy took three days to get the snakes to me, as the roads were so icy, so he took them home and babysat them over the weekend; what a great guy! Still looking for a big tank. This tub is a 105 quart affair, and they will soon outgrow that, the way they are eating! This tub has passed the snake escape test with flying colors! Wing nuts and bungee cords. The wild gopher snakes I find around here in the Sierra Foothills are more tan and brown. I have never seen such red ones in the wild. |
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| 01/13/09 09:06am |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 1931491 Nice, Welcome . . .
A few weeks ago I gave Gonzo his own tub, exactly like the original tub (still no luck at Craig’s List. LOL) because although Gonzo will eat big meals with gusto and never has any problems, poor little Zilla tends to regurgitate anything larger than one small pinky. She is doing fine now, but I have to be most cautious to only feed her small meals. She is the first snake I have had with a tendency to barf. Keeping them separate makes it easy to monitor who is doing what food and defecation wise. Also since they are now separate I just put the food on a little dish near the hide they are currently under, giving them a signal first that food has arrived, by lightly tapping on the roof of the hide. When I go to handle them I don’t do any tapping first, so they will associate the tapping with food only, and I wont get tagged by accident some day. |
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| 02/13/09 09:53am |
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Greatballzofire View Profile |
Message To: Greatballzofire In reference to Message Id: 1952012 Nice, Welcome . . .
Gonzo being hand fed. This is the first time, a couple of weeks ago. We are establishing a routine of putting the food on his hide, picking him up and presenting it to him, and letting him dine. I don’t plan on holding the food in my hand; thumbs and fuzzies look a lot alike! LOL! Also, I don’t think he is a pure Pacific gopher, but is some sort of intergrade with vertebralis, or Cape, because of the red coloring and lack of markings on his head. |
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| 03/12/09 11:09am |
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