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 #2002281


Greatballzofire
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 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Gomez


Gonzo


Lorenzo


Zumbida



All 08 babies. Gomez is wild caught, but just as easy to handle as the other three. I am hand feeding to keep them conditioned to handling. Gonzo, the biggest, is the most tame. After he gets a full belly he can be carried about wrapped around my hand, quite content. Zumbida means buzz in Spanish, which she used to do, in fact she even pinched my hand once, but is now better mannered. Lorenzo is her brother, and is much more social, coming out from under his hide to see me when I come in the room.

I started my snake family with kings, but the gopher snakes are seriously a lot more fun! The kings are beautiful but the gophers are easier to handle, less prone to hiding and being secretive.

Each one has its own 105 quart tub. They have moist sphagnum moss hides buried in the aspen, and UTH’s. During nice weather I put the tubs out on my front porch in partial sun. They really like to catch some rays in the morning. At the rate they are growing I will need bigger tubs soon!



05/11/09  08:20am

 #2002580


Hobo444
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2002281


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

My gopher snake looks exactly like your first one. I cannot get her to eat??? I’ve tried live and frozen (defrosted) pinkies, crickets, fish in her water bowl and wax worms. She won’t eat anything. She is smaller than yours and i am getting concerned. She is definitely a hatch-ling but she is super sweet.

Any ideas on how I can feed her her first meal in captivity. She has a new cage with a heating lamp and plenty of hiding places for comfort and security.

Please help!
05/11/09  06:03pm

 #2002637


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Hobo444   In reference to Message Id: 2002580


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Well, first off, gopher snakes only eat rodents and the occasional lizard. They do not eat crickets or worms or any other sort of insect, nor do they eat fish.

A thing you can try is put her in a ventilated container with a live pink over night. Put a towel over the whole affair, and do not disturb her. Some snakes are shy feeders. My wc 07 Cali king used to be a shy feeder but is now accustomed to me, and will eat in her feeding jar while I watch. It took her a whole year to get this relaxed.

My snakes all have UTHs which they like to coil up on under their hides. She may appreciate a warm spot where she can hide. The lamp is nice for basking but it doesnt work that great for creating a warm hidey spot.



05/11/09  07:34pm

 #2002974


Hobo444
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2002637


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Thank you so much for the info.

I removed all of the insects and got her the smallest live pinkie I could find. She still has not eaten. I purchased a "hollow log" from the pet store so she could hide under it. I just read on-line that a baby gopher snake can go up to a year before its first feeding because of stored yolk, she looks healthy and we have a water dish for her. We rescued her from a neighbors pool - she was stuck in the drain.

I really appreciate your input!

Thanks!
05/12/09  12:08pm

 #2002980


Hobo444
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2002637


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

If it is living in captivity, do they still hibernate??

Thanks for letting me pick your brain...
05/12/09  12:17pm

 #2003099


Concolor1
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   Message To: Hobo444   In reference to Message Id: 2002980


 Do They Still Hibernate?

Most snake breeders (and I’m one, albeit on a very small scale) will "cool" their snakes during the winter months. I use an unheated closet. This allows their reproductive and digestive systems to reset themselves, and pines, bulls, and gophers are noted for "hunger strikes"; this is one way of dealing with them. The usual temperatures are in the 50’s and 60’s Fahrenheit.

Snakes don’t really hibernate; the technical term is "brumate," and their bodily functions do slow way down although the common practice is to leave them with adequate drinking water . . .

In the case of the pituophis genus, brumation is probably essential to successful breeding; for more southerly species of corns and milk snakes it may not be as critical.
05/12/09  04:20pm

 #2003345


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Hobo444   In reference to Message Id: 2002974


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

I didn’t know a baby gopher snake could go a whole year without eating. I could see a September hatchling maybe going all winter without eating, while being in a state of lower metabolism due to cooler temperatures (brumation) but it should begin eating when the weather warms up in the spring.
Mine would eat ’til they burst if I let them! LOL! I have to be careful to not overfeed them and make them barf.

If she is typical of most gopher snakes, she should start eating soon. Make sure she has a warm hide. They really like a warm place to digest their meals.
05/12/09  08:31pm

 #2003718


Hobo444
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2003345


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

I bought what I think is the appropriate heating lamp, substrate and "hollow log" I turn the light on at 6:30am until 10:00pm??? She used to hide all of the time but now is starting to explore out in the open. Do gophers like to climb? Should i put a branch in the terrarium?

She has been living with the pinkie now for three days...amazingly, it was still alive this morning. She is not very aggressive at all. I wish she would eat...

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, I just want her to be healthy
05/13/09  11:03am

 #2003969


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Hobo444   In reference to Message Id: 2003718


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Gopher snakes have been known to climb branches to get bird eggs and nestlings. So a branch may entertain her. They also like to burrow. How they hunt gophers is they go into a gopher tunnel and catch the gophers by grabbing them, then pressing the prey against the walls of the tunnel with their bodies, a sort of constriction. You might try putting the pink in a paper towel tube and half bury it in the substrate, to mimic going into a tunnel after prey.
05/13/09  07:38pm

 #2007101


Hobo444
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2003969


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Another Question: should I add a heating pad to the cage if it already has a heating light?

Thanks!
05/18/09  03:18pm

 #2007229


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Hobo444   In reference to Message Id: 2007101


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

I don’t use any lamps, just UTH’s. For kings, corns, gopher snakes (pretty much all the temperate climate species) I don’t think a lamp is necessary unless your house gets really cold during the winter. As long as they have that hot spot under a hide they seem to be fine. At least that has been my experience.

Has your little snake eaten yet?


Here is Gonzo being very gluttonous today, trying to eat two at once! He finally gave up and ate them one at a time. LOL! He likes his feeding cup as he can press the prey against the wall of the cup with his body, just as if he were in a gopher tunnel in the wild.
05/18/09  07:14pm

 #2007635


Hobo444
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2007229


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

I’m not sure what a UTH is? Is that a heating pad? Do I leave it on 24/7? She still has not eaten but looks healthy and is not aggressive. She seems to be a quarter of the size of yours. How old is yours?

I’m going to try a pinkie again this weekend. She seems to be beginning a ritual of coming out at night and trying to climb the glass, otherwise she is comfortable hiding under the substrate or in her log.
05/19/09  04:23pm

 #2007764


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Hobo444   In reference to Message Id: 2007635


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

An UTH is a heating pad, or under tank heater. You can leave it on 24/7 with a thermostat to regulate the temperature.
Links to these products. You can probably find better deals if you shop around; I am mainly just posting them so you can see what they are.
Link
Link

All my gopher snakes are ’08 babies. Gonzo was born August 24, ’08 and weighs 105 grams.
Lorenzo and Zumbida are brother and sister born October 0f ’08 and he weighs 37.2 grams and she weighs 49.1 grams. He has to be fed smaller meals as he will regurgitate anything too big, but he is growing, albeit a bit slower than his sister.
Gomez weighs 40 grams. He is a wild caught, so I don’t know exactly what month he was born, sometime last year. Also he has until recently had to fend for himself, so probably was not eating on a regular basis like the other three.
05/19/09  08:09pm

 #2008544


JackAsp
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2007764


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

I favor strip-lights for photocycle and undertank heating+ burrowable substrate for thermoregualtion. Deeper bedding allows them to go deeper or shallower depending on what temperature they require. By the way, most undertank pads are way too powerful, so picking up an eight dollar lamp dimmer at the hardware store is not a bad idea at all.
branch use depends on the individual, but generally adults do not climb as much as juveniles and when they do it’s a sporadic thing; they aren’t like rat snakes. if you want some real entertainment, get a few pieces of ferret-gauge habitrail tubing. Once they can move in three dimensions while getting that "i can see you but you can’t see me" thing going on they will love it, and the tinting seems to accomlish precisely that.
05/21/09  01:55am

 #2008646


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2008544


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

I use the 4 watt Zoomed mini under tank heater regulated by a thermostat on the 105 quart sterilite tubs for my gopher snakes, with aspen 4 to 6 inches deep.

Your suggestion to get the habitrail tubing is inspired! Will pick up some tomorrow when I do my mouse delivery in town. The kings might like that better, too!



05/21/09  09:16am

 #2009121


JackAsp
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2008646


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Just be warned. As it gets older, it bcomes a bigger and bigger pain to click back together. But they do seem to enjoy it.
05/21/09  11:49pm

 #2009216


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2009121


 My Pacific Gopher Snakes

Quote:

Just be warned. As it gets older, it becomes a bigger and bigger pain to click back together. But they do seem to enjoy it.


LOL! I thought at first you meant the snake getting bigger and older...which led to a mental picture of the big fat snake stuck in the ferret tubing!...more coffee, please!
I will explore other tube material options as well.



05/22/09  08:49am


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