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 #2003460


Doug2
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 Does anybopdy even have a large bull snake?

Everyone claims that if you by a bull snake it will easily get 6+ feet but I only see baby’s. Does anyone actually have one near or over 6ft. If so say you do and post pics and no taking form Google please.



05/12/09  10:29pm

 #2007916


Concolor1
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  Message To: Doug2   In reference to Message Id: 2003460


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .



You can’t tell her size for certain, but the feeding bin she is in is about 18" X 36" and she’s right at the four foot mark and about 1 1/2 inches in diameter at her biggest point. I bought her at a show almost two years ago; she was a thumb-size yearling about sixteen inches at the time. She’s eaten regularly since then and never had a hunger strike (except during sheds), unlike a smaller Great Basin gopher snake I also have that is W/C.

As young as she is, I fully expect her to be pushing five feet by this fall (this pic is two months old); she easily polishes off a frozen rat every ten days or so and is often hungry in a few days, as she appears right now.

If I can line up a suitable male, I may try to breed her next spring . . .



05/20/09  12:49am

 #2008511


JackAsp
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  Message To: Concolor1   In reference to Message Id: 2007916


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Still working on it. At 9 months of age (supposedly he was a 9-day-old jumbo-baby when I got him... it’s not impossible he was another one of those tiny yearlings, but suffice it to say that last September he was thinner than a pencil and significantly shorter than a 20" tank) he is longer than his four foot cage, big-boned enough to be almost as thick as my 35" female hognose, and still lean enough to have those long wiry ridges in his musculature. He’s also damned strong for a snake that’s been eating f/t all his life! I don’t know what he does in that cage all day for exercise, but when you hold him he’s a strong boy. His length isn’t increasingly nearly as quickly as it was this winter; once he doubled in length he slowed down. But since this will be his first summer, I’m expecting to see another interesting growth spurt. How long that growth spurt will be, of course, is the question. I have no idea at all if he’s going to take five years to reach seven feet or if he’s going to hit five feet at a year an a half and then stay there forever. I’ll be fine either way. I’m not fully comfortable with the really tiny delicate little ones, but he was beyond that stage two months after I got him!



05/20/09  11:42pm

 #2010697


Doug2
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  Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2008511


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

36in Hog! thats pretty big.

how old is she now?
how old when you purchased her?
What does she eat?
any recommendations to get mine that large?



05/25/09  07:48am

 #2013529


Pats1of3
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  Message To: Doug2   In reference to Message Id: 2010697


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

yea ive seen a bull thats 6 and a bit feet its my bulls grandpa mine is apx 36 inches and just under a year



05/30/09  11:45am

 #2013678


Cphill58
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  Message To: Pats1of3   In reference to Message Id: 2013529


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Here is my snow / whatever morph ...three or four sheds ago ...much thicker in girth now...I haven’t accurately measured in a while...very close to 4’ if not over...eating medium rats ...no problem









OK ...ya made me get up and measure...currently 50 inches with a minor curve or two still needing to be stretched out... no need to I am very pleased with the condition and growth since November of 08 when I recieved it...at 46-48" and slightly under fed IMO

Cp



05/30/09  05:33pm

 #2016576


Doug2
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  Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2013678


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

was that the one that person on the Beardie forum gave away that was living with a corn snake? If so it looks much better. Great Work!!



06/04/09  10:22pm

 #2016869


Cphill58
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  Message To: Doug2   In reference to Message Id: 2016576


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Yes Doug ... him and 3 corns ...al in 2 enclosures ...the corns had RI’s and needed meds. The bull snake faired better ...just needed feeding.

Thanks for the compliment/s.

Chris



06/05/09  03:53pm

 #2017056


Matt Chandler
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  Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2016869


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

In 3 years your bullsnake got to 4 feet? took long enough. The one I had from he was 18" grew to 4 feet in less than a year and if I had him longer he would of been almost 6 feet or more. The key to getting them that big or getting him to grow so fast wasn’t just food or what I was feeding him. It all has to do with excercise. He was so well behaved that I would let him out to crawl around my room, and he would climb alot too. Hey Jack I did gt a new bull



06/05/09  11:38pm

 #2017587


JackAsp
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  Message To: Matt Chandler   In reference to Message Id: 2017056


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Even four feet is a nice couple handfuls of bull. Some nice pictures here. Great snakes!

Not looking to hijack, but just to answer a direct question:

Bebe was 8 months old when I got her and looked like she was half that age. Her girth was good, but she was small for her age. She’d been eating one fuzzy every five days. I found that she could eat two or three without being uncomfortable, and would actually be pacing around hungry again for a few days before the next feeding, so I fed her accordingly. In fact, by the end of that first bag, she was ready for multiple hoppers. At about a year and half, she was longer than a baseball bat, but still kind of narrow. Then suddenly at about two she thickened up into the beefy, heavy-skulled look typical of hoggies, even though by that point her appetite had actually decreased a bit. So honestly I think her size is just genetics. If I’d fed her a little less she would have grown up slightly stunted (for her) but I’d have assumed she was completely normal. You can’t make a normal person grow up to be Shaquille O’Neil by feeding him more burgers, though.

I’ve actually slowed down a little on my bull’s feeding regimen, because his first two feet of growth was so much quicker than his last one that I’m increasingly skeptical that there’s a seven-footer inside him rushing to get out. Oh, his food intake is still pretty huge for a ten-month-old snake, because he’s a pretty big baby, but once his size is taken into account it’s not what it used to be.

Two things I personally look for as signs that I’m not powerfeeding are: Long, skinny (for the length, age, and species) growth, and light defecation. A big fat snake that poops like a horse is probably eating considerably more than is good for it. The weird thing about Winkle was that until he was 8-9 months old he was a bottomless eating machine but he produced an amazingly tiny amount of waste. His body, at that particular point, was just screaming to grow, and was using almost every available nutrient. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I’m sure he’s far from done growing, but I suspect that from now on feet are going to be measured in years rather than months. Especially since, now that he’s acting more like a normal Pit juvenile than some kind of radioactive retic-baby, his feeding regimen is more moderate. As far as what it actually IS though... we’re still in negotiations. DAMN, those little bulls are good at begging!



06/06/09  11:24pm

 #2018983


Matt Chandler
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  Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 2017587


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

I just caught 2 Colorado Bulls Saturday and they are so calm and cool, people at the park asked me if I brought them to the park with me. The male is about 5 feet with red brown head and salmon colored stomach and the female colored like a normal yellow bull snake. The male looks like the root of the red bull strain, who knows. but they are smaller than the one I saw ravaged by a coyote, which was as long as I am tall, 5’10 and as thick as a male human wrist



06/09/09  06:14am

 #2019016


Cphill58
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  Message To: Matt Chandler   In reference to Message Id: 2018983


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Wow ... Sure would like to see the sweet guys you caught!!! ...where are the pics???

Too bad about the wild one caught and eaten by the coyotes. Where’s that camera when you need it ?

Cp



06/09/09  08:00am

 #2026932


Matt Chandler
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  Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2019016


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

I don’t know how to post pics on here yet. They both just shed and I suspect the female is gravid. But they are both of a pale khaki color on the tail with strong contrasting black stripes. My next task is to get them to eatI released another one I got from a friend and he was fairly big, probably 5’5" just guessing, but here in Colorado large bullsnakes are common up north in Sterling where there main food source are prairie dogs, and they are bigger and meaner than the ones around town. hEY JACK WILL YOU HELP ME WITH THE PICTURE SITUATION?



06/22/09  09:44am

 #2027127


Greatballzofire
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  Message To: Matt Chandler   In reference to Message Id: 2026932


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Hi Matt,
Go to Photobucket or Tinypic and get your images hosted. You will get an url that starts with {img} and ends with {/img}. Copy and paste this into your post. Don’t use the {img} thing provided in the making a reply thing here. I have bracketed the bb code with these {} so it wont think I am trying to post an image right now, but of course you would not be using any {} thingies, just[] and [/].



06/22/09  05:05pm

 #2027132


Greatballzofire
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  Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2027127


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .


My 08 Pacific gopher Gonzo photo taken the 18 of June; she is growing really fast and I think will be as big as Pacific gopher snakes can possibly get when full grown!


Here she is a few weeks ago eating. She loves to eat! The other day she mistook my arm for a mouse. I felt this odd pricking sensation on the inside of my forearm; she was trying to swallow me! A course correction got her back on the mice next to my arm.

So it wont be long before I can post a picture of a really big pituophis! LOL!



06/22/09  05:19pm

 #2027137


Cphill58
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  Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2027132


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

GBF ,

I am sitting here LOL...

Quote:

A course correction got her back on the mice next to my arm.



Why are the mice in the proximity of your forearm ... Nice pics ...ty for sharing..

Cp



06/22/09  05:44pm

 #2027447


Greatballzofire
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  Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2027137


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Quote:

Why are the mice in the proximity of your forearm


She was being fed crawlers, and a few crawled under my forearm, so she poked her head under my arm to get them, but missed. She is so big now, I am going to pre-kill her next meals (hoppers).



06/23/09  09:53am

 #2027641


Cphill58
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  Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2027447


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

MMMM K, I can see that ... not laughing at you ...just with you.

Cp



06/23/09  04:39pm

 #2027956


Greatballzofire
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  Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2027641


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Oh, that’s okay, you can laugh at me! I laughed, too, although it would not be so funny if she were full grown and decided to chew on me. Another option when I feed her a batch of crawlers is to simply wear a long sleeved shirt, so she doesn’t come into contact with bare skin.



06/24/09  09:11am

 #2033740


Russell55
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  Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2027956


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

When I was a kid living in southern California I caught many Gopher/Bull Snakes. Most were 4 foot or so, but I did catch one that was a little over 6 feet and a monster that was 8 feet long! I found him laying across a single lane dirt road sunning in the early morning. He was big enough to stretch completely across the road and then some! He had two areas of extensive scarring where he had obviously been run over by a car while laying across a road. The scarred areas were the precise size and distance apart to match the treads of both right and left side automobile tires running over him at the same time. You’d think he would have learned to avoid roads! I had him for about three weeks when he escaped. My friends helped me look for him and we finally found him by following the sound of frantic barking from a neighbors back yard. We found him under a bush being harassed by two chihuahua’s. When we pulled him out we discovered that he had a large bulge in his belly from eating a third chihuahua! We had to grab him and run because the dogs owner had called the police. We took him out to the wild and released him to keep him from being killed by the police. That was in 1968. I used to have a photo of him but lost it during a move.



07/04/09  09:40am

 #2033828


Cphill58
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  Message To: Russell55   In reference to Message Id: 2033740


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

Wow , great story ...I have never encountered anything that large.... musta been fantastic to see and rescue. Kudos to ya ...

The one time ( I will never forget) I was driving onto the freeway ramp and I spotted a large 5’ gopher crossing the perilous asphalt. I pulled over and grabbed a rag and proceeded to remove and place the snake to a safer place... not once did it attempt to strike or get aggresive .... The folks who saw me and gawked were quite amazed at how I handled the deadly and viscious RATTLER(communicated to me by the one passer by) ....LMAO

I was Steve Irwin for about 5 minutes .....rofl... anyway , the snake lived on that day .... hopefully for a much longer time.

I have always relished my wild encounters although few ...always memorable.

Cp



07/04/09  01:12pm

 #2034020


Greatballzofire
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  Message To: Russell55   In reference to Message Id: 2033740


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

That’s a great story! Eat those neighbors’ yappy dogs! Good on you for rescuing this old veteran of the road.



07/04/09  07:11pm

 #2035700


Reptaking
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  Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2013678


 Here’s My Three Year Old Texas Bull . . .

dude do u drink beer 4 a living



07/07/09  05:21pm


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