Sunflower: Gopher Snake

Sunny is my newest addition. A friend of mine works at a nearby snake shop, and when I went to see her at work a month or so ago I spotted this lovely gal in one of the bottom tanks. I've always loved pituophis (pine/bull/gopher snakes) but never had one of my own. I took her out just to hold for a few minutes...and, well, I suppose you know the rest! ;)

I asked the owner of the shop to probe her to find out her gender...The easiest and safest way to determine the gender of a snake is to gently insert a small probe into their vent and see how deep it goes. The probe will go MUCH deeper on a male snake. A less accurate method is to look at the tail. In general, males have a longer, narrowed tail than females. Her tail says "Male", but she was probed several times, and she is clearly female. This is good news to me because I'd like for her to produce some hybrid babies with Kostya when he's big enough. (Probably next year!) Hybrids of corn snakes and any snake of the pituophis genus are called "Turbo Corns".

One of the things that has always drawn me to pituophis is their attitude. They tend to be loud hissers, and they tend to hiss a LOT. When I picked Sunflower up in the shop, she gave a BIG hiss, and I was delighted. When I got her home, she became the mellowest snake I've ever seen. I was actually concerned that she might be sick at first because she was SO docile. Nope, it turns out I just picked the mellowest gopher snake in the world. That's OK, I love her pretty yellow and orange coloring, and she is a joy to handle.

Enough rambling, here she is!
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...Pets/008-2.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...t/Pets/012.jpg

Her pretty face:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...t/Pets/006.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...Pets/007-1.jpg

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...t/Pets/015.jpg

These aren't the greatest photos, I know. I had her out and was planning to take more, but she looked like she was about to poop, so I hastily put her away! She's a little over five feet long now, and could make it to as long as eight feet!

What a pretty girl! How funny that you picked her because she hissed the loudest, and then she turned out to not be a hisser now that she's home! Welcome to Pet Talk, Sunflower!

Sunny has very pretty markings!:)

WEow she is a beauty!~ I am sure you are very proud of her. Best of luck with the breeding program. Does she lay eggs or have live young?

Thanks!! She is an egg layer. Incubating snake eggs will be a new experience for me, but my sister in law will help me out with it. Between her and Kostya, these should be some very mellow, friendly babies!

They should look something like this: (Picture belongs to Murder Serpent)
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...mage005-10.jpg

She's a beauty! Congrats!

She is very pretty. :)

Thanks everyone. :) A friend of mine offered me a male for her a a gift this week, but hubby says no more until we're moved. Ah well. :) When we're moved, I'm going to get her outside for a proper photoshoot!