Great deal

[mmfh]

Last week I went to my LPS to get crickets to feed the tarantulas. I noticed a beautiful sonoran gopher snake. It's tan with dark brown stripes and about 14" long. An employee comes up and tells me that becausd he knows I own snakes he'll give me this snake for 60% off because it is too aggressive to sell to most of their customers. I'm like sure lol. So I watched him scoop it out with a hugh snake hook and took it home. Already had a tank just about set up so I finished getting it ready and put the snake in and set it in the busiest part of my house. I've already reached into the cage twice to pick it up and hold it and didnt get more then a tail rattle, which even a hatchling cornsnake will do. Tonight I fed it and it gently took the fuzzy from my hand. Lol I think I got the better end of the deal!

 

[ArachnoWolf]

That's awesome!

 

[pitbulllady]

That's almost a STEAL! Great-looking striped Gopher, alone worth more than what you paid for it. Pituophis are famous bluffers, and most are all bark and no bite, but they look and sound so ferocious, that they convince most people that they are hell on no legs. I suspect that is what this snake was doing, and when it realized that you weren't buying into the act, it dropped the facade.

pitbulllady

 

[mmfh]

Thanks pitbulllady! I was wondering what kind of morph it was. I've never owned one of these snakes, can you tell me why they are called pits?

 

[Furret]

What a cutie!!

 

[Arianji]

Pits in snakes generally refers to various species of snakes ability to sense infrared heat, think like a heat gun. The pits them selves are the open "nostrils" on many snakes, but pythons possess them too right above their lips. They adapted this sense to be able to detect vulnerable strike locations on their prey, seek out good basking spots, and avoid predators. Your snake, however does not have pit organs, he is a mimic like the scarlet king snake. He wants you to believe he is the venomous diamond back rattle snake (which is why he shakes his tail, hisses, and assumes the tell tale strike position of a rattler) Rattle snakes are probably the most famous snakes with pits, which is why they are generally referred to as pit vipers.
If you are asking about why pit is in his genus name, "Pituophis", it is referring to the Latin word "pituitarius". Pituitarius is Latin for phlegm or mucus; it is referencing the deep throat-ed hissing noise the snake produces when threatened.
Regardless you have a very beautiful snake. You get all of the fun of a venomous snake's behavior, but with the comfort of their non venomous mimic.

---------- Post added 05-04-2012 at 02:41 PM ----------

let me rephrase, when I referred to the snakes "nostril" as a pit I am not actually meaning their nostrils. The pits are a second opening(s) below the nostrils. The pits and nostrils are not the same thing. I just wanted to specify that a little further.