The General Care of the Bullsnake
(Pituophis melanoleucus sayi)

Natural History- Bullsnakes came from the praire region of the Great Plains of North America, from as far north as South Dakota to as far south as Mexico.

Aquisition- Getting your bullsnake is not too different from getting any other snake. Make sure of no scars or wounds, make sure that there are no health problems, and make note of how active the snake is, if it just lies in your hands, and doesn't move (not even to flick their tounge), it may be sick and not a good candidate. Always ask to hold the snake you are going to buy, this way you can get a better look at it, and this way you can tell which one relates to you.

General Description- Bullsnakes are very similar to other snakes in the Pituophis family. This includes roughly keeled scales (not the side and belly ones of course), overall ground color that lightens and darkens as you look up and down the snake, which makes them subtly beautiful. And is very hard to describe, you half to see one for your self. Bullsnakes coloration is almost identical to rattlesnakes, which is a good thing because it wards off predetors, but extremely bad because humans kill them thinking that they are the "dangerous" rattlesnake. They hiss loudly and shake their tail to make them seem like rattlers, but this is all bluff. Adults can reach up to 8 feet, but that is extremely rare, with average adult reach 5 feet, a snake that long would be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Housing- When you are about to house a bullsnake, be prepared to house a 6 footer. By this I mean you need a fairly large enclosure. When they are young at about 2 to 3 feet, they can be housed in a ten gallon aqaurium, but it is better to put them in a 20. For adult be prepared to get a 35 even 55 galon ready for these monsters! Probably the best substrate I found was Play-Box sand, you can get it down at Toys-r-Us for about $3 for a 50 lb. bag! There are small rocks in the sand that need to be taken out, and the sand should be cleaned before use, just in case. Another thing to add to make the cage look more appealing is rocks, just take a couple from outside and clean them out before putting them in the cage, and it is probably better to put a least a few rocks to help them aid in shedding. Then all you need is a good sized hide-box, and a bowl for drinking that is change periodically, and there you have a perfect setup for a perfect bullsnake. The next thing that will have to be added is heat. I do not use heat lamps, because they don't previde a very good heat gradient. I use heat pads, under the cage to prevent over-heating. So you have the temps at around high 70's to low 80's on the cool end of the cage and a high 80's to low 90's for a basking area.

Feeding- Bullsnakes are not picky eaters, they can be fed small rodents (mice, small rats {when adults}, gerbils, hamsters, even the occasional baby chicken!) for most, if not all of their life. Younger snakes will need to be fed about every week or so for their first year on fuzzies, maybe even sub-adult mice. Then, when they get older, feed them a little less often (but often enough) on adult mice. I feed my 3 1/2 foot bullsnake 2 adult mice ever week and a half. Then larger snakes can be fed sub-adult rats even fully adult rats. But be careful feeding them rats, the rat should not be bigger then the girth of the snake in the thickest part. So if you have an unusually large snake, feed them large prey. And be extremely carefull feeding live prey. I feed all (2) of my snakes prey-killed thawed rats and mice, and they do fine. The reason I switched over because I had mice, yes mice, attack my bullsnake. After about fifteen minutes of mocking from the mouse, Demytri got pissed and ended up eating on of them. Rats are even more harmful, so at least stun the rat before feeding it to your pride and joy.

One last thing...- If you get a bullsnake, or any other snake in the Pituophis family, there is a really good forum at Kingsnake.com that is strickly about bullsnakes, pinesnake, and gopher snakes. That forum is Here. Check it out and meet some great people.


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