|
|
Keeping and Behavior
|
|
The black pine snakes in the terraria mostly are members of the calmer Pituophis and become normaly hand tame. This animal is extremly seldom in its habitat and all our animals are captive bred.
Adult black pine snakes can reach 1,8m and need a greater terrarium with some stable hiding places and, if possible, a klimbing branch. For a never used bathbowl I use a open plastic box 30 x 17 cm with aprox. 3 l water in there. The preferd temperatures of the black pine snake is aprox. 26-28°C.
The P. m. lodingi has a great appetit.
|
|
|
Diet
|
|
These snakes take a lot of sorts of rodents and birds. Its normaly the same, wether the food is alive, fresh dead or thawned frost food. But sometimes there are animals wich take only a part of this food range.
|
|
Hibernation
|
|
You should offer them a 2-3month long hibernation periode at 5-15°C.
I never heard of a fertil clutch without hibernation.
|
|
Reproduction and Breeding
|
|
After the hibernation the snakes eat some times and they get in mating mood. After the succsessful mating the eggs grow for 6-8 weeks in the body of the female. Some days after the pre egg laying shed it lay a cluch of 4-8 eggs (literatur). From the terraria I know clutches of 4-10 eggs, too.
After a medium incubation period of about 63-67 days the snakes begin to hatch.
|
|
Young Snakes
|
|
After hatching the small black pines have a lenght of 40 to 50 cm. The coloration is similar to the parents, solid black or black/black-brown with some rudiment of white to brown markings on side and throat. These markings are a little similar to the markings of the melanoleucus. After 1-2 years most of the melanoleucus become solid black.
The first food of my snakes might be defrosted some days old mice or nestyoung rats. Non feeders are the absolute exeption.
The further rearing is without problems, when you keep the animal stess poor. If there is a lot of food offered the growth rates are enormous. After a ½ to 1 year the animals reach 1m. This quick growth normaly has no greater influence to the health and those animals will have, too, a long life and and healthy babys.
|
|
Maturity and Lifespan
|
|
Depending on amount of food and the biological possibilitis of the animals the maturity begins in the 3rd or 4th year.
In normal cases the snakes become aprox. 15 years or a little more.
|
|
My Snakes
|
|
At this time I have an adult breeding group and they reproduce anually.
|
|
Biology in Habitat
|
