• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
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Smaller ssp./localities of Pituophis?

P

Pituophis_

getting back into it
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I know Pituophis generally get kinda big, but I was wondering if there are ssp. or localities of pituophis that get a little smaller?

I think I heard christmas mountain bulls get a little smaller, might be remembering wrong.
 
If you are looking for smaller pits, I would keep away from bullsnakes, as well as northern and southern pines. These get to be quite large in size. My largest bull is somewhere between 7 and 7.5 feet long, and I have seen some pines that were in that range.

I would recommend any of the other kinds of gopher snakes. I have a sonoran gopher that's 5 yo and is just shy of 5 feet long. If I recall, most of the other gopher snake subspecies are similar in terms of maximum size.
 
I once saw a cape gopher snake that I remember because it was pretty. I wanted to buy it so I asked questions, and remember it was roughly 3.5 feet at 4 years. That sounded small, so I asked if that was normal, and the seller said it was a healthy animal. Who know if that was true. However, of all the cape gophers I've seen, I've never seen one I thought was over 5 feet.

Stay away from the pacific gopher snake. It's a great snake, but I personally owned one that was, while not measured, potentially as big as 7 feet, judged by the fact that it was almost as big as a boa constrictor who had been measured as 7'5"

I'd also recommend staying away from bullsnakes, because while I know that there are definitely some bulls that don't get big, there are few sellers who keep the kind of accurate records about their bullsnakes to really predict exactly how big they would be. If you didn't care about what kind of bullsnake you had, you could post an ad saying you would pay good money for adult bullsnakes of any kind, and the most important information you wanted about the animal was exactly how big and exactly how old. 20 people would respond with their unwanted normal bullsnakes they never thought would sell. If you didn't specify, the people who would lie about the size of their bull to sell it would assume you wanted a nice, big one, and exaggerate how big theirs was. They would be weeded out. Then you could see which were the smallest for their age and make sure they were small genetically, and not due to underfeeding, history of illness or some deformity.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Always loved bulls, but for what I can house right now it probably wouldn't be best for the animal, so for now not gonna get any, someday though :).
Cape gophers are very interesting.
 
Many of the Pits that are referred to as bulls are actually gophers. The Christmas Mountain Bulls being one of them. They are actually Sonoran gopher snakes. My two year old female is around 4.5 feet and the male of the same age is barely four.
 
Since I can't edit my post for whatever reason:
Makes me wonder how "pure" certain animals are within the the hobby. Like if someone bred a christmas mountain "bull" with, say a kingsville hypo under the assumption that xmas mtn bulls were in fact bulls. I think this applies to other "hobby" colubrids. short rant over, haha
 
As far as I'm concerned, unless I collected the animal myself, in a place in which I know the exact taxonomy of the animals present, I can't really truly honestly know in my heart that it is "pure." People lie or make mistakes.
 
Purity in this hobby also depends on WHO was breeding it, in terms of who they are, what kind of person they are, their honesty, and their reputation. Fortunately, I know the most incredible, responsible, and honest breeders in this hobby, and am blessed to have many pure animals by them.

Smaller types of pituophis that you can consider, Brandon, are San Diego Gophers and Great Basin Gophers. Both can be much smaller versus other pits but are fun to own!!

Bulls do indeed vary, as some can get quite large. My bulls, northern and southern pines, all vary between 4 1/2 feet up to over 5 1/2 feet, with only one bull I have owned ever reaching 6.

Good luck!
 
I've not posted in this forum before, but the only "smaller" pits I've come are Santa Cruz Island Gopher Snakes (p c pumilis) which are usually around 3'. Bull snakes from Red Lodge, Montana were at one time marketed as topping out around 3'-4'.
 
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