Appearance: They are usually yellow in color, with brown, black or sometimes reddish colored blotching. Many color variations have been found, including albinos and white varieties
Behavior: The Gopher snake has an odd defense mechanism, in which it will puff its body up and curl itself into the classic strike pose of the pit viper genus, but rather than an open mouthed strike, the gopher snake is known for striking with a closed mouth, using its blunt nose to "warn-off" possible predators.
Distribution: Bull snakes have one of the most expansive ranges of the Pituophis species. It can be found throughout much of the central United States, in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Montana. It ranges as far north as the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and as far south as the Mexican state of Chihuahua
Diet: small mammals, such as rats, mice, rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs, as well as ground nesting birds
||The epithet sayi is in honor of renown zoologist Thomas Say
||Males are generally larger than females
||Bull snakes are extremely common in the exotic pet trade. They are frequently captive bred for color and pattern
© W. Perry Conway/Corbis
Scientific Name: Pituophis catenifer sayi
Common Name: The Bull Snake, Gopher Snake, Pacific gopher snake, coast gopher snake, western gopher snake
Size: 7 foot or more in length
Non Venomous Snake
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