These snakes grow quite large, averaging six feet, but sometimes reaching eight feet. The cage should provide enough room for your snake to move around in comfortably, have good ventilation and be easy to clean. When using aquariums, use fine mesh wire covers, with clips to hold it on securely. The cover of the cage should be very secure, as snakes are quite good at escaping, and an easy to clean plastic or ceramic hiding box will provide a sense of security for your snake, helping to relieve stress.

Pituophis don't practice ophidiophagy (snake eating) commonly, but there exceptions to every rule. They can be housed together, but extreme caution should be used. If you house them together, do so with only equivalently sized animals and always feed them separately (I NEVER HOUSE SNAKES TOGETHER.) Be careful with males, if housed together watch them closely -- they have been known to fight during the breeding season. Also, watch closely if you house them together for signs of stress or other problems. Housing any and all species of snake separately is highly recommended as a general rule!

REMEMBER that snakes are amazing escape artists, and if there is even the slightest opportunity to escape, they will certainly find it.

It is important to keep the cage clean. The enclosure should be disinfected periodically. A 5% bleach solution makes an excellent disinfectant. Be sure to rinse the enclosure thoroughly after disinfecting. As always, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling your snake or any cage accessories.

Black and white newspaper or paper towels make good bedding, as they are economical and easily removed. Some people prefer the more natural look of "astro turf." This works fine, as long as it is carefully washed and disinfected once a week. Don't use colored paper, sand, shavings, or other bedding, which might be swallowed with their food, as this could cause a blockage in the digestive tract, and kill your animal. If, for aesthetic reasons, you want to use these other materials for bedding, then feed your animal in a separate cage. 

I prefer to use black and white newspaper or paper towels; they are economical and maximize the efficiency of cleaning. 

Avoid cedar it is toxic to reptiles!

Pituophis are generally temperate climate animals and do best at temperatures of 75-85°F, so some type of heating may be required. This can be provided by an ordinary, drug store heating pad, a ceramic heat emitter or a red light bulb in a reflector fitting (A red light bulb will allow the snake to sleep without having to turn off the heat at night.) The heating pad can be placed under the cage. Slide the heat pad (outside) under one half of the cage providing a warm area of about eighty to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Nighttime air temps can be a few degrees cooler. 

Pituophis are naturally diurnal, lighting can be used but these snakes rarely bask. The light should be placed above the cage so that it shines down into the cage. Placing it so that only one end of the cage is heated, giving your snake a temperature gradient.  

A digital thermometer can be kept in the warm end of the cage to assure that proper temperatures are maintained. The snake will regulate itself between the heat pad and non-heated side of the cage. Put a hide box on both, the warm side and cool side of the cage. Hiding spots should vary according to the size of the snake.

Sudden drops in temperature may result in regurgitation.

HOT ROCKS SHOULD NEVER BE USED!!! This is because the temperature of commercial hot rocks varies, and some localized points may reach an excess of 115 F; ventral burns are highly possible.

Baby Pituophis can be maintained in shoeboxes in a rack setup. Babies tend to get nervous in large containers. The shoeboxes have a newspaper substrate with a hide and water bowl.

As the baby pines get larger, move them into larger enclosures. For my largest pituophis I use L49" X W18" X H11" cages. The floor of these large cages is covered with newspaper.

Pituophis are rodent feeding machines and can be kept healthy in captivity on a diet of mice, rats, or small rabbits, depending on the snake's size. Captive snakes should be fed dead food, because a live rodent could bite and seriously injure or kill your snake. Newly caught snakes may refuse dead at first, but after some time in your care, most will learn to accept dead food. These snakes sometimes go off their feed, especially during the winter months; don't worry unless it is obviously losing weight. 

I recommend switching your snake to rats (over mice) as soon as possible. This is to avoid problems "down the road" where a 6' bull snake only wants adult mice to eat. I try to start our Pituophis off on pink rats as their first meals, as to avoid them from becoming picky for mice instead of rats eaters later on. Hatchlings show very little reluctance to accept domestic mice and rats as their first meals. 

Be cautious as to not to overfeed. Just because the snakes WILL eat something doesn't mean that they NEED to eat something. I DO NOT RECOMMEND POWER FEEDING these guys! Like most other snakes, members of Pituophis thrive on rodents. My Pituophis eat mice and rats. Also however, some animals take young rabbits, hamsters, chicks etc. Although there are several different food choices, there is no reason to feed captive snakes anything but rodents. I feed both live (pre killed) and Frozen/Thawed rodents, alternating so they don’t refuse either choice. I recommend pre-killed and/or frozen prey since it will help eliminate possible injury to the snake from the prey animal as well as kill most parasites.

Meal sizes should be proportionate to the size of the snake. Hatchlings can be started on pinkies, and can be feed as much as twice a week or as little as every 7-10 days.   All snakes can generally be fed once every 7 to 10 days. Since hatchlings Pituophis are relatively large, they can be started by feeding them large pinkie mice, or even fuzzies. The best method for feeding hatchlings is to place the snake and the thawed mouse in a small deli cup, which forces the snake to concentrate on the food item. There will usually be a few hatchlings will insist on live prey initially, but eventually these can be switched over to pre-killed. As your snake matures, it will graduate to larger food items, which can include at various stages of growth crawler, small and large mice, or equivalent sized rats. Ultimately, when your Pituophis attains adult size, you will more than likely have to feed it rats, since even large mice will probably be too small (unless you feed several of them to the snake). As general rule of thumb, I select food items that do not exceed one and a half times the girth at the snake's mid-body section. When feeding hatchlings in particular, exercise caution with respect to the size of the food item. Never feed a snake a prey item that is too large, because a hungry snake will often consume the animal only to subsequently regurgitate it. It is better to feed two smaller items rather than one that may be too large. It is best not to handle the snake for 24 - 48 hours after they feed.

I NEVER offer LIVE rodents that can potentially cause harm. This will keep the risk of damage to the snake at a minimum. Rodents will fight and attack the snake if provoked. 

Snakes shed from a couple of times per year to once a month. This depends on the feeding schedule, growth rate, age, and time of the year. Your snake must shed in order to grow.  A snake will get dull, and its eyes will cloud over. Do not disturb your snake if you see the eyes clouding up.  Also skip feedings when they are in this condition. In a few days their eyes will clear up and shedding will take place soon after. This stage is called being "blue" or "opaque."  4-6 days after being in the blue, the snake will shed. If the shedding does not come off easily or patches seem to cling to the snake (“Dry sheds” is what this is called) then soak your snake in luke warm water inside a large jar like container (with air holes) for several hours or overnight to soak the skin off. Snakes normally won't feed while they are blue or in the process of shedding, so don't waste your time trying. Snakes are relatively blind while blue, so be careful that they don't strike at you if they don't realize who you are. Once shedding is complete continue feedings.

This care sheet is by no means intended as a comprehensive guide to Pituophis. For further information, read as much as can about these beautiful reptiles. We recommend the following comprehensive yet inexpensive book as a good starting point.

I Don't handle any snake for 24 - 48 hours after feeding because they may become stressed, and this could lead to regurgitation. Keep handling to a minimum when your snake is getting ready to shed. The skin can be damaged easily during this period and some can be very temperamental at these times. 

Try to keep handling to a minimum if your snake becomes ill, unless the cage needs cleaning. Snakes shouldn't be handled when sick-they don't need the additional stress.