gopher snakes as pets?

[mommanessy247]

just found out that my younger sister has a gopher snake as a pet but i'm really thinking it may actually belong to her live-in boyfriend along with the tarantula...i've really never heard of a pet gopher snake...garter, corn, milk & king, yeah but gopher?
unless my sister has undergone some kind of complete and radical personality change i really cant see her going "i want a snake and a really big spider as pets."
anyone wanna shed some light on this?
are gopher snakes considered pet material?

[wilomn]

They're excellent pets.

[knox]

Gophers and Bulls (same basic snake separated by area of the country they are found) are widely sold in the pet trade. Depending on their locale, some can get quite large - up to 6 ft or more.

Temperament is a crap shoot. Some can be hissy, striking wildly at anything that moves, putting on quite a show. Others can be docile, tame as the gentlest Corn.

They are part of the Pituophis snakes, which includes Pine Snakes.

The Sonoran Gopher is the most widely sold Gopher Snake. My personal favorite is the Great Basin - light ground color, dark blotches, black stripe at the eye.

[mommanessy247]

they are the ones that try to mimic rattlers...just found that out researching them. saw a video too. saw some pretty neat pics.
pretty cool.

[Skiploder]

Gophers make awesome pets.

[AK907]

Great pets! I've had several. I regret trading my last pair. Most mellow out with gentle handling, but some will always be fiesty. Even my "fiesty" ones were mostly all talk and would rather hiss and make a lot of noise then bite.

[alkibp]

Yup, they can be great pets. Like the other poster said, it's a crap shoot. Your odds for getting a docile snake is higher with corns though. I have an axanthic sonoran gopher that is the most docile lapdog snake i have in my modest collection. He's never hissed or rattled his tail even when i bother him when he's in shed.

That thing is a beaut!

[rabernet]

I love my two albino sonorans!

[RyanT]

Pituophis are the most impressive Colubrids, in my opinion. They make great pets. The only drawback is that they have extremely fast metabolism. Which means they eat a lot and $#!t even more.

I used to have abround 25 various pines but just couldn't take the daily cleaning and smell anymore. Would still love to have like 1 or 2 though, just cause they're awesome.

[AK907]

Pituophis are the most impressive Colubrids, in my opinion. They make great pets. The only drawback is that they have extremely fast metabolism. Which means they eat a lot and $#!t even more.

I used to have abround 25 various pines but just couldn't take the daily cleaning and smell anymore. Would still love to have like 1 or 2 though, just cause they're awesome.

This is true. I don't know what it is about most colubrids (corns and pits especially), but they can destroy a tank/tub! Our balls and carpets don't really smell much, but I know before opening the door to our snake room if even one of our smallest corns took a dump! Its right up there with a cat's litterbox.