[RichardVB]

Hey people,

It was mentioned on a very recent thread about pituophis that their lifespan may be lower than most other similar colubrids. One other forum user put forward that if this were the case, it could perhaps be linked to their comparatively quicker metabolic rates, which was another interesting point.

I hadn't heard any of this before, but I thought it deserved a thread of its own.

Can anyone shed any light on this or offer insight? It'd be great to get views from people like Al Stotton and so on...

 

[Paul F]

This is not something that I had ever heard before (apart from the thread you mentioned) so some rapid internet cramming revealed a general consensus of between 15 -20 years on average.
I do know that p.d. deppei and p.d.jani are both slow to mature, so this does make sense!
Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about will post eventually :whistling2:

 

[paulh]

As far as I know, Pituophis have approximately the same potential life span as rat snakes --a bit over 20 years. I hatched a female bullsnake, and she was still going strong at 19.

 

[RossCA]

I've never heard they lived a shorter life than other comparable snakes, but that is interesting.

 

[maxcherry]

Your all wrong, pits live forever and ever like dogs and never die......runs off to hug pit and cry.

 

[al stotton]

Having kept a number of colubrid species in the past, before specializing in pituophis for the past 10+ years I find NO truth in this whatsoever.

In fact I have a Female albino gopher hatched by Brian Barcyzk in 98 and she's showing NO signs of slowing down.
Last season she defied my retirement plans completely and despite having NO male interaction laid 10 lovely eggs.The season before that she laid 10 eggs and for the first time in her life ever, double clutched without a second male intro.

From my experiences its certainly been the males who have the shorter longevity, its the same kinda deal in the human species I guess