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Sunday 19 January 2014

Bristol snakes 9: Northern Pine Snake


Northern Pine Snake
The last of Bristol Zoo’s snakes I will post about in this series is the impressive Northern Pine Snake Pituophis melanoleucus. These are some of the largest snakes in North America, and can grow as thick as my wrist and nearly 2m long.

Friday 10 January 2014

Bristol snakes 8: Corn Snake


Corn Snake

Almost certainly the most commonly kept pet snake in the world, and tying with the Leopard Gecko and Inland Bearded Dragon as the default reptile pet, at least here in the UK, the Corn Snake Pantherophis guttatusis native to the south eastern United States, where it prefers fairly dry areas with plentiful rodent burrows.

Friday 3 January 2014

Bristol snakes 7: Royal Python

Royal Python
As well as the various snakes on show in the Reptile House, the volunteers have several snakes that are used in the Animal Encounters talks. One of the most popular of these is the Royal Python, Python regius, of which we have three so that we can spread the workload between them. As I am sure most people are aware, Royals are one of the most popular pet snakes, owing to their small size (even large females seldom reach 1.5m) and usually placid demeanour, which makes them very good for handling.