we're doing another species spotlight it's been a little while and so to start with that i'm going
to do a species that i think is really really cool and that is the baja cape gopher snake
or pichuofus vertebralis so these guys are normally found in the very southern part at
high elevations of baja california so baja and then that part of the part of baja california
is called the cape at the very end of it usually in the inland part between the sea of cortez
and mainland mexico so baja cape and then gopher snake this is not related to it's not in the
same gene it's in the same genus pitch office but it's not in the same species as like say the bull
snakes and the gopher snakes uh catenifer this is vertabralis it's an entirely different one it was
in the same species back in like the early 1800s but has since been its own species and even then
there's a little bit of controversy whether or not it should be split into two different speed
subspecies but i'll get to that in a minute so where these guys are found baja california it is
a very crazy environment so down there it's high elevation but the ecosystem is very varied and
very dynamic it's very dry most of the time there are like arid sonoran cactus deserts like mainland
uh mainland mexico outside of the peninsula that's like very cactus very dry very arid there are some
type of subtropical forests where there's a little bit more humidity in some pockets but still also
very dry there are also old pine and oak forests all throughout this whole area of the entire
peninsula but specifically where these guys have been traditionally found is usually in the more
subtropical but still kind of arid desert areas that have been traditionally been found there
i say traditionally because there's a lot of anecdotal evidence of where these guys have found
no one can really have any conclusive area they've been found mostly in there but nowhere really
conclusively or consistently so basically they're found all throughout that whole area up into
a little bit further north in the peninsula but that's where it gets a little bit tricky
the also the area where these guys are found sometimes there can be no rainfall for years but
because of like hurricanes and seasonal flooding that comes out of the seo cortez or the pacific
ocean on the western side of the peninsula they can get a lot of humidity that way as well as you
know plants like those old growth pines and the cactus and the succulents and things like that
they're very good for holding and storing water what's really cool about these guys is the fact
that they can live in such a crazy environment we know like bull snakes and gopher snakes like
they can do all sorts of different climates in colorado and as well as other places too just here
in colorado but these guys seem to do very very well all over the place but with that being said
this next part is actually what makes them very different from a lot of the rest of the pitch
wilfus species in general and that is despite the fact that it's very arid there's not a whole lot
of annual rainfall and all of that other jazz the weather and temperatures for the most part stay
very consistent around in the mid to low 70s and the summer can spike almost into like the low
80s but it faces it stays very consistent because of where they are and the climate
and being surrounded by water on three sides so because of that because it never really gets high
a lot of people have trouble keeping the species if they do decide to because they think it needs
to be traditionally kept much warmer but they do not thrive at warmer temps these guys do very well
it like say so for this room right here during the day it gets to about 77.78 that's perfect
for these guys and at night it drops down to about 65 which is perfect ambient temperature
for this species specifically so people if they decide to keep the species they can end up having
trouble because of that they treat it like any other species of snake especially when you
think oh it's from you know closer to the southern hemisphere closer to the equator it's by the ocean
it's got to be warm humid right and not exactly that's what makes it kind of really really tricky
um so with that being said without further ado let's actually talk about this guy not just where
they're from so these guys are really really cool and if i can get them to spread out so here we go
so this pattern is very reminiscent of say like a brittles or bradley eye python where it's very
kind of orangey red and it goes down to that black tail with these guys it's very similar
this pattern can be very variable but it's usually very consistent about the colors that they are
it's that nice yellow sandy desert background and underbelly with that high red that as they
get older it has a tendency to get even more vibrant down to these black saddles here the
saddles can be very variable and there's even a couple more that are called patternless
where it's more solid red into solid black these guys look really really really cool which is
why i like these guys they're a good moderate size snake they get between like you know 36 to
50-ish inches so in that like three to four and a half close to five foot range some males because
pitch office as a whole the in this speech in this genus males are actually larger and it
usually has to do with like combating and things like that the males are actually larger than the
females unlike with a lot of like bowed species like boa constrictors and pythons and things
they have been known to get to lengths almost up to 60 inches which is the five feet so they don't
get nearly as large as say definitely the bull snake or even most of the pine snakes but these
guys are a fair sized snake they're pretty cool so think like corn snake but a little bit maybe more
really cool thing about the pitch of office genus is that these guys are really well known for their
very loud defensive hits and you can see his tail rattling which is a very common defensive
mechanism but this modified epiglottis that they have allows them to make a very loud sonorous very
just crazy high hits and he absolutely has that as well just like bull snakes and pine snakes and
gopher snakes as well but he's actually a pretty calm individual in general so he's not doing it
right now but that is what they're known for this guy without exception as well and he's just being
very cool and i love them so much with that being said this is the part where it gets a little bit
confusing so these guys are normally found down in this very end southern part of the peninsula
but their range does go up north above very particular little area where the color variation
seems to be more distinct and consistent with a little bit of integrating in between which
is why some pitch wolfus enthusiasts are want to actually divide it between pichuofa's vertebralis
vertebralis and pichuofa's vertebralis by marist by mirrous beamier or something like that
i'm all i always mess up those latin names i know it's terrible um but that being said these guys
are really cool they do very well in captivity if you just have to remember to keep them you know
that really cool thing however because of that two distinction and they're not as commonly kept
in the hobby the pure lines of these are very small so there's unfortunately a little bit of
a genetic bottleneck with these guys specifically for people to forgive me as i mess with my headset
who want to keep that distinction between vertebral so between v vertebralis and v
by miris so a little bit with that but i know there are some people around who do
breed them there's a local guy here in colorado there's actually a really cool um breeder up in
canada i think they're called stampede reptiles or stampede exotics they do a lot with colubrins and
specifically uh a lot of petroleus and i know they do some stuff with these guys and i would love
to be able to get some stuff from them because while it's fairly bottlenecked and fairly closely
related as with a lot of stuff because we don't have a lot of stock bearded dragons for example
um coming from canada hopefully there are a few populations a little bit away from each
other before so if i were able to import one from canada it'd be really cool to get a little bit of
variation from that um as far as the care goes again just remember the more moderate cool room
temperature i think asian rat snake almost that might be a little bit easier think like
you know the japanese rat snake the bamboo bat snake that type of like ambiency definitely not
nearly as humid as far as feeding goes they do very well on rodents but they also in the wild
eat a lot of like ground nesting birds and eggs so they would eat quail eggs and things like that
but overall these is this is a really really really cool species of snake that i am i really
wish i could get a pair to so that way i could work on that i just have the single male who works
very very well and actually because i started to get into them and i knew about keeping them but i
didn't necessarily know too much about like their growth rates and breeding as much as i do now
he's probably not going to be a huge male because i didn't feed him as much as he could have been
when he was younger because he's about a year and a half no he's about two years old at this point
very close to two years old but if you guys like this video super awesome if you guys have any more
questions concerns comments about this guy the species or anything else like that
please let me know down in the comments check out the social media all of that jazz um i'm
starting to do a little bit more on tick tock if you guys want more behind the scenes and updates
and cool exclusives as well as a little bit of you know merch rewards you can check out
my patreon because i'm absolutely gonna have to be better about doing these shameless plugs
and i do a lot of behind the scenes a lot of content animals that i acquired that i haven't
even shared with any of you guys yet new projects new trips that i'm going on you'll all know first
at that patreon as well as you know private interviews with me private tours via online
or we can arrange something if you were here in town or something like that
but hopefully you guys did enjoy this quick little species spotlight i have a few more around here
and i'm doing my best to stick with ones that i actually have in my care first so a couple
of you that have requested other animals that i don't personally keep i have it on there i'm
doing research on it just because i personally have not put hands on the animals as much i'm
doing that a little bit further down the road but i am working on it i remember all the people
who asked for that and it's written down in my lovely little snake notebook of notes so
hopefully you enjoyed this video hopefully you're having a great day and we'll check you next time