As part of our 10 year celebrations we have anothe 10% offer. ALL wild bird food, feeders and accessories are 10% off for the rest of this week.
Our wild bird food prices are very compettative normally so with this extra 10% off you can grab a real bargain. With the loss of a local competitor people have expected us to put prices up but we don’t work like that. We would rather welcome new customers with lower prices than they used to pay and reward our existing customers with continued good service and supermarket beating value.
So pop in and grab a wild bird food bargain, or replace that old damaged feeder or maybe get a bird table whilst you get an extra 10% off marked price. Check out the prices in our webstore. You can order to collect in store if you wish or just give us a ring on 01452501882. Don’t forget we have plenty of FREE parking on site and are conveniently situated on the main road out of Gloucester and on the no.10 bus route between Cheltenham and Gloucester.
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of our Gloucester reptile shop we have 10% off all Exo Terra and Viv Exotic vivariums for the rest of this week (until Saturday 13th July 2019).
Exo Terra glass terraiums make excellent enclosures for some of the higher humidity species we stock in our Gloucester reptile shop. Species such as crested geckos, frogs and other amphibians, chamleons and water dragons.
Viv Exotic are an ever expanding brand and make wooden, glass fronted vivariums with excellent ventilation, for anything from a Kotschys gecko, leopard gecko and other smaller reptiles, up to larger snakes and monitor lizards.
We stock both ranges of vivariums in our Gloucester reptile shop as well as all the ancillary equipment, the reptiles themselves and a good range of live, dried and frozen foods.
We also sell and can give expert advice on complete packages for all the reptiles and amphibians we have in stock and have access to even more by pre-order. Do pop in and see us in our Gloucester reptile shop. Out of town, with easy access by car or bus and with ample FREE parking in our parades large private carpark
Way back in 2009 I was coming to the end of my martial arts teaching career due a combination of injury and wear and tear. I was looking for something I could do as a career that did not involve working for someone else. I had had enough of that with previous employers and had been spoilt by being self employed as an electrician (which I hated) and a martial arts instructor (which I loved). It was whilst out delivering leaflets for my martial arts academy in Tewkesbury that I noticed that just about every every house (near enough) had some sign of animals. This one had a barking dog, that one had a cat flap, this one had a load of bird feeders, that one had a rabbit hutch. One even had a sign saying “beware of the snakes”! I have kept a huge range of animals throughout my life, have an honours degree in biology and have lectured on various courses on relevant subjects so even I was able to put two and two together and the idea of Angell Pets took form. I had no funding, no knowledge of how to start such as business or where to locate it but you don’t become a martial arts instructor unless you are quite driven. Within a few weeks I had resolved all the problems I could think of and formed a company and our Gloucester pet shop was born.
We’ve had venus 10 years this year too.
I borrowed a lot of money against an old endowment policy I’d had for years, and incorporated the company on 23/06/09. We then found a suitable property close to home in Abbeymead, purchased all the shelving, tills and everything else you need for a shop, sourced suppliers, enrolled on the courses needed to obtain a licence, commissioned a website and jumped right in. The whole process, from forming the company to opening the doors of our first Gloucester pet shop took just under 6 months and we finally opened on 17th of December 2009.
We stayed in our first shop in Mead Road for the next five years. Over that time we introduced new services such as free home delivery, a webstore, a new information website, an offers email list and our Facebook page. Despite being launched during a double dip recession, the business thrived and grew every month. Unfortunately, when the lease came up for renewal the landlord wanted the property back for themselves and we had to look for a new location quite quickly. We thought we had found a good new spot at the quays and managed to move the entire business across in only two days! (although there was a couple of months of late nights preparing the new premises and decorating the old).
Unfortunately we did not take into account the stupidity of Gloucester City Council who, at the behest of the Quays development and against the wishes of smaller local businesses, decided to close the local carpark and promptly killed our business overnight. This happened 6 months after we moved in and cut our takings in half. We were tied into a lease for a minimum of 3 years so spent the next 2 1/2 years just scraping by. If it hadn’t been for the launch of our boarding service we would have gone under. Thanks Gloucester City Council.
As soon as we were able to get out of our lease (not cheaply, it cost thousands) we did and found our current property in Hucclecote. The move was not so easy this time. Both properties needed a lot of very expensive works. The Hucclecote site was an old Barclays branch and their contractors wrecked the inside of the building taking out their kit, plus maintenance of the building had not been kept up. They also left behind the vault door which alone cost a few thousand to remove. Worse was the work we had to do on the old property. In order to implement the break clause in our lease we had to carry out a lot of remedial work. Every piece of wood had to be glossed, every wall emulsioned, every piece of flooring replaced (3000 sq ft), shutters that had not been touched in the the 20 years before we got there serviced, the roof cleared of years of debris and repaired where it had been damaged from people going up there without permission (now you know why I was annoyed when the rugby painting on the cafe next door was put up without any consultation with us – it cost me £450 in repairs). Unfortunately most of this work was a complete waste of time and money. We knew, even as we were carrying out the works that the new tenants were going to rip most of it out and sure enough, one week after moving I looked in to see half the new flooring pulled up and stacked ready to go to the tip.
It was whilst carrying out the remedial works (fitting the carpet tiles that are now buried in the ground at the landfill site) that I injured my spine. This is what was responsible for us having to stop our free local delivery service, I can no longer walk too well and lifting anything is out of the question. I managed to keep it going during the move, when we were operating from a storage unit but had no option but to cease it when, whilst painting a piece of skirting in the new shop I was unable to get up because my legs were too weak. After finally going to the doctors I have been diagnosed with a reasonably serious condition that is not going to improve. I also became quite ill last summer so Billie stepped up and has been running the company since, doing all the work that at one point we had six staff (including myself) doing. George has also been helping out when he can and even Albert stepped in during a break in his studies.
However, despite all the problems with recessions, leases, idiot councillors and illness lining up to hold us back, we have made it to 10 years of our Gloucester pet shop and are still going strong. To mark this anniversary we will be having lots of offers on between now and December in celebration. This will be in additon to, not instead of, our regular monthly deals we already offer. Ever since we opened we have made sure even our usual prices have remained competitive and with all the offers coming up, there will be some real bargains. Like our Facebook page or sign up to our email list to be kept up to date with the latest bargain.
So visit us in our Gloucester pet shop at Glenville Parade in Hucclectoe. Lots of FREE parking and right on the number 10 bus route.
Angell Pets Gloucester pet shop June special offers now avaiable. We have a great list of special offers again this month. All offers are available in our Gloucester pet shop and on line in our webstore. These offers are always popular so you may wish to call on 01452 501882 to check we still have what you require in stock or messaging us on our Facebook page.
It seems a bit harsh but I am afraid it is true in all but a very few cases. Wild animals have the ability to respond to changes in their environment. If they feel cold, they will move to a more sheltered or warmer spot, if they are afraid, they will run away, if they are thirsty they will find water and if they are hungry, find food. Each species evolves and adapts to eat a particular type of food and retains this ability to respond to changes in and around it. It has response-ability. Put an animal in a captive environment and you have removed this ability to respond. Now if it is thirsty it can only drink if you provide the water. It can only eat if you provide the food. You have taken on its response-ability. If you are not a responsible pet owner then it’s the animal that suffers the consequences.
So a dog can only eat the food you provide. It will however retain its natural instinct to eat whatever it can, whenever it can, as in the wild it does not know when it will find another meal. The expression to “wolf it down” comes from the ability of a wolf to eat huge amounts of food in one sitting (then to spend days resting with a distended stomach whilst it digests its massive intake of food or regurgitates some for its pups and other pack members). If the owner presents the dog with too much food or inappropriate food, the dog cannot be blamed for eating it. It will not stop when it has had sufficient, it will keep going until it cannot fit more in and will usually still eat treats if you, the leader of its pack offers it some. Offer a dog poisonous food such as chocolate or grapes/sultanas etc. and it will eat it, to its own detriment because you gave it to him.
So you are in control of your dogs food intake. Yes they will scavenge things you would rather they did not but in the house and garden you control that. If the dog eats the Sunday joint off the side then I’m afraid it’s your fault for leaving it exposed. If the dog eats some Christmas cake and ends up at the vets. (at best) then, well you guessed it. What a lot of people don’t realise is that some foods that are suitable for humans are not suitable for dogs. Chocolate, grapes, avocados are all poisonous to dogs.I was explaining this to a customer once and a lady interrupted and told us that her granny had fed her dog a bit of her chocolate every day for years and the dog was fine. I explained that my mother in law is in her 80s and has smoked 20 cigarettes a day her whole adult life and is still going strong, I wouldn’t however, recommend it as a lifestyle choice. Some foods are just poisonous to dogs, it’s a question of the dose and the individual dog but they are poisonous.
So you have a dog and you don’t feed it human foods, You go to the supermarket and get dog food and dog treats so you have done your bit and if the dog gets fat now it’s not your fault is it. Wrong. Firstly, do you follow the feeding guidelines on the food? Are you reducing this amount if you give the dog a treat? Do you even know what is in the food you pick off the supermarket shelf? If you did you would probably realise you are giving your dog chicken feed.
There are rules for the terms used on dog (and cat) food packaging. If it says “fresh” chicken, then that is what was used to make the food, fresh chicken meat. If it says chicken then its still chicken but it may have been previously frozen of dried for storage. If it says chicken (or poultry) meal then that is the rest of the carcass, after the meat has been removed, ground up into a bone and cartilage meal (a necessary part of the food, it’s where the glucosamine, condroitin and calicum are found). If it says meat and animal derivitives then you might want to reconsider using this food. This term is for what is left when you have taken away the meat and the bones, ie not a lot! You will find that for foods that list this, the first ingredient on the ingredients list is nearly always cereal, or wheat, or maize. The protein content of the food will not come from meat as there is too little in the food but from wheat and maize gluten. In other words it is a bag of cereal with a bit of nondescript meat product mixed in – chicken feed, not dog food.
The other thing about these foods is that whilst they don’t have a lot, if any, meat they do have a lot of carbohydrate. The one thing that is guaranteed to make a dog put on weight and get fat is carbohydrate. A dog needs very little of this, if any. It gets its energy from fat and protein. High levels of carbohydrate get converted straight to fat deposits. Some of the worst foods even have added sugar, totally wrong. It is not added to improve pallatability, dogs have far fewer taste buds than us and don’t taste much, it’s all smell. It is there because a lot of these foods are made from waste products from the human food processing industry, which already have sugar added and we know what a problem we have with high sugar content childrens’ cereals. Where do you think the waste from this industry goes? Who owns the leading supermarket brands of dog food? Do they also own the largest supermarket brands of childrens’ cereals? Hmmm. Would you feed your child meat paste sandwiches and cake every meal for the rest of its life? No of course not but people are feeding this to dogs all the time and this is usually where the problem is.
If you feed your dog the correct, appropriate food and treats, follow the feeding guidelines and obviously give it plenty of exercise, you can be confident that you will have a healthy and fit dog that will live longer than a dog fed on supermarket food. However you will also probably have to deal with people telling you your dog is skinny. It isn’t but we are all so used to seeing overweight dogs that when we see one that is as it should be we think it looks thin. It is just perception. Most (around 90%) of dogs are overweight. A lot are obese, we just don’t notice any more. Unfortunately as with humans, being overweight greatly reduces the dog’s life expectancy and introduces a host of other conditions that make its later life uncomfortable and expensive..
To avoid all the problems associated with a poor diet, feed your dog on proper food. We sell frozen meat, bones and vegetable mixes. A raw food diet is probably the best, it is certainly the most natural. However we all live busy lives and I know for sure that I would forget to defrost the food in time, be in a rush during preparation etc. For this reason I do not use this option (although they do get it occasionally). Instead I feed a good quality, grain free, high meat content kibble. Obviously meat is expensive these days and the higher the meat content of a food, the higher the price of a bag. However the amount fed is lower, so cost balances out somewhat. Also as a side benefit the dog will poop less and the poops will be of a better consistency and easier to deal with. This alone is often reason enough to change food.
Alfie
Alfie, the Jack Russel in the photo would cost 32 pence per day on APL grain free turkey. 32p a day! That is it. He doesn’t need anything extra. If he has a treat then he has less food that day. My dog, Venus (below) would cost £1.20 a day. She is a staffie/lurcher cross, weighing 31kg. If you can’t afford 32p a day to feed a Jack Russel it would be better not to have one, rather than buy supermarket food and own a little barrel. In any case it would still probably work out the same or more for supermarket food anyway. As for wet food, unless you have been advised by a vet. for very specific reasons then forget it. You are just buying a tin of water (check the packaging, most wet foods are 70-80% water, sometimes disguised by terms such as “aqua” or “moisture”) with poor quality ingredients That’s why people used to add mixer, which is just wheat biscuit. I worked it out for my cousin once, for his dalmations which he fed on the cheapest tinned dog food I was able to source for him. It still worked out cheaper per day to switch to the most expensive, highest quality grain free, high meat content (85%) dry dog food we stock,. Unfortunately, even though I worked it all out for him, listed all the benefits and showed him how much he would save, he could not see past the price of the bag of Orijen, versus the price of one tin of Breederpack wet food. Ho Hum.
Venus at 13-14 years old
So how do you know if your dog is overweight? Sadly if you don’t already know then it probably is. But as a rule of thumb it goes like this. Looking from the side you should see a definite difference between the chest and abdomen areas on the underside of the dog. The line should swoop down from the neck, around the chest, rise up significantly to the abdomen and back down where it meets the back legs. you should be just able to see the outline of the vertebrae above the hips. Just, they should not be protruding. Looking from above the sides should curve in behind the chest and flare out again at the hip and you should be able to see the outline of the ribs under the flesh (obviously this is more difficult on long and wire haired dogs). Observe the outline, not see ribs poking out, the difference is obvious. Now these rules are general, a greyhound has a much more pronounced line on the underside than a labrador but it still holds true. If you look at your dog and its chest line to abdomen look straight or from above has no “waist”, your dog is fat and could do with losing a few pounds. This is not anything to do with looks. It is just that a healthy, fit dog is going to live longer and have fewer issues as it ages than a poorly fed, over weight one. It is not a judgement. Yes you are responsible for it but that in a way is a good thing. It just means you are able to do something about it. Don’t feel bad or “judged” because it is the case, there are that many over weight dogs around it has become the norm and we have become inured to it.
Alfies waist line from above
Where I come form the phrase “fit as a butchers dog” is much used. There is a reason for the phrase existing. The butchers dog was getting the right diet whilst the rest were eating the scraps we throw away. Now we just allow others to put the scraps in bags and sell it back to us in supermarkets.
Waterlife have been producing treatments for tropical, coldwater, marine and pond water for over 50 years. They produce a range of chemicals to condition the water to produce the ideal conditions for keeping fish of all types and treatments for a wide range of common and not so common fish diseases.
Water for keeping fish needs to be treated to remove chlorine and chloramines (if tap water is used), adjust and buffer pH and provide ammonia and nitrite reducing bacteria. We have been using Waterlife pH Buffers in our tanks since we have stocked fish. This ensures that the water going in after a partial water change is the same pH as the water taken out and also helps resist changes in pH over time. This reduces the stress on the fish and so helps keeps some of the commoner diseases at bay. Many diseases can be present in the water but unable to penetrate the fish’s defences when healthy. However if the fish becomes stressed these defences can break down, allowing disease to take hold.
Dechlorinator is essential in all cases when using tap water. Chlorine is added at the treatment works to kill bacteria and keep the water safe in the distribution system (part of my job for twelve years back in the day). Free chlorine may dissipate if the water is left for 24 hours or more but the chloramines (chlorine combined with other compounds in the water) will not. Both are toxic to fish and damage the mucus membranes. If it does not kill the fish outright itself, it will make them more susceptible to disease. Waterlife’s Tap Water Safe is one of the most concentrated dechlorinators on the market, so offers excellent value for money. Some of the brands I have seen sold in supermarkets for example require 2.5 times as much product per litre of water to have the same effect.
Adding Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria, in the form of Waterlife’s Bacterlife to the water increases the ecosystem’s response rate to increasing ammonia from fish waste. Nitrogenous waste, generated from the metabolism of protein in the food and exuded into the water as ammonia by the fish, is highly toxic to fish and again if it doesn’t kill the fish outright makes them susceptible to disease organisms. In a river or lake it dissipates and is dealt with by the surrounding environment and ecosystems. In a fish tank it cannot go anywhere and over time the concentrations rise to dangerous levels. Waterlife’s Bacterlife contains different strains of these bacteria which will work at a wider range of pH readings helping to ensure highly toxic ammonia is broken down to less toxic compounds quickly. These helpful bacteria will colonise your filter and gravel and continue to work for you all the time the fish are producing bacteria. It is worth noting that their effectiveness deteriorates with falling temperature. Below 10 degrees celcius they pretty much stop working altogether. This is why you should stop feeding high protein fish food to pond fish during the winter.
Occassionally aquarium water may become “murky” for want of a better term. There are a variety of reasons for this. Usually and rather obviously it is a sign of poor water quality and the cause must be addressed. Excessive nutrients can cause algal or bacterial “blooms” in the water. Treatment with Watersafe’s Bacterlife will help reduce the availability of nutients and coupled with regular water changes will help keep the water clear but Stayclear contains a coagulant that encourages suspended particles to bind together into heavier particles that then drop to the bottom of the tank for removal during the next water change (using a gravel cleaner).
Should water quality deteriorate, or the fish become stressed for any other reason (such as the addition of new tank mates) then disease may ensue. One of the commonest diseases seen in ornamental fish is white spot (Ich infection – a free swimming single celled organism that, after infection produces white spots (surprise!) often described as looking like a coating of sugar grains over the fishes body). Fortunately the treatment for white spot is also one of the most effective. However a mistake often made is to cease treatment once the symptoms are no longer present. This will only lead to reinfection as the treatment is only effective against the free swimming form of the organism and so the treatment must be completed to ensure the whole life cycle has been disrupted. Fungus appears as white cotton wool like growths on affected areas. The fungal infection can be present of its own accord but is commonly a secondary infection, following opening of wounds by a bacterial pathogen.
Two other fairly common diseases seen in aquarium fish are fin rot (columnaris bacteria infection) and ulcers (sores caused by other types of bacteria). Fin rot manifests as fraying fins and/or tail which can lead to complete loss of appendages and death. If caught early though it does respond well to treatment. Ulcers are pits in the skin of the fish with raised, inflamed edges, often bright red in colour, although sometimes without and actual pit forming. However these infections nearly always indicate that there is a water quality issue of some kind and this will need sorting before the treatment can become truly effective. There is little point adding treatment for disease to an aquarium with toxic water. It may improve some symptoms but they will only come back. It’s a bit like trying to give first aid to a burns victim while his clothes are still on fire. Our own best defense to infection is our skin. When this barrier is damaged we are vulnerable to infections. A fish is covered by a mucus layer that does the same job of keeping out pathogens. It is this mucus layer that weakens or disappears when the fish is stressed by poor conditions. Waterlife’s Fin Rot & Ulcers contains a compound that will effectively treat both condition as well as a host of other bacterial infections from other gram negative bacteria.
So for “everyday treatment” of aquarium water and easy, effective treatment of the commonest diseases, should something go wrong, we stock the full range of Waterlife treatments. Waterlife also produce a further range of treatments for less common diseases and pests, such as “hole in the head disease”, flukes, fish lice, leeches , anchor worm and the list goes on! They all provide an excellent common disease chart which we keep copies of in store and have an easy to follow page on their website.
So for quality, support and value for money you can’t really do much better than Waterlife’s range of water treatments for aquarium and pond fish. This is why we have been gradually switching over to these products on our shelves, rather than the less concentrated and often less effective supermarket brands. Water quality can be tested at home quite easily, using a number of different strips and kits and we would strongly recommend investing in the best you can afford to avoid or at least get early warning of problems so you can deal with them appropriately.
As with all businesses, decisions have to be regularly made on pricing of products. Costs are increasing all the time; cost of raw materials, cost of energy, cost of utilities, cost of transport, cost of wages. Unlike some large businesses such as supermarkets (who can often dictate to the supplier what price they are willing to pay and even charge suppliers for the privilidge of stocking their products) we have to pay the prices our suppliers demand. We can sometimes negotiate discounts for products we sell in volume and we belong to various wholesaler schemes that provide promotional offers. These discounts and offers we pass directly on to our customers, members of our emailing list, followers of our Facebook page and this blog will be familiar with our regular monthly offers and discounts. However price increases happen every year, often more frequently with some suppliers, and we have to make decisions on how to handle the increases.
Where we can, we always look first to absorb cost increases into our business. There are a number of ways this can be done and we always exhaust all of these methods first. However, once these are exhausted we have no option but to pass on some of the increase to our customers. We never want to do it but some times it is unavoidable. It is only ever done as a response to genuine increases in cost to our business and in response to justifiable increases by our suppliers. In some cases, where we have felt supplier increases have not been justified and an element of unfair market manipulation has been at work, we have stopped stocking that suppliers products, rather than colaborate in overcharging our customers.
We have recently been informed of what we consider to be a justifiable increase in cost by our livefood supplier. The cost to us for livefood has not increased for a number of years, in fact it actually went down due to improved volume discount a few years ago, a reduction we passed on in full in our own pricing. However the suppliers costs have been steadily increasing over this period. Like us they have done a number of things to avoid passing on these increases but are now at a point where they can no longer do this. Some of their cost figures are eyewatering. They have absorbed increases in production costs over the last decade of a whopping 42%, without passing any of this on. This feat has been acheived by efficiencies, market growth (higher sales volumes) etc.. Unfortunately with the recent increase in the National Minimum Wage and other increases in feed and energy costs they are forced to increase their prices to us. Whilst most of the increases on their high volume items are relatively small (2.3% for prepacked locusts for example), some of the more exotic, small volume items are quite large (10% for dubia roaches).
So, what do we do? Just pass on the increases to our customers so it remains viable for us to sell these products but lose customers? Absorb the costs and keep our prices the same but go out of business because we no longer have money to pay our own costs (rent, energy, utilities, insurances , suppliers , etc, etc.). In the end our only sensible option is to anaylse each product range in turn and come up with a compromise.
From the end of May then, there will be a new pricelist for livefood and I am pleased to announce that the higher volume items such as crickets and locusts will not be increasing in price at all. They will be staying at £1.99 a tub. However some of the lower volume sellers will have to go up a little. For example dubia roaches will increase to £2.75, although lobster roaches will remain at £2.49.
It is never a good thing to increase prices but we do feel that these supplier increases are justified this time round and that our livefood quality remains the best around. We do not just receive it from our supplier, stick it on the shelf and hope it sells before it dies. We look after our livefood, feeding every couple of days (yes it is very fiddly and time consuming but worth it), cleaning out old food and any dead insects, keeping numbers in tubs up by recombining tubs where necessary and controlling temperature to ensure the food is in the best condition possible for your reptile, spider or whatever. Also we do have our loyalty scheme. This means participating customers get an additonal 2.5% off everything they buy when their poiints accumulate. So we are confident we still offer the best value for money on livefood.
So apologies for the small increases in price of some products but remember NO INCREASE in price of locusts, crickets, mealworms, morioworms and waxworms..
May ‘s offers are now available in our Gloucester Pet Shop. Most are also available on line in our webstore. As usual these offer prices are always popular so don’t delay, or risk missing a bargain. I have added a price comparison where I can. Not all products are stocked elsewher locally though. It is always useful for us to do this as it shows us that often our normal price is less than our competitors, let alone our monthly offers. I mean, check out the price of Johnsons IGR House Flea Spray below. We are only a little family run shop and we do not get the discounts for volume the big companies get and yet they still decide to charge the customer more than we do. Go figure!
We can’t compare these to other Gloucester pet shops as they don’t seem to stock the grain free varieties but the cheaper “with rice” varieties are £1.39 at PAH and £1.49 at Pets Corner.
We can’t compare these to other Gloucester pet shops as they don’t seem to stock the grain free varieties but the cheaper “with rice” varieties are £1.39 at PAH and £1.49 at Pets Corner.
Due to an issue with broken tanks our fish stocks have been quite low for a few months. We have now re-installed some of the tanks and are pleased to announce that our tropical fish stocks are climbing back up to where they normally are.
I have updated our livestock list to show our current tropical fish stock. Obviously this list changes all the time so do check out our webstore which will have all the current stock on a day by day basis.
We quarantine all our tropical fish for seven days before putting them on sale to be sure they have no issues and you can be confident of healthy stock. As with all our livestock they are covered by our livestock policy so you can buy with confidence.
Pop in and see us for tropical fish. We have lots of FREE parking and are convieniantly located on the main route out of Gloucester, handy for Cheltenham and Stroud.
There are around nine sub species of the snake species Pituophis catenifer. These go by the common names of Gopher Snake and Bull Snake, depending mainly on regional variation. Rather confusingly the common name Bull Snake is also used to describe certain sub species of the closely related Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus). Care for pine snakes is similar to gopher snakes so this care sheet will cover most aspects of both species, although as I own a Bull Snake (pituophis catenifer sayi) myself it is to this species I am refering when I use the term. Gopher snakes originate from the far western United States and the pine snakes across the south and east, up to New Jersey. Gopher snakes resemble rattle snakes in colour and pattern and will mimic them when threatened. The largest sub species the Bull Snake (Pituphis catenifer sayi) gets its name from the bull like snort it emits when angry. Mine used to do this when I first got it but it soon calmed down with handling and has become one of the most docile, predictable snakes I have ever owned.
Adult Male Bull Snake (Pituophis catenifer sayi)
Housing
Gopher snakes, bull snakes and pine snakes are the largest snakes found in north america (not including the invasive pythons in Florida).The adult size varies from 1m up to 2.3m. You are going to need a large enclosure, I would suggest a minimum of 4′ x 2′. You will not know, until it grows just how big it is going to get so I wouldn’t bother getting a smaller viv. than this. They are also very active, inquiistive snakes, so they do need the space of a larger enclosure and regular changes of layout to keep them stimulated. They really appreciate a bit of excercise out in the house and on a warm day, as long as you keep a very close eye on them you can take them out into the garden for a little explore (depending on the layout, if there is a hole to hide in they will find it). There should always be a large water bowl in the enclosure with fresh water. From experience my bull snake will only drink the water when it is fresh and every time I replace the bowl he will spend a few minutes drinking. I never see him drink at any other time so keep it fresh. It is not necessary to dechlorinate the water in the UK. I often see it stated that the water should be dechlorinated first but this information comes originally from the USA where, historically the chlorine level at the tap is significantly higher (an order of magnitude higher) than the UK. Here it is usually lower than 0.5mg/l and often only a fraction above 0. Our water treatment processes make high levels unecessary. I used to manage a water treatment works and we would have enquiries from US servicemen on whether the water was safe to drink as they couldn’t smell the chlorine!
At least one hide is required, preferably two or more. These can be placed at opposite ends of the vivarium to allow the snake to rest in the correct temperature. Snakes can only thermo regulate by using the ambient temperature around them (unlike us – we can produce our own heat) so need to move around to control their temperature. Whilst shedding, which they will do from every few weeks when young and growing rapidly and every few months when adult, place some damp moss under the snakes preferred hide. This will create a microclimate with raised humidity, making shedding the skin easier. You do not want a raised humidty constantly in the vivarium. Gopher snakes come from arid environments, so dry air (not so for some pine snakes, Florida and Louisianna are pretty humid at times!).
Substrate
Suitable substrates would include, beech chip, aspen bedding and lignocel (e.g. PR snake life) for a utilitarian set up. I have used them all and they are all fine and have the advantage that the poop is easy to spot and to clean. The darker orchid bark or “bark chips” is fine too, although it is much harder to spot the poop. For the more humid subspecies of pine snake this may be a better choice as it can help maintain the humidity. More “natural” looking substrates are also fine. Gopher snakes live in arid areas with dry, often sandy soil. The gopher snake in the shop is on PR toroise life as a suitable approximation to the natural environment and it works well. Don’t be dictated to by the “keyboard warriors” who will try to tell you what you “must” use. This is at best just their opinion, although they will try to present it as fact and at worst just something they have heard somewhere without the slightest idea as to why it should be.
Heating
For smaller snakes a heat mat would be OK but especially if the mat is floor mounted, a larger snake may cause “thermal blocking” (completely covering the mat with its body) so I prefer a ceramic heat emitter with a suitable heater cage to prevent the snake burning itself. A suitably rated pulse proportional or dimming thermostat gives the best level of control over the output of the heater but a simple on/off stat (correct wattage rating) will do the job but with a few peaks and troughs in temperature. A temperature range of 30-32 celcius at the hot end to 24 celcius at the cold end gives a good target range. Allowing the temperature to drop lower overnight gives a more realistic representation of the natural environment and having a lower overall temprature duiring months with shorter days can stimulate them to come into breeding condition. However for basic care the normal temperature range will suffice. Having a thermostat is essential. Reptiles can tolerate lower temperatures for some time, simply becoming less active but over temperature can kill them very quickly. The thermostat prevents this happening. Have a seperate temperature guage as well. Thermostats have been known to fail so knowing what the temperature actually is can be vital.
Lighting
UVB lighting is not necessary to keep your gopher snake healthy and active. However a day night cycle does help this diurnal snake replicate normal behaviour patterns. Also, you want to be able to see your snake so some form of lighting is beneficial. I like to use LED lighting. This has two advantages, the LEDs produce hardly any extra heat so do not interfere with the control of your heating system or cause burns if touched by the snake and they last many tens of thousands of hours longer that an incadescent lamp or even an energy efficiant fluorescent tube/lamp. You can use the other types of lighting but if using incadescent or halogen, the lamp must be protected by a cage to prevent burning. Energy efficient lamps don’t genreally produce enough heat to burn, which is after all why they are energy efficient.
Feeding
As the name “gopher snake” suggests, these snakes eat mainly small rodents in the wild. In captivity you will have no trouble feeding defrosted mice and rats. Size the food items appropriately to the snake, generally not more thatn 1 1/2 times the snakes head diameter, although that is a guide and they will take slightly larger. It is illegal to feed live vertebrate animals to other animals in the UK, unless the animal in question is at risk if not fed live food. There is no way this could be claimed for any gopher snake. All the specimens I have ever come across are good feeders on defrosted mice/rats. Feeding live rodents is a bad idea in any case as they bite back and could well end up injuring your prized snake. There will always be someone who insists they have to use live. I have a few words to describe these people. Pop in and see me in the shop if you want to know what they are, I can’t publish them here. Defrost the food naturally, not in a microwave. This can heat up the inside of the food and activate necrotic bacteria and give your snake food poisoning. Once defrosted, pop the rat in a poly bag and stick it under your arm to raise to blood temperature and the snake will feed. In the 16 years (at time of writing) I have had my bull snake it has only had two bouts of not feeding, one lasting five months and one three months. Both times were as an adult and there was nothing wrong with the snake. If your snake misses a feed I would leave it for a couple of weeks before attempting again or you may just waste a few rats.
San Diego Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer annectens) Feeding On A Small Defrosted Mouse
Lifespan
In the wild, gopher snakes have a lifespan of around 15 years. Captive snakes suffer far less risk and stress throughout their lives (or should do if you are looking after them properly). No predation, environmental controls giving all year round good weather and food on a plate. This leads to much longer lifespans. The oldest I have heard of was reported to be 33 years old. 20-25 years is common. Mine is currently sixteen and is just as active as when he was two.
So gopher snakes (and bull snakes), make excellent first snakes as an alternative to the commoner corn snake or as a next snake for something a little larger and more active. They are much less commonly avaiable however so you may have to shop around to get one.
