Family: Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes view all from this family
Description 48-100" (122-254 cm). Large and powerfully built; small head. Light-colored with black or brown blotches on back and sides, or all black. Snout somewhat pointed, with enlarged rostral scale extending upward between internasal scales. Usually 4 prefrontal scales. Scales keeled, in 27-37 rows. Anal plate single.
Warning When confronted, the Pine Snake hisses loudly, sometimes flattening its head and vibrating its tail like a rattlesnake. It may then lunge at the intruder and strike. Its bite is not venomous.
Subspecies Northern (P. m. melanoleucus), white, pale gray, or yellowish with black blotches near front of body, often brownish toward rear; s. New Jersey; w. Virginia, s. Kentucky, Tennessee, n. Alabama, n. Georgia, sw. and se. North Carolina and South Carolina.
Black (P. m. lodingi), almost uniformly dark brown to black, some with traces of blotching; sw. Alabama west to extreme e. Louisiana.
Florida (P. m. mugitus), grayish in front to rusty brown toward rear, blotches indistinct, especially on forepart of body; s. South Carolina, s. Georgia, se. Alabama, and Florida.
Breeding Mates in spring. Clutches of 3-24 cream to white eggs, 2-4 1/4" (50-109 mm) long, are laid in burrows in sandy soil or below large rocks or logs, June to August; hatch in 64-79 days. Young are 12-18" (30-46 cm) long.
Similar Species The Louisiana Pine Snake (Pituophis ruthveni) of wc Louisiana and adjacent e. Texas, until recently considered a subspecies of Pituophis melanoleucus, is now considered a separate species. It has obscure dark brown blotches on the forepart of its body, and distinct lighter brown or reddish-brown blotches toward the rear.
Habitat Dry, sandy pine-oak woodlands and pine flatwoods, cultivated fields, open brushland.
Range S. New Jersey; w. Virginia; s. Kentucky and s. North Carolina south to s. Florida, west to extreme e. Louisiana.
Discussion Generally diurnal, but may be active at night during hot weather. This snake takes refuge in mammal or tortoise burrows or under large rocks or logs. Noted for its consumption of rodents. The pine snakes, the gopher snakes, and bullsnakes all used to be treated as a single species. The gopher snakes and bullsnakes are now considered the species Pituophis catenifer. They have a more westerly distribution than the Pine Snake.
