Pine snakes are important predators of small mammals such as mice and rats, ground squirrels, and gophers, which are destructive agricultural pests. Parasites of this species are unknown.
Pine snakes are preyed upon by short-tailed shrews, raccoons, striped skunks, red foxes, domestic dogs and cats. Pine snake eggs are commonly eaten by scarlet snakes. When threatened, pine snakes make a hissing sound or a bellow (i.e., a loud, deep sound) to intimidate its predators and vibrates its tail to resemble a rattlesnake. They also use a sweeping strike in an effort to appear more vicious. Evidence suggests that hatchlings avoid scent trails made by potential predators and are able to avoid predators such as hawks and owls by finding cover under pine boughs and other debris.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: mimic
Pine snakes are the second-largest snake in northeastern North America, ranging in size from 91 to 254 cm in length and up to 5 cm in diameter. Pine snakes are powerful, nonvenomous constrictors. All members of the genus Pituophis have a cartilaginous keel in front of the glottis which amplifies hissing to mimic a rattlesnake. The head of the pine snake resembles that of a turtle, small in comparison to its body size, with a sharply pointed snout that protrudes over the lower jaw. Their skulls are different from those of western pine snakes, specifically in regard to nasal/premaxilla articulation, suggesting differences in digging behavior. The scales of pine snake are keeled in about 27 to 37 rows with a single anal plate. Unlike most other North American snakes, they have 4 instead of 2 prefrontal scales. Subspecies vary in appearance. Northern pine snakes are dull white to cream on the dorsum and intensely white on the sides with black body blotches anteriorly and brown blotches posteriorly. Bullsnakes range in color from yellow to tan with reddish-brown lateral spots. Florida pine snakes range in color from gray-brown to rusty-brown with faded, indistinct, blotched patterning. Black pine snakes are almost completely black or dark brown with a reddish snout. Juvenile pine snakes are dull in color and brighten after shedding their skin for the first time. Sexual dimorphism has not been reported in this species.
Range length: 91 to 254 cm.
Other Physical Features: heterothermic
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
There is no information available regarding the average lifespan of wild pine snakes. In captivity, the oldest known pine snake lived to be 22 years, 5 months, and 1 day old. At the San Diego Zoo, a captive born female pine snake lived to be 20 years, 9 months, and 2 day old. One pine snake reportedly lived only 4 years, 6 months in captivity.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 4.5 to 22.5 years.
Pine snakes are found at elevations up to 152.4 meters above sea level in a variety of habitats, including pine barrens, mixed scrub pine and oak woods, dry rocky mountain ridges, sand hills, and old fields. In New Jersey, disturbed habitats are used as much as 90% of the time by pine snakes. Males are generally found near logs and bark, while females are more frequently found under oak leaves.
Range elevation: 0 to 152.4 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Pituophis catenifer sayi can be found in the eastern half of the United States. There are 5 subspecies recognized, including northern pine snakes found in southern New Jersey, the coastal plains of North Carolina and South Carolina, the mountains of western Virginia and eastern West Virginia, Maryland, New York, southern Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Florida pine snakes are found in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and southwestern South Carolina. Louisiana pine snakes are found in western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Black pine snakes are found in southwestern Alabama, southeastern Louisiana, and Mississippi. Finally, bullsnakes are found in western Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, parts of Canada and southwest to southern and western Texas and Mexico.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Animal Foods: birds; mammals; reptiles; eggs
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats terrestrial vertebrates, Eats eggs)
Pine snakes prey on many species of rodents and may help control the abundance of agricultural pests throughout their geographic range. Hatchlings are sometimes captured and either sold or kept as pets. They are among the most popular snakes kept as pets.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; controls pest population
When threatened, the pine snake can inflict a painful bite. Pine snakes are non-venomous and only bite in self-defense. There are no other known adverse effects of pine snakes on humans.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (bites or stings)
Pine snakes are oviparous and have an incubation period of about 51 to 100 days. Hatchlings range in length from 30 to 58 cm. It is not known if pine snakes grow throughout their entire lives or not.
As a collective species, Pituophis catenifer sayi is classified as "least concern" on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. However, several subspecies are currently protected throughout parts of their geographic ranges. For example, black pine snakes are protected in Alabama and Mississippi. Common pine snakes are considered a species of special concern in North Carolina and are threatened in Kentucky, New Jersey and Tennessee. Florida pine snakes are protected in Alabama and South Carolina, and are a species of special concern in Florida. The single greatest threat to this species is habitat destruction; however, it occurs in protected habitat at various locations throughout its geographic range.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Little information is known about communication and perception in Pituophis catenifer sayi. Juveniles recognize conspecifics via olfaction. It is possible that adult males recognize females in a similar manner.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Other Communication Modes: mimicry ; vibrations
Perception Channels: visual ; acoustic ; chemical
Pituophis catenifer sayi belongs to the family Colubridae, the largest family of snakes in the world.
Pine snakes breed annually. Although information on the mating system of this species is known for only portions of its geographic range, research has shown that Florida pine snakes are polygynous. The home range of several females often overlaps that of a single male. There have been no recorded studies about the mating systems of other subspecies of pine snake. Studies show that the testes of male pine snakes are regressed in April and May and begin to appear in June. They go through spermiogenesis in late summer/early autumn. The sperm then pass to the epididymis and vas deferens where it is stored until the spring breeding season. During breeding, the male crawls over the female, holds onto her by grasping her head or neck in his mouth, and mates with her. Breeding may last from half an hour to over an hour.
Mating System: polygynous
Female pine snakes have an annual breeding cycle which extends from April through May. Detailed information regarding pine snakes is restricted to specific subspecies. Florida pine snakes may mate during the winter due to warmer weather throughout the rest of the year. Gestation usually lasts 28 to 39 days. Pine snakes are oviparous and lay eggs from May through July in underground burrows, underneath rocks or logs. Although some pine snakes are solitary and stick to their own nests, others are communal and share nests with conspecifics. Clutch size ranges from 3 to 24 eggs with an average of 8, and incubation lasts about 51 to 100 days with an average of 73. Louisiana pine snakes generally lay fewer, larger eggs. Young emerge in August or September. Hatchlings range in length from 30 to 58 cm and range in mass from 23 to 60 grams. Hatchling sex ratios generally favor males while adult females outnumber adult males. Pine snakes reach sexual maturity about 3 years after hatching. Males-male combat is common during the breeding season.
Breeding interval: Pine snakes breed once yearly.
Breeding season: Pine snakes usually breed from April to May.
Range number of offspring: 3 to 24.
Average number of offspring: 8.
Range gestation period: 28 to 39 days.
Average gestation period: 35 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 3 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 3 years.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; sexual ; fertilization ; oviparous
Females lay their eggs in nests, which are sometimes communal. After the eggs are laid, there is no further parental care.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
Pituophis melanoleucus, commonly known as the pine snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the southeastern United States. Three subspecies are currently recognized as being valid.
The pine snake, Pituophis melanoleucus, gets its Latin name from "melano" meaning black and "leucos" which means white. This is in reference to its black and white body. Three subspecies of Pituophis melanoleucus are currently recognized: the nominate subspecies P. m. melanoleucus (Daudin, 1803), the northern pine snake; P. m. lodingi (Blanchard, 1924), the black pine snake; and P. m. mugitus (Barbour, 1921), the Florida pine snake.[4]
The subspecific name lodingi is in honor of Danish-born amateur herpetologist Peder Henry Löding (1869-1942), who lived in Alabama.[5]
The species has a variety of common names, including: pine snake, pinesnake,[4] common pine snake, bullsnake, black and white snake, carpet snake, chicken snake, common bullsnake, eastern bullsnake, eastern pine snake, horn(ed) snake, New Jersey pine snake, North American pine snake, northern pine snake, pilot snake, and white gopher snake.[6]
Adults of P. melanoleucus are large, growing to 48–90 in (120–230 cm) in total length (including tail)[7] and are powerfully built. The head is small and somewhat pointed with an enlarged rostral scale that extends upward between the internasal scales. Usually, four prefrontal scales are seen. At midbody are 27-37 rows of keeled dorsal scales.[8] The anal plate is single.[9] The color pattern consists of a light ground color overlaid with black, brown, or reddish-brown blotches.[8]
The species P. melanoleucus is found in the United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware and Virginia.[6][9] The nominate subspecies occurs in southern New Jersey, southern North Carolina west through South Carolina to northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee, southeastern Kentucky and south into Alabama. P. m. lodingi occurs from southwestern Alabama to eastern Louisiana, overlapping with P. m. mugitus from southern South Carolina to Georgia and southern Florida.[2]
The pine snake inhabits pine flatwoods, sandy pine-oak woodlands, prairies, cultivated field, open brushland, rocky desert and chaparral. It occurs from sea level to an elevation of 9,000 ft (2,700 m).[8] The pine snake requires well-drained, sandy soils with little vegetation for use as nesting and hibernation sites.[1] P. melanoleucus communities in New Jersey were found to hibernate communally while communities in other regions like Tennessee were found to hibernate on their own.[10]
The pine snake preys on rats, mice, moles and other small mammals and eggs.[6] It often enters rodent burrows in search of a meal. In these cases, multiple kills are frequent, with the snake pressing the mice against the walls of the burrow.[11] The snake remains underground in cold weather or during the heat of summer days.[1]
When disturbed, it often hisses loudly, sometimes flattening its head, vibrating its tail, and eventually striking at an intruder.[8] To make the hissing sound, the snake forces air out of its lungs, vibrating the epiglottis.[12] Several mammal species have been known to predate upon the hibernacula and nesting burrows of pine snakes including the American red fox (Vulpes fulva), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda).[13]
After mating has taken place in spring, clutches of three to 24 eggs are laid in June–August. The eggs are deposited in sandy burrows or under large rocks or logs and hatch after 64–79 days of incubation.[8] They are known to build communal nests, with several females laying eggs in the same spot.[14] The eggs are adherent and quite large, up to 66 mm (2.6 in) long by 45 mm (1.8 in) wide. Hatchlings measure 33–45 cm (13–18 in).[6] Eggs laid on wetter substrate tended to produce larger hatchlings than those laid on dryer substrate.[15]
The pine snake is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List, due to its wide distribution and large number of subpopulations; while the total populations appears to be declining, this is likely happening at a slow rate. However, the species is thought to be impacted by continued habitat degradation and destruction. It is present in a variety of protected areas.[1] Habitat loss is the major threat to populations of this species. Construction of hibernacula is an effective tool for enhancing the survival rates of the species.[16]
Pituophis melanoleucus, commonly known as the pine snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the southeastern United States. Three subspecies are currently recognized as being valid.
