Hatchlings range in length from 30 to 58 cm. Pine snakes are oviparous and have an incubation period of about 51 to 100 days. ( Cochran and Goin, 1970 Conant and Collins, 1991 Ditmars, 1931 Ditmars, 1939 Ernst and Barbour, 1989 Ernst and Ernst, 2003 Greene, 1997 Wright and Wright, 1957) Sexual dimorphism has not been reported in this species.
#PINE SNAKE SKIN#
Juvenile pine snakes are dull in color and brighten after shedding their skin for the first time. Black pine snakes are almost completely black or dark brown with a reddish snout. Florida pine snakes range in color from gray-brown to rusty-brown with faded, indistinct, blotched patterning. Bullsnakes range in color from yellow to tan with reddish-brown lateral spots. 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. Unlike most other North American snakes, they have 4 instead of 2 prefrontal scales. The scales of pine snake are keeled in about 27 to 37 rows with a single anal plate. Their skulls are different from those of western pine snakes, specifically in regard to nasal/premaxilla articulation, suggesting differences in digging behavior. 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. All members of the genus Pituophis have a cartilaginous keel in front of the glottis which amplifies hissing to mimic a rattlesnake. Pine snakes are powerful, nonvenomous constrictors. 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. Males are generally found near logs and bark, while females are more frequently found under oak leaves. In New Jersey, disturbed habitats are used as much as 90% of the time by pine snakes. 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. ( Ernst and Barbour, 1989 Ernst and Ernst, 2003 Wright and Wright, 1957)
Finally, bullsnakes are found in western Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, parts of Canada and southwest to southern and western Texas and Mexico. Black pine snakes are found in southwestern Alabama, southeastern Louisiana, and Mississippi. Louisiana pine snakes are found in western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Florida pine snakes are found in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and southwestern South Carolina. 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. Pituophis melanoleucus can be found in the eastern half of the United States.
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