What is your "favorite" snake species to own?

[Mikoh4792]

I know ya'll may love each of your animals equally, but is there a certain species that you've enjoyed keeping the most? What is the reason for it?

[rmfsnakes32]

My Peruvian long tail boa

[smy_749]

Carpets. Beautiful, curious and always on the move when you take them out, generally good with handling, good feeders, very hardy, muscular body shape (I don't like the Ball / blood body shape) , active in vivarium, did I say beautiful? :D Oh, and they are large enough to give you your big constrictor fix without having to get a retic or burm :P

[Terranaut]

Carpets. Pic your fav and enjoy. Great snakes to keep.

[CK SandBoas]

I love my Kenyan Sand Boas, by far....Their small size, their great temperaments, and their cute faces and googly eyes make them so appealing to me:D

[Mikoh4792]

I love my Kenyan Sand Boas, by far....Their small size, their great temperaments, and their cute faces and googly eyes make them so appealing to me:D

Same reason why I like ball pythons. Also even adults look like babies to me. Makes them a very "cute" snake.

[Mikoh4792]

Carpets. Pic your fav and enjoy. Great snakes to keep.

Carpets. Beautiful, curious and always on the move when you take them out, generally good with handling, good feeders, very hardy, muscular body shape (I don't like the Ball / blood body shape) , active in vivarium, did I say beautiful? :D Oh, and they are large enough to give you your big constrictor fix without having to get a retic or burm :P

They are great display snakes and always keep me alert when I handle them. My carpet python spazzes out everytime I touch his sides. But he's young so it might just be normal flighty behavior.

[Donnie]

Carpets. Beautiful, curious and always on the move when you take them out, generally good with handling, good feeders, very hardy, muscular body shape (I don't like the Ball / blood body shape) , active in vivarium, did I say beautiful? :D Oh, and they are large enough to give you your big constrictor fix without having to get a retic or burm :P

This ^^^ I couldn't have said it better myself :)

[Starbuck]

no colubrid love?? ;)

I have to say i've enjoyed every minute of the lampropeltids- so much variety, lots of personality...

(though i will say i've never kept a carpet, but plan to, and may very well be converted....)

[sweatshirt]

Well, I only have one, so I'm biased :)

[exwizard]

There are soo many different species that I currently owm and each one has their own merits. Tops on that list would be my Dumeril's Boas as I currently have 10 of them. They are mellow easy going snakes that don't require a lot of specialized husbandry to keep them thriving. They are hardy, great easters and don't require a lot of humidity. The one thing I love about them the most is the beautiful patterns they have.

[exwizard]

no colubrid love?? ;)

I have to say i've enjoyed every minute of the lampropeltids- so much variety, lots of personality...

(though i will say i've never kept a carpet, but plan to, and may very well be converted....)

Out of Colubrids, Corns and Bull snakes would be where it's at for me.

These pics speak for themselves.

[Derek Roddy]

Mine would have to be the Black Headed Python (obviously).

Their behavior is so much more "interactive" than any other snake I've kept. They're just an over grown kingsnake with a monitors personality. Just an awesome snake to work with.

Of course, all snakes are killer but, the BHP just takes the cake for me.

D

[Lankyrob]

GTP's cos i dont necessarily want to handle my snakes and they stay out in topen and look gorgeous

[Sophia'sSophia]

I gotta say the Banded Watersnake tops in as my fave, even though I dont have any at the moment. I never had sweeter snakes than the two of those I kept. ((With the exception of a ribbon snake, who, for SOME REASON is the most pro-people snake I've ever met)) They're fearless, but not mean in the slightest. I'd really like to come across another one of these days.

[NBLADE]

for me it is probably retics, decent size for handling, inquisitive nature, stunning in natural colouration and stunning morphs available, generally great feeders, even the most aggressive (defensive) tend to settle quickly with regular interaction, they learn fast. Brilliant all round snakes.

Gtps are probably a close second, visually stunning snakes, can't beat them on looks imo, always out and on show, make great display snakes, get to go through the colour change, and generally good feeders when conditions are right.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Out of the two I've got, the boa constrictor is definitely my favorite. He isn't nearly as much as handful as my ball python. Most of the time he eats perfectly well, while Bud (the ball) goes off eating often, and is picky with what he does eat. Cloud will also pretty much sit there when I take him out, until he calms down and starts exploring. Even then, though, he doesn't get into everything like Bud does. It's kind of funny, because my ball python likes to climb, and my boa likes to bury himself. lol Bud also now looks like a tiny worm compared to Cloud, as Cloud is now over a foot longer than him. If I leave Bud alone too long, he gets pretty moody (he never strikes, but he'll hiss at me as loud as he can), but Cloud rarely ever gets irritated. Cloud isn't the least bit head shy, although he doesn't like his head movements to be restricted. Bud doesn't like his head to be touched is extremely sensitive around his face. Those are just some of the reasons. Most of them are probably individual-based rather than species-based, but that's my experience with ball pythons and boa constrictors. :)

[shaunyboy]

Diamond Pythons :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:

beautiful looking snakes and interesting to keep,they require a little different husbandry to all the other carpets

cheers shaun

[smy_749]

for me it is probably retics, decent size for handling, inquisitive nature, stunning in natural colouration and stunning morphs available, generally great feeders, even the most aggressive (defensive) tend to settle quickly with regular interaction, they learn fast. Brilliant all round snakes.

Gtps are probably a close second, visually stunning snakes, can't beat them on looks imo, always out and on show, make great display snakes, get to go through the colour change, and generally good feeders when conditions are right.

You do realize that if retics are a decent size for handling, then so is almost everything else right? lol Retics and GTP's are also some of my favs, though I've never kept retics before.

[Dave Kelley]

Carpet pythons! Not many species can hold my attention, but the carpet python grouo mever ceases to amaze me. Variability, selective breeding, great community of keepers, intergrades, pure lines, beautiful etc. Nothing matches them to me...not the most expenive ball python morphs, the wackiest selectively bred chondro, or the hardest to breed scrub can beat them.

[Mikoh4792]

You do realize that if retics are a decent size for handling, then so is almost everything else right? lol Retics and GTP's are also some of my favs, though I've never kept retics before.

That's what I thought. I thought I was misreading his post.

[marvelfreak]

For me it's Bloods. I love their super impressive size and personality. They my be short but their girth makes them a true giant. They can be sweet when they want to and just totally psycho. They keep you on our toe and teach you how to read body languages. An how can you not love their raw power? They hit like a mack truck. My Blacks are just as curious and active out of the cage as my Carpets.:)

[Mikoh4792]

For me it's Bloods. I love their super impressive size and personality. They my be short but their girth makes them a true giant. They can be sweet when they want to and just totally psycho. They keep you on our toe and teach you how to read body languages. An how can you not love their raw power? They hit like a mack truck. My Blacks are just as curious and active out of the cage as my Carpets.:)

They scare me.

[NBLADE]

You do realize that if retics are a decent size for handling, then so is almost everything else right? lol Retics and GTP's are also some of my favs, though I've never kept retics before.

Not really, when you have out a 16ft retic, you know you have out a retic, it keeps on the move, keeps you working with it whilst it is out, whereas smaller species like hognose, house snakes, rosy boas, even royals, you can forget your even holding and aren't so much a joy to handle when they are darting off in every direction, or just sitting there doing nothing. So for me retics are a decent size for handling. Don't get me wrong i like keeping the other species too that are smaller and faster, but i get more joy when handling retics than i do from the smaller stuff.

[formica]

Smooth green snakes (loads of roughs about, but I never get an answer when i ask if they are captive bred, which is sad coz they are slowly loosing more and more habitat and population density), I think they are damn beautiful, not the most exotic I guess, but beautiful non the less! I've never found one in the UK, a few friends have had them, living in awsome vivariums, watching them track down insects is a treat. beautiful things! but the 2 I have seen where far to fast for handling, a few attempts where made and they all resulted in disappearances (fortunetly in sealed herp rooms lol). wonder if anyone else has had better experience handling them? neither where bought as hatchlings unfortunetly, culd have been the reason

[NBLADE]

Smooth green snakes (loads of roughs about, but I never get an answer when i ask if they are captive bred, which is sad coz they are slowly loosing more and more habitat and population density), I think they are damn beautiful, not the most exotic I guess, but beautiful non the less! I've never found one in the UK, a few friends have had them, living in awsome vivariums, watching them track down insects is a treat. beautiful things! but the 2 I have seen where far to fast for handling, a few attempts where made and they all resulted in disappearances (fortunetly in sealed herp rooms lol). wonder if anyone else has had better experience handling them? neither where bought as hatchlings unfortunetly, culd have been the reason

I bred the rough green snakes a few times, only ever handled to move them for cleaning, otherwise i let them get on with it, they were always a flighty snake if i tried handling, but if i left them to it were quite brave and inquisitive in their vivs.

[rocknhorse76]

For me, its a toss-up between my Dumeril's and Argentine boas. Dumeril's are so mellow and easy to handle, while Argentines have such a personality.

[StudentoReptile]

I always gotta come back to my kings. I love the whole Lampropeltis getula complex, but I especially gravitate towards the eastern half of the group (chains, speckleds, Floridas, etc.)

[Mikoh4792]

I always gotta come back to my kings. I love the whole Lampropeltis getula complex, but I especially gravitate towards the eastern half of the group (chains, speckleds, Floridas, etc.)

Is there a noticeable difference in temperament between these and the western kings?

[Starbuck]

I always gotta come back to my kings. I love the whole Lampropeltis getula complex, but I especially gravitate towards the eastern half of the group (chains, speckleds, Floridas, etc.)

yay! high five for the kings/milks :)

[formica]

I bred the rough green snakes a few times, only ever handled to move them for cleaning, otherwise i let them get on with it, they were always a flighty snake if i tried handling, but if i left them to it were quite brave and inquisitive in their vivs.

nice! how did u get on with breeding them? if i ever breed any snakes I'd probly choose them, assuming they arnt too fussy about it; then again i do like problem solving :yes:


cant wait to own one or two, one day!

[Strutter769]

Hands down, the Madagascar Ground Boa!

[infernalis]

Garter snakes. hands down. Inquisitive, active, diurnal, dynamic, and handsome.

[StudentoReptile]

Is there a noticeable difference in temperament between these and the western kings?

Mainly size, the eastern subspecies tend to get larger. Also, for some reason, CA kings just seem to have that "eat everything that touches me" attitude that I find annoying. Granted, not every CA king does this, and there are definitely other species that are capable of doing it; just seems in my experience, CA kings are the worst about it. But I do like the classic look of a black/white banded CA king.

[rocknhorse76]

Hands down, the Madagascar Ground Boa!


Someday, I WILL have one of those!!

[Mikoh4792]

Hands down, the Madagascar Ground Boa!

That looks too much like a dumeril's lol.

[sweatshirt]

Hands down, the Madagascar Ground Boa!

:o That's an awesome looking snake!!!

[NBLADE]

nice! how did u get on with breeding them? if i ever breed any snakes I'd probly choose them, assuming they arnt too fussy about it; then again i do like problem solving :yes:


cant wait to own one or two, one day!


They bred relatively easy once they were established, the problem people have is establishing them in the first place, as most available are wild caught, and people feed them cb crickets and locusts when they arrive, and it changes the bacteria in the gut flora too quickly and kills them, which is why people say they only survive 6 months in captivity. If you wean them onto captive bred crickets and locusts by starting them off on wild caught food, spiders being a favorite of theirs, but woodlice, flies, grass hoppers, earth worms etc, and the odd cricket and locust, and gradually adding more and reducing the rest of the stuff, you can slowly change over the bacteria levels and the gut flora doesn't change to quickly and kill them.

They also seem to do better in groups than on their own, they are braver and feel safer in numbers, i've found them to do much better when left well alone, barely handled, a lot of foliage and hiding places and sprayed twice a day with a good quality UV light, and i bred them a few times, and have kept a lot of wc adults successfully.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/61829_151815018185184_1978915_n.jpg

and interestingly i've never had a wc adult or baby try and bite to defend itself, just try to flee when being moved, but the cb babies, straight from the egg had character

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/36178_157863117580374_4478981_n.jpg

[Roman]

As I don' t keep many snakes I keep only snakes I am interested in. I do really like Californian Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula californiae), the Redtailed green Ratsnake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) and Barons racer (Philodryas baroni), but my all-time favorite is obviously the Tiger ratsnake (Spilotes pullatus) - a large, fast moving snake, highly active, very attractive and with an interesting behavior.

Here are some new pictures of my favorites... :D


24239

24240

24241

24242

24243
http://www.ssnakess.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=1060

[moshirimon]

Common BCI. Big softies!

[sweatshirt]

Common BCI. Big softies!

I concur :p

[bcr229]

My BCC's and BCI's. They are beautiful, mellow, easily handled, and happily pound f/t rats.

[franks]

This ^^^ I couldn't have said it better myself :)

Regarding carpets, they are the greatest.

[red ink]

Stimsons pythons...

[brandonh]

ppl.....show the Hognose some love !! :) i know there are hognose fans here somewhere , one of my favorite snakes tho i do not own one

[rocknhorse76]

That looks too much like a dumeril's lol.

A bigger, more colorful Dumeril's....plus they're not that common.

[exwizard]

That looks too much like a dumeril's lol.

I have 10 Dums and none of them look like a MGB.

Someday, I WILL have one of those!!

Me too! Someday...

[Mikoh4792]

I have 10 Dums and none of them look like a MGB.



Me too! Someday...

They look similar