Need advice

[babyboa97]

So I currently have pythons and boas but I remember when I used to have a corn snake when I was five. I remembered how amazing it was. I've gotten an itch for a colubrid lately and I want to buy a rat snake. I want a larger rat snake that is not as nice as a corn. Something that puts you on your toes. I was thinking of a Chinese king rat snake. Can I get some advice please.
Thanks

[smy_749]

So I currently have pythons and boas but I remember when I used to have a corn snake when I was five. I remembered how amazing it was. I've gotten an itch for a colubrid lately and I want to buy a rat snake. I want a larger rat snake that is not as nice as a corn. Something that puts you on your toes. I was thinking of a Chinese king rat snake. Can I get some advice please.
Thanks

Red tail rats will put you on your toes for sure.

[Amadeus]

Bull snakes, Pine snakes Texas rat snakes.

[Mikoh4792]

Tiger rat snakes

[smy_749]

Tiger rat snakes

These are beautiful, if you can find a healthy one get this.

[babyboa97]

I've never seen them for sale. My friend has an 8 footer and its beautiful. How much do the go for

[lady_bug87]

I have a bull snake. She's pissy and we mostly hate each other but she's OK.. I'll stick to Amazons.

[Concept9]

I have a bull snake. She's pissy and we mostly hate each other but she's OK.. I'll stick to Amazons.

Aren't Amazons miniature face eaters ? :)

[lady_bug87]

My male is. It remains to be seen how my female will be she's still little

[possum]

.... I want a larger rat snake that is not as nice as a corn. Something that puts you on your toes...Thanks

Taiwan Beauty ratsnakes come to mind. I'm actually a fan of ALL the American ratsnakes (Everglades/yellow/black/grey/Bairds/TransPecos) but most of those tame quite well. Russian ratsnakes have the reputation of being great pets (I've never kept them, just reiterating what I've read & heard from others) but a similar species that I do keep is the Korean ratsnakes...and they are NOT so easy! Shy/flighty/racer-like...in short, a challenge! (a little hard to find c/b available, but they're out there) Oh, & how about a Texas ratsnake? LOL! they have a 'reputation' let's just say.

[Roman]

Excellent suggestions so far

I have no personal experience with the Russian ratsnake (Elaphe schrenckii) or with Bullsnakes / Gophersnakes (Pituophis sp.), but what I read about them they are easy to keep and especially the Russian ratsanke has a mild temper and will not try to bite you as soon as you open the door. Both need a hibernation period, the ratsanke needs at least 3 – 4 month (I read a suggestion of 5 month in a book).

My Taiwan Beauty snake (Orthriophis taeniurus friesei) is also easy to keep, but it needs some room and likes to climb. My snake is quite old (at least 20 years, I have it since 1995) and for an Orthriophis it is easy to handle, most of the times I can do my maintenance without being bitten – but sometimes he gets his moods and is really aggressive and with a fast moving snake of about 8 ft (2,4 m) this is not funny, if he gets you it hurts and bleeds…

My three CB Tiger ratsnakes (Spilotes pullatus) need more effort to keep them. With the right enclosure and equipment keeping them is not a big problem, but I paid an amount of money for my enclosure others would buy a used car for…

My experience with them shows that a larger enclosure leads to more active snakes. When I kept my first male in a much smaller enclosure before I got my current one he was more or less resting on some branches, but in the large enclosure all three of them are very active and are sometimes moving for hours. To give you an impression my enclosure is 2,5 m x 0,9 m x 1,9 m (ca. 8 ft x 3 ft x 6 ft).

Roman

[Concept9]

King Rat for the win. :)

King Ratsnake -- (Elaphe carinata) (http://www.ratsnakes.com/Ecarinata.html)

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[snakeman879]

Defo get a bull snake lol lots ov attitude will certanly keep u on ur tows at feeding time they make a lot ov noise as well lol they great

[Corey209]

Bamboo rat snakes are my favorite, Mandarin's look cool too.

Bamboo
http://bamboozoo.weebly.com/uploads/6/4/5/2/645227/8997465.jpg?375
http://www.snakesoftaiwan.com/Oreocryptophis%20porphyracea/Oreocryptophis_porphyracea%20Red%20Bamboo%20Rat%20 Snake%20Douzi09100116_01_02(1).jpg
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx4/UrbanJungles/coxi1.jpg

Mandarin
http://www.snakeworld.com/pictures/mandarinrat2.jpg

Radiated
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/7468889940_ab833dc090_z.jpg


Red tail rats will put you on your toes for sure.

I've only handled one WC before and it was extremely unpredictable although if you took everything slow he wouldn't bite.

[snakeman879]

Waw really like the mandarin really nice coulors and pattern never saw one before cool snake

[Will0W783]

A tiger rat snake (Spilotes pullatus) will definitely keep you on your toes if you can find one! I have a huge 7-foot+ LTC female I've owned for about 3 years now. She's pure evil inside her cage, but not too bad once you get her out. They are long, thin, extremely smart and very fast. Much like boomslangs, tiger rats have forward-set eyes, and will weave their head back and forth to triangulate depth for a more accurate strike. I LOVE mine...she's my favorite non-venomous snake to work with.

[Mikoh4792]

A tiger rat snake (Spilotes pullatus) will definitely keep you on your toes if you can find one! I have a huge 7-foot+ LTC female I've owned for about 3 years now. She's pure evil inside her cage, but not too bad once you get her out. They are long, thin, extremely smart and very fast. Much like boomslangs, tiger rats have forward-set eyes, and will weave their head back and forth to triangulate depth for a more accurate strike. I LOVE mine...she's my favorite non-venomous snake to work with.

How big of an enclosure would you need to provide for an adult?(Not the minimum, something more ideal).

Also if I remember correctly Tiger rat snakes are not really "rat snakes" but more closely related to indigos and cribos?

[hunter4life]

I work with Rats and they are def. mean! lol I wouldn't say don't get one though, my opinion would be get a King Rat! They are so pretty when I see them, I work at BHB Reptiels and we have about 4 for sale right now and GOD they are so pretty! Great lookin' snakes, if you can afford a scale less, I recommend getting a scale less Rat! They are real pretty! We have plenty of those for sale too!

[Roman]

How big of an enclosure would you need to provide for an adult?(Not the minimum, something more ideal).

I wrote something about the enclosure size in post #11. As I said, the bigger the better, an adult Spilotes will use all space it gets.

Here are some additional information and pictures of my enclosure

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-colubrid-forum/95024-spilotes-pullatus.html

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/enclosure-reptile-room-showcase/98300-put-up-shut-up-5.html

Roman