Newbie

[CobraStrike397]

Hello everyone. I'm obviously new here, and actually joined to gather information about snakes as I am hoping to get my first one. Surprisingly, my wife gave me the okay as long as she doesn't have to take care of it. Hah.

Anyway, I think I have it narrowed down, but I'm still learning about environment requirements and such. Most of what I've learned has been from random articles and YouTube videos. So I thought a forum with experienced folks might be my next best step.

If anyone is interested in which snakes I'm considering so they can provide insight, I would be happy to provide my list and would absolutely love the feedback and opinions, considering this will be my first snake. I just don't want to start with that information and it be in the wrong area of the forum.

[Tsubaki]

Welcome to ssnakess!! You could share you list here, or make a new topic for it with a clear title so more people will read it. :D

[dave himself]

Hi and welcome :)

[Scubadiver59]

Welcome! Did your wife say 'one' or did she fail to specify a limit? :D

[dannybgoode]

Welcome! Did your wife say 'one' or did she fail to specify a limit? :D

One snake doesn't exist does it?!

Reminds me of one of 'The Rules' which apply to cycling. The correct number of bikes to own is n + 1 where n is the current number of bikes. Married cyclists can modify the equation to n - 1 where n is the actual number that would lead to divorce.

As far as snakes go I am well and truly at n - 1!

Do list the species you're thinking of - we've got most things covered here...

[CobraStrike397]

She definitely failed to specify a limit lol. I said "a snake" to which she replied, "You'll be on your own".

Anyway, my list is as follows in no specific order. Please keep in mind I have no general idea what most of these run monetarily other than what I've seen at PetsMart whom I'd prefer not purchase from. Also a lot of what I know has either been read online or seen on YouTube. So, not one-hundred percent sure how solid my information is.

1. African house snake- Good: Supposed to be very docile and eat well. Bad: Not my favorite as far as looks go.

2. Brazilian Rainbow Boa- Good: Not super large when an adult. Bad: Can dehydrate easily.

3. Ball Python- Good: A lot of morph options. Usually docile. Doesn't get too large. Content just chilling on one's arm or lap. Bad: Can be picky eaters and go extended periods without eating for no apparent reason. Can be pricey depending on the morph.

4. Corn snake- Good: Docile and from what I've seen it's kind of what started snakes as pets. A lot of morph options. Inexpensive. Bad: Unknown.

5. Garter Snake- Good: Docile and does not necessarily need rodents. Cooler operating temperatures. Bad: Unknown.

6. Kenyan Sand Boa- Good: Docile and a steady eater. Doesn't grow very large at all. Bad: Hides in the substrate (could be considered good from the Mrs. point of view.)

7. King Snake- Good: Docile and will eat. Kind of cool that it can whip up on other snakes in the wild. Interesting colors and patterns even without breeding new morphs. Bad: I'm not really sure.

8. Rosy Boa- Good: I've heard they're docile. Bad: Honestly don't know much about this particular boa.

9. Western Hognose- Good: Docile with handling and mostly just bluff striking. It's cool they will flair out their hoods like Cobras even if its a much lesser extent. Bad: Technically "rear-fang venomous" and with my luck that would be the one thing I'm allergic to if it did chew on me.

Also, and I plan to do some reading, but what's with heat pads and lamps? Heat rises, so I feel like a heat pad would make most sense. But in the case of say, a sand boa, would it burn the snake? Are either of these fire hazards? I read that a pad is supposed to be better than a lamp, but do snakes require both?

[ThirteenRavens]

Good list! I have 2 ball pythons, 3 cornsnakes and a hognose (along with a Sunset hog island boa, and a rubber boa). My adult BP is an eating machine unless he's shedding and is pretty docile. My new BP is super sweet also. My corns are variable...my lavender and bloodred are snots and my snow stripe is very friendly. My hognose is a little brat and he has been one of my most pickiest eaters...I actually just got him, my rubber boa and my hog island over their feeding strike -.- and my rubber boa is as sweet as they come :)

Also, welcome!

[brandonh]

Great list! I love small boas like rosey and sandboa.
I have a low red western hognose , African house snake, a puablan milksnake and a new apalachicola lowland King.

[CobraStrike397]

I mean if I had to group the ones I'm most interested in, I think it would be:
1. Hognose, ball python, Kenyan boa.
2. African house, rosy, Brazilian, king.
3. Corn and garter.

I know that regardless of species, each snake will have his or her own personality. We have four cats and they couldn't be more different from each other. I just want to get some real world opinions because other than some box turtles as a child, this is my first reptile. That, and there is a reptile show June 18th near my hometown, so I thought if I could boil it down, I could then figure out what kind of setup I'll need and acquire everything from somewhere less expensive than the big box store down the road that marks up everything 100%. Get it set up and monitored so I know it will be safe for as yet undetermined snake, and then hopefully acquire said snake at the aforementioned reptile expo.

Thirteenravens and brandonh, I greatly appreciate both of your comments on your experiences and opinions.

And to everyone who has commented, I thank you for your warm welcomes. This seems like a very nice community.

[EL Ziggy]

Welcome aboard Cobra. You've got some nice options on your critter list. When it comes to smaller snakes I'm a big fan of kingsnakes. They're easy to care for, have a lot of cool ssp and morphs, and they eat pretty well. I've never kept any of the other species but hoggies are pretty cute too. :)

[brandonh]

Welcome aboard Cobra. You've got some nice options on your critter list. When it comes to smaller snakes I'm a big fan of kingsnakes. They're easy to care for, have a lot of cool ssp and morphs, and they eat pretty well. I've never kept any of the other species but hoggies are pretty cute too. :)

Kings ate pretty great they seem to never miss a meal! My hoggy eats like crazy but once in winter he did go off feed for 5 weeks before starging again.

[Tiny Boidae]

Um, ahem. I think I might be able to offer another suggestion. Baird's Rat Snakes are a little bit harder to find but fairly similar to corns in terms of temperament and hardiness. They stay a tad smaller than corns too if that's something you're interested in. They're just naturally beautiful animals and are very interactive in terms of handling. Mine has never struck at me before, although he does buzz his tail from time to time. Also never misses a meal. He could be convulsing and on the verge of death and I'd still expect him to eat. Here's my sub-adult. He still has a lot of his brown and baby markings but they change colors drastically as they age.

http://i63.tinypic.com/25u0jtw.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/2zxuv7b.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/2hoe4c5.jpg

[CobraStrike397]

I'd never heard of a Bairds rat snake until now. That's a nifty looking snake.

[dannybgoode]

I typed a long reply yesterday but it didn't post for some reason and didn't have time to retype.

Out of your list personally I'd go for the house snake. I have a diverse collection but would happily have one.

Corns can be docile but they can be aggressive little ****s and echoing what TB has put there's a world of closely related rat snakes that imo are just as easy to care for but more interesting.

One other I'd add to your list is one of the smaller localities of carpet python - the Irian Jaya locality for example. Great snakes to own and easy to care for.

[CobraStrike397]

I typed a long reply yesterday but it didn't post for some reason and didn't have time to retype.

Out of your list personally I'd go for the house snake. I have a diverse collection but would happily have one.

Corns can be docile but they can be aggressive little ****s and echoing what TB has put there's a world of closely related rat snakes that imo are just as easy to care for but more interesting.

One other I'd add to your list is one of the smaller localities of carpet python - the Irian Jaya locality for example. Great snakes to own and easy to care for.

I really appreciate your time and snake addition. Thank you!

[CobraStrike397]

So, I have been looking at attending this Reptile Expo in Tulsa, OK on June 18th. Looking at the vendors though, they seem to only offer ball pythons. Do folks tend to get their reptiles online often, or moreso locally? There is a place that breeds balls about 40 minutes from my address in my grandma's town. It has very positive reviews on FaunaClassifieds. I would like to handle some snakes that I'm interested in to get a feel for them, but from the looks of it the Reptile expo wouldn't give me a real variety, and some of the breeders mentioned didn't review well. I like the idea of seeing how these guys handle first hand and being able to speak to a breeder one on one about feeding and all that. I know there are some online places that are reputable (BHB seems very nice) and some that are borderline blacklisted.

Assuming that I decide on what species I would like based on general temperament and care requirements, does anyone have recommendations on breeders? I'm certainly not opposed to breeders that aren't giants either. Mom and Pop operations are great in my book as long as they are good to the animals.

Thanks everyone.

Also if this would be better posted elsewhere in the forum I will be happy to do so. I just don't want to duplicate a thread if it's unnecessary. I know that is generally frowned upon.

[Tiny Boidae]

I've never gotten an animal from an expo or locally. I've always ordered my animals online and it works perfectly. It really depends on what species you're looking for, but I usually look at listings on Kingsnake.com or fauna classifieds and go from there, or sometimes I'll just look at a Google search of breeders. I tend to avoid the big businesses like BHB for a number of reasons. I like to support people who don't do it on a huge scale and who do it out of passion, and the customer service and animal quality is usually better. BHB is okay, but I don't agree with a lot of the things they do or put out to the reptile community. But to make recommendations for specific breeders, it'd be useful to know what you're looking at.

[ThirteenRavens]

I've gotten animals from expos and online and both experiences went very well. Some expos do tend to be heavy on just a few species (balls in particular) so other than picking up supplies and rodents, sometimes they can be a bust...but not always.

The snakes that I have purchased online have come from quality breeders and the process was very quick and smooth.

The BOI is an excellent resource to research any potential new acquisitions :)

[CobraStrike397]

I've never gotten an animal from an expo or locally. I've always ordered my animals online and it works perfectly. It really depends on what species you're looking for, but I usually look at listings on Kingsnake.com or fauna classifieds and go from there, or sometimes I'll just look at a Google search of breeders. I tend to avoid the big businesses like BHB for a number of reasons. I like to support people who don't do it on a huge scale and who do it out of passion, and the customer service and animal quality is usually better. BHB is okay, but I don't agree with a lot of the things they do or put out to the reptile community. But to make recommendations for specific breeders, it'd be useful to know what you're looking at.

You know I'd have to agree really about staying away from big breeders. That's probably where the BOI will come in handy. I feel like the passionate, smaller breeders will be more likely to answer questions, with a chance of a higher quality reptile as well. I like cars, so I try to think of it like this: if I had 30 cars, I could tend to them each twelve times a year. If I had three, the care goes to 120. So after a few years their quality of maintenance would be much higher. Sounds stupid but that's just how I compute.

As for the snakes, I'm still really undecided. I do love the look of balls, and that they just kind of chill. I love the look of the W hognose. I know both of these guys can go off feed for a bit though, so as an owner I can't let it freak me out unless I notice the snake isn't seeming healthy. I think that sand, rosy, and rainbow boas look great, but I read the latter two need high humidity and that does kind of concern me. I mean regardless of what I get, they're my responsibility and I want to make sure they're as happy and healthy as a snake could be. Sand boas are adorable but I know they'll hide 95% of the time, and I read somewhere they're a bit fragile as well. King snakes, I think I neat but I've read they like to musk considerably. I know the rainbow, rosy, and ball will need more humidity and the hognose and sand would need higher heat. The room I plan on having them does stay warmer than the rest of the house typically, but my wife also likes to keep us somewhere in the 67-70 range. If I had to categories them, it would be:
Temperament: from what I've read, they're all pretty lax over time.
Looks: ball, hognose, rainbow
Feeding: rainbow, rosy, sand, king
Ease of enclosure: hognose, sand, king
Morphs: if I actually cared all that much, the ball would win. Watermelon hognoses I dig too. But they're all good looking snakes in their standard colors as well.
Size: none of them grow to an intimidating size for me.
Cost to feed: I'm having a hard time getting data on this.
Enclosure size: they should, from my understanding, all be happy as adults in anything between a 10-30 gallon terrarium, depending on the species and sex.
Cost: y'all know better than I do that this varies greatly not only by species but breeder. If I went no morph, from one place I priced them, it would go sand, ball, rosy, hognose, king, rainbow.

I will say this, I like the look of chubby snakes. I also am afraid of a fast snake some how falling out of my hands or something. I've held two snakes, both pythons, and they just sat in my hands. One just stared into the distance like it was contemplating its life decisions. I can relate to that little one sometimes.

When it comes to the search, it started because of a ball python. Then I discovered hognoses, then sand boas, kings, rainbow, and finally rosy. They all have something special about them and I'm fascinated by them all. But I like the idea of a slower moving snake that could help me learn proper handling. I really don't want to hurt one because it was fast and I mishandled it.

In speaking of smaller breeders, if I do decide to go with a ball, there's a breeder nearby. Anything else and I will likely need to order online.

[dannybgoode]

I get my snakes from three sources. I'm lucky to have an excellent reptile store local to me and as well as the usually stuff they try and have the odd rarer / less kept species in.

Indeed my olive python pair came from there and finding olive pythons in a store rather than a specialist breeder is almost unheard of.

I now also have a good number of breeder contacts who work with rarer species as well as the more common ones and I now have the confidence to determine the good uns from the bad uns.

I generally avoid facebook selling groups, craigslist type sites etc for animals unless a specific species comes up (occasionally something interesting comes up) but they're any excellent resource for second-hand equipment.

The third source is the main expo we have here but I generally try and source the breeder first and chat to them first and then arrange to view and collect the animals rather than go and see what I like and buy on the spot. Again there's a couple of species that if I did happen to see I'd be tempted to just buy but luckily so far that hasn't happened!

[CobraStrike397]

Solid pointers. I appreciate it!

[TRD]

I love kings :)

PS. Kenyan Boa isn't exactly a good eater (they are very shy), and you will not see him/her a lot. Maybe once every week or 2. Like I said before; Keeping sandboa's is like keeping a jar of dirt that seemingly out of itself reorganizes from time to time.

Also, a good bite from a Hognose can actually hurt a ton, but that's about all it does unless you're allergic. Luckily they don't really bite all that often and most people are conscious enough not to have the snake chew down its venom for a while. They are cute as hell, but I can't get any here because they are DWA where I am (Hungary).

PPS. I have Kings, Milks, and Sandboa's. Since both Milk and king fall into the same genus (Lampropeltis) it can be a bit confusing (they should really separate them). I personally think the Kingsnakes are the better keepers. Milks in general seem to be a lot more shy and secretive for some reason, or at least mine.

African House Snakes are actually very nice snakes, but to each their own. I had several chances to get some very nice specimen, though I never ended up with one. So there's that.

& Welcome :)

[StevenL]

I have a Brazilian Rainbow Boa as well as 3 Ball Pythons. The humidity issue for a BRB is not a big issue at all to maintain. My BRB is more exploratory when I hold her while 2 of 3 of my BP's are my buddies to watch TV and they just chill and go into periscope mode. My other BP thinks she is a BRB. Whatever snake you choose you will enjoy I'm sure.