4ft Viv Needs A New Lodger

[MCB]

Hi Everyone,

What's going to tick all the boxes? Help and suggestions please....

It's time to move my dwarf retic into a bigger viv so I'll soon have a 4x2x2 home come free and we have started looking for a new lodger

Our main criteria is something that my 6yr old can handle, with supervision or course. He already has a fully grown female royal and is totally at ease with her, which is great but no one really gets to see her unless she's out of the viv. And he's not allowed to handle the 8ft dwarf.

I've been reading up a lot lately about Hogg Island Boas as they seem to tick a few boxes being quite docile, they don't get to silly sizes and like to climb. This is great as we want to have something that will be happy on branches and isn't away in the hide all the time. Another has been carpets but i've been told they can pack a nasty punch?

[Mikoh4792]

Depends on the individual snake. I've seen nasty carpets, docile carpets, nasty boas, docile boas.

If you want something smaller than a hogg island boa I'd look into the other dwarf localities such as nicaraguan, cay caulker, crawl cay, tarahumara mountain, hypo sonoran, corn island, pearl island.....etc.


Carpets that stay small are palmerston jungle carpets, rock hampton coastals, port douglas coastals, tully jungles, IJ's....etc.

[Mikoh4792]

But carpets that are noted for their docility are inland carpet pythons. They say you can walk up to one in the wild and it won't attempt to bite you(most of them). And they stay moderate sizes.

[Tsubaki]

My hogs were pretty docile (some were nervous though), and stayed at a reasonable size. They do not like to climb, mine never climbed once they reached adulthood. My other dwarfs weren't all that nice (My Nicaragua's were Satan brood for sure ) but you could always look out for one that is already known to be docile. A very active boa might be a lot to handle for a 6 year old though, even if it is a dwarf.

How about a nice corn snake? Beautiful animals to see, easy to take care for. Not shy and pretty active, like to climb. Usually very docile, and a manageable size for a young child. You can even get them in nearly any color you can think of.

[CosmicOwl]

I second Tsubaki. Corn snakes are great animals and a large viv would make one very happy.

[DragonsEye]

A corn or rat snake was my first thought as well -- for the reasons mentioned above.

As another suggestion, how about a Childrens Python (Antaresia childreni)?

[nick654377]

how about a male dumerils? they grow on the slower side or even a female? I have had mine for about a year and a half. she went from 150g - 1000 grams and is still at 46 inches. measured as of yesterday. that is a year and a half growth. so if your child is 8 by the time he is 8 it will only be about 5 feet and then grow another few feet by the time your child is 10. my 3 year old niece grabs my dumerils by the head and she doesn't even move. she is super calm. she wont even take food off the tongs. I lay it in her tank and she grabs it. so id say a male or even a female dumerils.

[MCB]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The Dumerils sound interesting, off to do more research!

[sharthun]

Originally Posted by MCB

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The Dumerils sound interesting, off to do more research!

My suggestion is a Black Milk Snake! Can grow 6 to 7 feet. Easy to maintain. Like it cool! Awesome eaters, and most importantly, very laid back and docile! Mine does like to climb but he's only a little guy at 107g.

[nick654377]

that's her next to a 160 gram bci. she is around 46 inches and just over 1000 grams at almost 2 years old. she was a may 2012 baby I believe.

and here is her next to a 500g bci and the same 160 gram bci

[MCB]

Excellent, great pics showing the size comparison, many thanks.