I'm getting the itch again - Selecting a new species

[jjhill001]

As some of you know I reentered the hobby a few years ago, I've been very good about making sure that I don't make similar mistakes that I did before I left for the military. Mainly not acquiring so many different animals just because the opportunity presents itself and I happen to have the money or a tank available and without a plan for them.

I've made it 3 years since I bought my pair of Baird's Rat Snakes Ricky and Lucy and I've only had 1 impulse buy. My leopard gecko Debbie who hates me. Of impulse buys, a leopard gecko isn't the worst and considering I've kept them before wasn't really that big of a deal.

But being on the forums you get a chance to see everyone's awesome animals, their stories and experiences. Quite frankly it's been long enough. I'm planning on breeding my Baird's next spring and having moved both of them up in cage size I do have the old grow outs that could be used for new wards.

So I'm going to do what I've seen many people do when they aren't sure what species to get, but with a twist. Not only do I want your suggestions but I'd also like a little bit of information about how you care for them, what kind of enclosure you use, overall personality etc. It doesn't have to be limited to just snakes either.

Some species I've been looking at that I know a few of you guys on the forums keep.

-Dominican Red Mountain Boa
-Northern Pine Snake
-Speckled King Snake
-Russian Rat Snake
-Maybe a monitor lizard?

Anyways I'm really excited to see your responses and hope to learn a lot about the animals you guys are keeping and would potentially recommend.

[Minkness]

Out if those, the speckled king is my choice unless you are up for an ackie moniter. I can't speak in the moniter, but the king I have some semi-experience with as I have a mexi-black/desert mix as well as a Brooksi. 8 have really come to thoroughly enjoy my king snakes. They are easy enough now that they are juices, but as babies they were fast and nervous. My brooksi has calmed way down but the mixed up one is still on the nervous side. Both eat with gusto and give me perfect sheds all the time. They are also easily handled. The mix needs a slow hand, but is otherwise fine while the brooksi is pretty chill. Both are kept on sanichips with a large water dish and 2 hides. Pretty basic really. The brooksi us in a 20 long while the mix is in a rack tub. Neither seem to hide too much now that they are older, but when younger I wondered if I even had snakes in their enclosure.

So, all in all, they are easy to care for, handle, and generally just awesome.

I know that neither are the speckled specifically, but you are basically looking at the same thing with a different color and pattern.

[toddnbecka]

I have Dominican red mountain boas and a baby speckled king snake. The Dominicans were the first snakes I chose after weeks of researching before I got back into them. I generally prefer mid-size (as adults) species that are easy to handle. When I got the first pair of yearlings several years ago I set them up in a 30 gallon aquarium with a screen top and a 100w CHE on one end. Cypress mulch substrate, and I covered most of the top with styrofoam board (dollar store, peel off the paper from both sides, and a few zip ties to hold it to the screen top) to maintain humidity. Tubs are cheap, but I had the tank on hand, so I worked with that.
I've found that the ceramic cichlid stone ornaments are actually much better suited to snakes than fish, so I use them for hides for smaller snakes. I currently have 3 of those 4 in 30-40 gallon aquariums, the rest are in an AP T10's with a RHP. Eventually they'll all be housed in T10's, but at their current sizes the 3' tanks still work well enough. Pretty much any 4' enclosure will work, but they are semi arboreal, and quite active at night, so they do appreciate vertical space to move around and branches to climb/rest on. The largest adults are well over 6' now, remains to be seen how much more they'll grow, but not likely over 7-8'.
Their temperament is so mellow I feed some of them by hand, depending on the individual. Some are more reclusive than others, a few are quite bold. Most of the babies born last year will take f/t rat pinks from my hand as well, while some are more inclined to duck for cover when their tub or tank is opened. I've never seen any of them at any size or age strike or bite defensively. The flighty ones musk, but even those calm down quickly when picked up.

The speckled king is a relatively recent addition, picked him and a female up at the Hamburg show last March. Unfortunately, I lost the female before we even got out of the parking lot at the show. I foolishly open the deli cup and took her out, she wiggled out of my hand, and found some sort of vent opening under the seat of my girlfriend's Nissan. Never saw her again, will have to find another female sometime.
The male is growing out nicely though. He's currently housed in a 29 gallon tank with a pegboard top. He spends most of his time buried under the aspen/paper bedding, though he does lounge around in the open occasionally. He does buzz his tail when he gets excited (usually when I roust him out of the bedding for food, lol) but has never displayed any attitude or struck at me. Once I locate his head I dangle a fuzzy mouse in front of him and he takes it as soon as he realizes it's there. He could probably use a moist hide for shedding, they're always clean but never in one piece like most of the others. I almost went with MBK's, but I like the contrast of the yellow on the black background. Very simple and typical colubrid setup, ultratherm heat mat under one end of the tank. No caves or hides since he prefers to burrow anyway, though I do plan to add a couple when he grows a little larger.

[Sylphie]

Ooooh, so much to write!

I will not list all the species we have/had as not all are my favourites... besides everyone knows corns and balls so no need to write a lot about them.

Firstly of course I would get a Russian Rat. They are farily big, yet small enough to not be hard to handle. Some babies will be shy and flighty but they calm down with size, around 2 years old they are totally laid back (we had only one crazy hatchling, biting like crazy but after two months it calmed down). As for personality they are veery inquisitie, often move around in their tanks, will try to climb onto your hands if only given a chance. They are also very hardy and do well in cooler temps so you can handle them without worrying they will get too cold.
Personally I wouldn't keep them intubes as they are big and active enough to be great display snakes! For adult females we're using 150x50x50cm (5 x 1.6 x 2 feet), but we keep them 2 in a viv, so for a single one you can have smaller enclosure. They love climbing and swimming so providing branches and big water area is great idea. >Here< is a care sheet on my website based on how we keep them, so you can check it too (there are also sheets for other species we keep so look around, all based on how we do things). They will eat anything you'll give them and as often as you'll allow so no problems here.

Elaphe climacophora (Japanese Ratsnakes) are really nice too, quite similiar in care to Russians, but unfortunately it's a lottery in terms of personality. I know some members on the forum have great, calm climacs, but the ones we had/meet were totally crazy and super shy, always hiding when people were around. So, they are worth looking into but I personally sold ours and moved to other species. Ours were also prone to going off food in summer, even when they were only one year old.

I'm also a huge fan of hognoses, they are fairly small so it's not a problem to keep them in proper enclosures, very active (or at least mine are) and have a lot of nice colors. I love how full of drama they can be, especially since most will not bite unless you smell like food so it's fun to watch how they rattle, hiss, flatten their neck or fake the bites with closed mouths. The only downside is the occasional problem with feeding, but we did not have this happen yet.
Since ours are hatchlings yet we keep them in smaller enclosures with lots of substrate for burrowing (coco coir), some branches and fake plants (will move to bioactive this year). As adults we plan to keep them in 75x50x40cm (2,4x1,6x1,3ft) for females and a little smaller for males.

I also love both crested geckos and bearded dragons but I'm not sure if you would like such small lizards so will not write about them

In future I'd totally love to get green bush ratsnakes and Hydrosaurus pustulatus/amboinensis but that will need to wait for a bigger home. Especially for hydrosaurus I read as much as I could find (which is not easy as there is not a lot of people working with them) so if you'll find them interesting let me know and I can let you know what I found (but no personal experience yet).

[Andy_G]

Northern pine. Big, bold colour and pattern, full of bluff, great feeding, as well as very active. Simply more appealing to me in comparison to the others you listed.

[Scubadiver59]

- Russian Rat
- Dominican or Cuban Boa

That reminds me...I need to change my wish list around!

[TRD]

I would be between the Russian Rat and Monitor I'm contemplating to get an Ackie monitor lately.

[pet_snake_78]

All sound like perfectly viable choices to me.

[regi375]

Why not a water snake? Seemed like you appreciated the one I got at the expo I met you at. I use a small cat litter box for water and put some aquatic plants in there to provide some cover. I also use a small water heater, but that's not really needed. Really easy to care for too. Basically the same as a garter snake. I feed mine the fish jello stuff and mice, I switch it every feeding. Decent temperament as well. She's more likely to run away than bite.

[jjhill001]

Originally Posted by regi375

Why not a water snake? Seemed like you appreciated the one I got at the expo I met you at. I use a small cat litter box for water and put some aquatic plants in there to provide some cover. I also use a small water heater, but that's not really needed. Really easy to care for too. Basically the same as a garter snake. I feed mine the fish jello stuff and mice, I switch it every feeding. Decent temperament as well. She's more likely to run away than bite.

I'll admit to being really surprised at how cool it was. Great colors on that girl. Third Eye Herp has a water snake section on his site. This is certainly an intriguing option as well.

I'm still waiting to see updated pics of your girl on here!

[T-man]

Id get a normal corn. easy to care for and very sweet.

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by T-man

Id get a normal corn. easy to care for and very sweet.

Corns are ok but there are a myriad of other rat snake species that are much more interesting imo.

There's also a host of king and milk snakes that are very neat.

Fwiw Jeremiah I'd go with the pine thinking but see if you can find a black pine. Just a bit more special imo.

The only reason I'm not suggesting a Dominican boa is I'd be insanely jealous

[Scubadiver59]

You? Jealous? With your menagerie? C'mon now...

Just be glad that I'm not in your neck of the woods, or else I'd buy up everything from all the shops in your area!

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

Corns are ok but there are a myriad of other rat snake species that are much more interesting imo.

There's also a host of king and milk snakes that are very neat.

Fwiw Jeremiah I'd go with the pine thinking but see if you can find a black pine. Just a bit more special imo.

The only reason I'm not suggesting a Dominican boa is I'd be insanely jealous

[dannybgoode]

Originally Posted by Scubadiver59

You? Jealous? With your menagerie? C'mon now...

Just be glad that I'm not in your neck of the woods, or else I'd buy up everything from all the shops in your area!

Oh jealousy can still strike for the right snake

But yeah my local store can end you in trouble - fantastic mix of the ordinary and the more unusual. They currently have a a breedable pair of silver phase Savu pythons. Mmmmmm!

[Aaron_S]

I'm going off the board:

Smooth or Rough green snakes
Red-sided garter snakes (co-habitation is a thing with garter snakes!)
Honduran milksnake
Everglades rat snake
Borneo Short-tail python
Columbian rainbow boa