Problems choosing first snake

LightHawk · 12-18-17, 04:51 PM

Heyy everyone, just wanted to know if anyone had experience with problems choosing their first snake and wanted to share the story.

having a though time myself and was just intrested in other people`s experiences.

DJC Reptiles · 12-18-17, 06:44 PM

I went for a corn snake for my first official pet snake. I have been capturing garders since I was little though, never kept them, just catch and release. I think a colubrid such as a cal king, or corn/rat snake would be a great place to start off. I wouldn't recommend a ball python as a first pet snake, because the tendency for them to go off feed for several months is quite high, and this can be quite alarming to a new keeper. Hognose snakes tend to scare people because of their vocal abilities.

Scubadiver59 · 12-18-17, 06:53 PM

My two cents:

Corn Snakes are okay...just don't put too much substrate in when they're young or you'll never see them. Keep it to 1" or less.

My BP has never off food...in fact, it's my best feeder. Maybe I just got lucky.

I've had mixed reactions with various King Snakes...some fee well, others don't. Keep the substrate low until they grow up or you'll be looking for them like the Corn Snakes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJC Reptiles

I went for a corn snake for my first official pet snake. I have been capturing garders since I was little though, never kept them, just catch and release. I think a colubrid such as a cal king, or corn/rat snake would be a great place to start off. I wouldn't recommend a ball python as a first pet snake, because the tendency for them to go off feed for several months is quite high, and this can be quite alarming to a new keeper. Hognose snakes tend to scare people because of their vocal abilities.

DJC Reptiles · 12-18-17, 07:21 PM

Yeah, my snakes do really well, but I have had them for a long time now, keep in mind when you first get a snake, they might not be as good as they will be later on. Also, ball pythons need humidity requirements that corn snakes don't, so that's another thing. Normal house humidity level 35-50% is plenty for a corn snake. Occasional slight misting may be necessary if you live in a dry area, but only during the shedding process.

jjhill001 · 12-19-17, 12:35 AM

When I was about 10 my mom agreed to get me a corn snake. I had tons of other herps but snakes were a big no no. I chose the corn snake because it's what every book said was the best snake to start off with. We finally go down to the store to get one, this was in Ohio and really only one store even had snakes at the time and the corn snake was 70 bucks.

I had it for 2 days it escaped and I never found it (turns out snakes are a bit trickier to keep in a cage than frogs or geckos).

So that was a terrible first experience. So about a year passes and I finally get my parents to agree to another snake. My dad had taken me to my first reptile show a while ago to get a leopard gecko here in Youngstown OH back when they had many more shows in small towns than they do now.

At the local pet store they had this gorgeous baby grey banded king snake. But it was 130 dollars WAY too much for my family at the time, looking back, the corn snake was a bit ridiculous too. So I was hooked, I just HAD to have a grey banded king snake. My dad recalled the pet store leopard geckos being 50 bucks but the one we got at the show was only 20 so that's why we'd go to the show to look.

Well, they didn't have any. They did have a sub-adult Sonoran gopher snake that was 35 bucks however. I didn't really want it to be honest but that was a price point my parents were comfortable with so they said you can get this one or nothing at all.

That snake was one of the best snakes I've ever owned, gentle, no cage aggression, great feeder everything. Even better he's still IMO the most beautiful representations of that subspecies I can recall ever seeing and still have yet to see to this day. If I knew what I know now I probably would have got him a female and bred them to make more. But I had to give him up when I left for the military some years later.

The important takeaway from all of this is to not paint yourself into a corner in regards to what you might be expected to start off with. Because honestly the care for 80% of the common snake species we keep in captivity is essentially the same. Corn, Rat, King, Milk, Gopher, Bull, Pine with a few exceptions are only separated by recommended cage size.

If you like something, research it and just go for it. In some aspects one of the best parts of reptile keeping is the research you put into the NEXT one. I've come to realize that really taking the time to appreciate the animals you do have and even doing more research on them can be equally rewarding. If you like snakes, no matter what you get you're gonna have a really great time.

(that said avoid giant species and venomous)