What is your "favorite" snake species to own?

[Sophia'sSophia]

I gotta say the Banded Watersnake tops in as my fave, even though I dont have any at the moment. I never had sweeter snakes than the two of those I kept. ((With the exception of a ribbon snake, who, for SOME REASON is the most pro-people snake I've ever met)) They're fearless, but not mean in the slightest. I'd really like to come across another one of these days.

[NBLADE]

for me it is probably retics, decent size for handling, inquisitive nature, stunning in natural colouration and stunning morphs available, generally great feeders, even the most aggressive (defensive) tend to settle quickly with regular interaction, they learn fast. Brilliant all round snakes.

Gtps are probably a close second, visually stunning snakes, can't beat them on looks imo, always out and on show, make great display snakes, get to go through the colour change, and generally good feeders when conditions are right.

[smy_749]

Originally Posted by NBLADE

for me it is probably retics, decent size for handling, inquisitive nature, stunning in natural colouration and stunning morphs available, generally great feeders, even the most aggressive (defensive) tend to settle quickly with regular interaction, they learn fast. Brilliant all round snakes.

Gtps are probably a close second, visually stunning snakes, can't beat them on looks imo, always out and on show, make great display snakes, get to go through the colour change, and generally good feeders when conditions are right.

You do realize that if retics are a decent size for handling, then so is almost everything else right? lol Retics and GTP's are also some of my favs, though I've never kept retics before.

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by smy_749

You do realize that if retics are a decent size for handling, then so is almost everything else right? lol Retics and GTP's are also some of my favs, though I've never kept retics before.

That's what I thought. I thought I was misreading his post.

[marvelfreak]

For me it's Bloods. I love their super impressive size and personality. They my be short but their girth makes them a true giant. They can be sweet when they want to and just totally psycho. They keep you on our toe and teach you how to read body languages. An how can you not love their raw power? They hit like a mack truck. My Blacks are just as curious and active out of the cage as my Carpets.

[NBLADE]

Originally Posted by smy_749

You do realize that if retics are a decent size for handling, then so is almost everything else right? lol Retics and GTP's are also some of my favs, though I've never kept retics before.

Not really, when you have out a 16ft retic, you know you have out a retic, it keeps on the move, keeps you working with it whilst it is out, whereas smaller species like hognose, house snakes, rosy boas, even royals, you can forget your even holding and aren't so much a joy to handle when they are darting off in every direction, or just sitting there doing nothing. So for me retics are a decent size for handling. Don't get me wrong i like keeping the other species too that are smaller and faster, but i get more joy when handling retics than i do from the smaller stuff.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Out of the two I've got, the boa constrictor is definitely my favorite. He isn't nearly as much as handful as my ball python. Most of the time he eats perfectly well, while Bud (the ball) goes off eating often, and is picky with what he does eat. Cloud will also pretty much sit there when I take him out, until he calms down and starts exploring. Even then, though, he doesn't get into everything like Bud does. It's kind of funny, because my ball python likes to climb, and my boa likes to bury himself. lol Bud also now looks like a tiny worm compared to Cloud, as Cloud is now over a foot longer than him. If I leave Bud alone too long, he gets pretty moody (he never strikes, but he'll hiss at me as loud as he can), but Cloud rarely ever gets irritated. Cloud isn't the least bit head shy, although he doesn't like his head movements to be restricted. Bud doesn't like his head to be touched is extremely sensitive around his face. Those are just some of the reasons. Most of them are probably individual-based rather than species-based, but that's my experience with ball pythons and boa constrictors.

[shaunyboy]

Diamond Pythons

beautiful looking snakes and interesting to keep,they require a little different husbandry to all the other carpets

cheers shaun

[Dave Kelley]

Carpet pythons! Not many species can hold my attention, but the carpet python grouo mever ceases to amaze me. Variability, selective breeding, great community of keepers, intergrades, pure lines, beautiful etc. Nothing matches them to me...not the most expenive ball python morphs, the wackiest selectively bred chondro, or the hardest to breed scrub can beat them.

[formica]

Smooth green snakes (loads of roughs about, but I never get an answer when i ask if they are captive bred, which is sad coz they are slowly loosing more and more habitat and population density), I think they are damn beautiful, not the most exotic I guess, but beautiful non the less! I've never found one in the UK, a few friends have had them, living in awsome vivariums, watching them track down insects is a treat. beautiful things! but the 2 I have seen where far to fast for handling, a few attempts where made and they all resulted in disappearances (fortunetly in sealed herp rooms lol). wonder if anyone else has had better experience handling them? neither where bought as hatchlings unfortunetly, culd have been the reason

[NBLADE]

Originally Posted by formica

Smooth green snakes (loads of roughs about, but I never get an answer when i ask if they are captive bred, which is sad coz they are slowly loosing more and more habitat and population density), I think they are damn beautiful, not the most exotic I guess, but beautiful non the less! I've never found one in the UK, a few friends have had them, living in awsome vivariums, watching them track down insects is a treat. beautiful things! but the 2 I have seen where far to fast for handling, a few attempts where made and they all resulted in disappearances (fortunetly in sealed herp rooms lol). wonder if anyone else has had better experience handling them? neither where bought as hatchlings unfortunetly, culd have been the reason

I bred the rough green snakes a few times, only ever handled to move them for cleaning, otherwise i let them get on with it, they were always a flighty snake if i tried handling, but if i left them to it were quite brave and inquisitive in their vivs.

[formica]

Originally Posted by NBLADE

I bred the rough green snakes a few times, only ever handled to move them for cleaning, otherwise i let them get on with it, they were always a flighty snake if i tried handling, but if i left them to it were quite brave and inquisitive in their vivs.

nice! how did u get on with breeding them? if i ever breed any snakes I'd probly choose them, assuming they arnt too fussy about it; then again i do like problem solving


cant wait to own one or two, one day!

[NBLADE]

Originally Posted by formica

nice! how did u get on with breeding them? if i ever breed any snakes I'd probly choose them, assuming they arnt too fussy about it; then again i do like problem solving


cant wait to own one or two, one day!

They bred relatively easy once they were established, the problem people have is establishing them in the first place, as most available are wild caught, and people feed them cb crickets and locusts when they arrive, and it changes the bacteria in the gut flora too quickly and kills them, which is why people say they only survive 6 months in captivity. If you wean them onto captive bred crickets and locusts by starting them off on wild caught food, spiders being a favorite of theirs, but woodlice, flies, grass hoppers, earth worms etc, and the odd cricket and locust, and gradually adding more and reducing the rest of the stuff, you can slowly change over the bacteria levels and the gut flora doesn't change to quickly and kill them.

They also seem to do better in groups than on their own, they are braver and feel safer in numbers, i've found them to do much better when left well alone, barely handled, a lot of foliage and hiding places and sprayed twice a day with a good quality UV light, and i bred them a few times, and have kept a lot of wc adults successfully.



and interestingly i've never had a wc adult or baby try and bite to defend itself, just try to flee when being moved, but the cb babies, straight from the egg had character

[Roman]

As I don' t keep many snakes I keep only snakes I am interested in. I do really like Californian Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula californiae), the Redtailed green Ratsnake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) and Barons racer (Philodryas baroni), but my all-time favorite is obviously the Tiger ratsnake (Spilotes pullatus) - a large, fast moving snake, highly active, very attractive and with an interesting behavior.

Here are some new pictures of my favorites...


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[rocknhorse76]

For me, its a toss-up between my Dumeril's and Argentine boas. Dumeril's are so mellow and easy to handle, while Argentines have such a personality.