Big Guys & Small Fries

uhhlise_nacole · 03-09-17, 11:51 PM

Not that I think anyone would take it this way, but this post was not intended to be a battle of 'this one is better than that one because..' or anything of that nature..
I just happened to be thinking about my comfortability level with different snakes. For some reason I've been drawn to only the bigger varieties as of recent. I've come to feel more comfortable handling our Burmese than I ever did with our BP's. I'd be more on edge handling a Corn Snake than a Red Tail. Curious to see if anyone else feels this way?

**EL Ziggy** · 03-10-17, 12:11 AM

I wouldn't say I'm more confident keeping or handling larger snakes but I do prefer the mid-large snakes over the smaller species. I think hoggies and garters are the cutest snakes out there but I have no desire to keep them. I LOVED my king snakes but I love my carpets and olive python just a little bit more. I am more confident handling an 7-8ft carpet python than I would be a 15ft burm or retic though.

uhhlise_nacole · 03-10-17, 12:22 AM

That's a much better way to describe what I mean, the 'mid-large' range. I can't say that I'd be anywhere near comfortable at this current point in time to have to partner up just to handle THAT much snake lol!

BillyCostume · 03-10-17, 04:53 AM

I'm definitely more comfortable handling slower moving heavy bodied snakes than I am handling squirmy fast colubrids lol. That being said I do enjoy handling my amazon tree boa, keeps me on my toes haha

eminart · 03-10-17, 06:35 AM

I love them all. I'm not uncomfortable with any of them, but most of my favorite species are in the mid-sized to large-sized range. I've never been interested in keeping the giant snakes. A large part of my reptile enjoyment comes from setting up natural enclosures and observing the animals' behavior. That's just not really feasible with giant snakes.

GyGbeetle · 03-10-17, 12:45 PM

I thought this was about french fries

I like the bigger snakes, only because smaller snakes tend to be more wiggly and get stuck in smaller spaces. Had one that ended up in my mesh office chair. She slithered in there really quickly. Next thing I knew, you could see her little face staring up at you through the mesh. I don't have this problem with the larger guys, although one of my boas thinks he's small, and curled himself in the handles of the fridge door. We had to take the handles off to get him out.

sattva · 03-10-17, 04:05 PM

I'm with Ziggy on this... I like the mid-large... I've said this in the past that I'm not a small snake guy!... I always feel like I'm going to hurt it if it's too small... I got into this because I had nothing to challenge me... I figure that's Georges job... So far so!

sattva · 03-10-17, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

I thought this was about french fries

I like the bigger snakes, only because smaller snakes tend to be more wiggly and get stuck in smaller spaces. Had one that ended up in my mesh office chair. She slithered in there really quickly. Next thing I knew, you could see her little face staring up at you through the mesh. I don't have this problem with the larger guys, although one of my boas thinks he's small, and curled himself in the handles of the fridge door. We had to take the handles off to get him out.

My son-in law has a tee shirt that says "Exercise! I thought you said would you like extra fries!

Magdalen · 03-10-17, 05:24 PM

I've only ever had smallish snakes. I don't have room for anything super sized. I think about 5 feet at largest would be my comfort zone.

akane · 03-12-17, 12:56 PM

I don't really handle the smaller snakes except the rosy boas. Definitely not my desert king or dekay's brown snake. Little wiggly things that you end up having to squish a little or they are too fast to stop. Sometimes I handle the corn but not usually and he takes 2 hands to keep from running off. Mostly I harass my bull snake. He's entertaining and easy to handle if you aren't intimidated by his bluffing. He had to fake tail rattle in my hands over the cat coming in the room. The sumatran is getting less moody since he finally got that stuck shed off and ate something. I had to go back to live though. Mostly I have more medium snakes planned. I want to do a pair of blue stripe garter or ribbon snakes but for watching and easy breeding. It's the kankakee bull and pair of fox snakes I am waiting impatiently for this fall. I do keep seeing ivory and very light bloods with contrasting dark areas that interest me or northern pines. Darn it if those water snakes don't pop up to tempt me now and then. Must stick to plan and not acquire every snake I impulse want.... like brazilian rainbow boas....

SerpentineDream · 03-12-17, 03:58 PM

I love them all. I don't have the space to keep giants and am not comfortable handling anything *really* big without assistance, which is frequently not available. But everything from garter snakes to black milk snakes (two of my breeders are expected to reach a beefy, muscular 7 1/2 feet) is fair game. I'm feeding everything from cut-up small pinky mice to whole medium adult rats to my crew, such is the size variance.

Lefitte · 03-17-17, 02:14 AM

I get nervous holding really small snakes, especially if they don't feel the need to hang on. My biggest snake currently is my 1.5 yo Rainbow boa and he's not very big yet but I am way more comfortable holding him than the smaller guys. My hognose is cool because he wraps his tail around my fingers and isn't such a drop risk. Baby kingsnakes and cornsnakes especially just make me so nervous that I'm going to hurt or lose them. A baby kingsnake was my first snake and it took me almost a year to start feeling comfortable and a lot of that had to do with size. I completely understand this. I haven't held really any big snakes, but I definitely know how you guys feel about handling those little worms. It's kind of terrifying haha.

akane · 03-17-17, 04:38 AM

That's the problem with my desert king. He will run right off your hands with no concept of the ground. I have fast reflexes but I'm not fast enough to head him off without gripping him and I dislike doing that. My rosy isn't particularly big and my new baby is tiny but they only make a few attempts to slowly crawl away and rarely will just dive off you. I have to watch for accidental falls, Barairo does not understand why she slides off my forearm when not wrapping around it, and things spooking them when younger. They recoil fast if they feel threatened and can fall backward off things even if they don't go forward very quickly. Just hold them over something until you feel confident with them and they are easy to collect off a desk or top of cage if they happen to fall. I keep my hand close to my ribs when holding Cearo in case she jerks backward so I can just move my hand against me to keep her from falling. They really are underrated as a first snake. They should be in as many stores as the ball pythons and kings.

Lefitte · 03-17-17, 04:52 AM

Yes, exactly. My king will just start slipping off my arm and I'm like what are you doing?! Or once she fell off my bed because she was sliding down the edge and got to that point where the rest of her fell off. Of course she looked at me all angry, but that's standard. I have to be so careful when I hold her so I rarely do. (She also stresses more and angry pees so I mostly leave her alone).
Also I love the name Barairo! I imagine she has some red stripes?

**Aaron_S** · 03-17-17, 09:23 AM

Comfortable with any size. I'm better with slower moving pythons and boas than colubrids but that's due to not having colubrids for a while so I'll be fine again shortly.

I personally prefer to keep the smaller to mid-sized snakes for a variety of reasons. Smaller poops for one. Second part is I really enjoy just going downstairs and being able to handle anything I want without worry that it will do any real harm to me nor do I have to be on my toes to change water/clean.

Besides, I can have more smaller ones than larger ones in the same amount of space.