I can’t help you with any information about Carpet pythons, but I keep Philodryas baroni. Barons racer is an active, curious and alert snake.
1. How are they handling-wise? Do they like to explore, or are they more sedantary? Will they willingly come out of the cage on their own?
They do like to explore, they are curious and if they expect food they will come to the door and might become really agitated and worked up. The normal maintenance is usually no problem, but I would not advice to handle them without any need to do so. As most arboreal snakes they have a tendency to bite first, ask questions later.
2. Do they tend to watch their owners through the glass?
Yes
3. Do they have a nippy baby stage like carpet pythons?
No, they stay nippy most likely their whole life.
4. For those of you who own both baron's racers and carpet pythons, which do you enjoy more and why?
As I said, they are active and there is a lot to see of them, at least during daytime.
5. Are there any good breeders who have/will have baron's racers available this winter?
Can’t help you here
6. What's the general asking price?
Here in Germany you might get a CB 2017 for ca. 80 – 100 Euro (ca 100 – 120 USD)
7. Do they do better with misting or a humid hide? If the former, what humidity do they do best at?
I spray water on a daily basis, combined with some plants this creates a humidity of ca. 75 %, which will decrease to ca. 60% until next morning. I also offer a humid hide, but my snakes don’t use it.
In general terms, this snake is easy to keep, if you provide it with a tall, spacious enclosure with enough branches, some plants and hiding places. They eat defrosted mice without any issues.
The venom doesn’t seem to be dangerous for humans, I read some descriptions of bites where only local symptoms like swelling and local pain occurred. However, the venom contains postsynaptic neurotoxins and probably Haemorrhagins as well, so a full bite from a really agitated large snake (or probably a snake in a feeding frenzy) might cause some severe envenoming, a potential lethal envenoming is unlikely but cannot be excluded.
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WCH Clinical Toxinology Resources
As far as I know there is no evidence of a lethal bite so far. There is a report about a lethal bite from Philodryas olfersii, According to WEINSTEIN et all " 'Venomous' Bites From Non-Venomous Snakes" this report is to be considered as anecdotal, the bite victims were two children in Brasilia, one of them died. However, the circumstances of the bite were only recorded 4 years later, the snake was never seen by anybody else and it was called a "Cobra verde", a common name which is used for several snakes in the region, especially for some pit vipers like Bothrops bilineata. So it might have been Philodryas olfersii, but there is no hard evidence for this and it might have been a front-fanged snake as well.
Since this would be your second snake I would strongly recommend a carpet python. Barons racer can move (and bite) really fast, they are agile and can reach up to 6 ft (190 cm) in length, which results in a lot of reach for their bite. Since the bite of them is most likely not lethal, but certainly unpleasant and painful I recommend something different for you.
If you are interested in an arboreal green snake your best bet might be a rhino rat snake (Gonyosoma boulengeri), they don’t get as big as a red tailed green rat snake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) and are easier to keep then Gonyosoma prasinum or Gonyosoma frenatum.
Philodryas baroni
Gonyosoma oxycephalum
Gonyosoma boulengeri
Roman
Hybrid Mode
