LunarFantom
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Just curious what you guys think of snakes, or if there are people here who like snakes. : P Considering.
Favorite snake breeds?
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imajpm
Well-known member
Haven't had any for a long time but my favorites are Colubrid's. King snakes in particular, and also rat snakes. Rat snakes are a wee bit excitable though 
I've had hundreds over the years …. we have only a single red tail boa currently. I got rid of my most of collection when my first kid was born and the rest shortly after. Just didn't make sense to have snakes around children.
The current resident belongs to my daughter who's 12. She saw pictures of mine and begged me for over a year …. Its now 18 months old and closing in on 6 feet.
I've kept everything from king snakes to 22+ft Retic's & eyelash vipers in the past - One thing I will state without question is that its not a matter of IF you will get bitten but When if you own a snake , no matter the species. They all bite , they are all very primitive - They know two things - Eat and reproduce.
If I was recommending something for a beginner , the choices would be limited to king snake, corn snake and ball python. None of them get very big , the housing requirements are easily met and feeding is simple , generally frozen mice / pinkies.
The current resident belongs to my daughter who's 12. She saw pictures of mine and begged me for over a year …. Its now 18 months old and closing in on 6 feet.
I've kept everything from king snakes to 22+ft Retic's & eyelash vipers in the past - One thing I will state without question is that its not a matter of IF you will get bitten but When if you own a snake , no matter the species. They all bite , they are all very primitive - They know two things - Eat and reproduce.
If I was recommending something for a beginner , the choices would be limited to king snake, corn snake and ball python. None of them get very big , the housing requirements are easily met and feeding is simple , generally frozen mice / pinkies.
Personally I like my pitouphis species (gophers, bulls, and pines) but they are relatively large (up to 8' but most stay closer to 6') and quick to get defensive with a rattlesnake imitation. You will get bit taming a young one. Many times. Even a tame adult will on occasion decide to claim a spot they like or get grumpy about their cage and usually spend the first few weeks threatening everyone in their new home before settling down. I was working in my big kankakee bull snakes enclosure when all of a sudden a very large bull snake head lunges out of a hide with a loud hiss. I know 99% of the time he plans to miss but it still doesn't keep all your muscles from tensing up to react as he stops 2" short and then withdraws before you can even begin moving. I just commented on the annoyance of bull snakes and told Nicon to chill out while I set a brick in front of his hide opening until I finished. They are bluffers and generally once out of the baby phase where they think of themselves as the prey they don't even attempt to hit anything specific but you have to be willing to deal with it and sometimes figure out how to uncoil an adult who has claimed that spot and decided to defend it needlessly. They are otherwise hardy, easy to care for, moderate humidity requirements (Nicon is pickier than most and insists on a consistent 60-65%), and will eat literally anything. Seriously anything. Some people give them things like duck necks but it's argued over as being too incomplete of food. I've fed them all sorts of rodents including guinea pigs as well as small rabbits, quail, chicks, eggs, and reptilinks, which are ground whole prey in a very plain beef collagen casing so it looks like normal sausage. They use a lot of guinea fowl meat in them as well as other poultry, rabbit, and have specialty iguana meat and frog leg links for reptiles that normally prey on other reptiles. Plus some omnivore and insect diets for lizards.
Kemani and Katsumi pretty much always look like this still
When they aren't actually trying to hit me
Hopefully they settle down over the next year because eventually a Northern Pine surpasses the size of my largest bull, Nicon.
If I wanted an easy snake to handle and house I'd say rosy boas. Far before ball pythons, corns, kings, etc... Most don't know about them. They are a 3' or less boa with males often only getting 2', one of the slowest snakes so don't usually try to bolt like corns or kings, won't musk, and hardly ever try to bite defensively. My husband and I have had debates exactly what they do to defend themselves in the wild and we decided they just live where nothing else can and hide really well. They do have a strong feeding response and unlike my bulls and pines do not practice bluffing strikes so if they see movement while thinking food is present they will hit whatever it is. At less than 3' though they barely break skin on those occasional accidents and if you are using feeding tongs and handling them enough between meals to realize every time the enclosure opens is not feeding time you will rarely suffer a bite. They are desert and mountain dwelling from the western US to mexico so they don't need high humidity. Some come from the most extreme deserts in North America where there is nothing but a single cacti species for named plants and a handful of other small animals or insects. They actually do great with top heat and plenty of ventilation to keep things dry and will fit comfortably in a 20gallon tank their entire lives. You'll care the house humidity is low before they will but with top heat I've also had no problems with mine when it stays 60% for awhile in summer. Those with racks or reptile specific enclosures and bottom heat in humid locations often place small bowls of water in only a few times a week for the night or 24hrs rather than letting it evaporate in there all the time since those setups are designed to keep the humidity higher than the room. Since they don't bolt, don't bite without signs of food around(or probably if actually being injured), and are slow to move they are exceedingly easy to handle. Except for the fact they don't wrap things well and will topple off your arm rosy boas and sand boas are probably the easiest snakes I've dealt with for beginners to try to hold or care for. Sand boas can be a bit picky about eating, tend to hide a lot more and stay burrowed 24/7, and actually need higher humidity despite the fact they like a deep, loose substrate that goes best with the more drying top heat options. It makes their setups and care a little more difficult. A rosy boa is the reason my husband gave in to allow snakes so while I like the corns and my desert king if I had to reduce species I'd try to keep the rosy boas and preferably one of the bulls or pines for myself. Really I don't know why these snakes are not more common.
Barairo when she was 3years old and that's a 6" marble flooring tile to make the top of her hides.
Another 2 years later she just barely reaches the length of that tank so 30" long.
Kemani and Katsumi pretty much always look like this still
When they aren't actually trying to hit me
Hopefully they settle down over the next year because eventually a Northern Pine surpasses the size of my largest bull, Nicon.
If I wanted an easy snake to handle and house I'd say rosy boas. Far before ball pythons, corns, kings, etc... Most don't know about them. They are a 3' or less boa with males often only getting 2', one of the slowest snakes so don't usually try to bolt like corns or kings, won't musk, and hardly ever try to bite defensively. My husband and I have had debates exactly what they do to defend themselves in the wild and we decided they just live where nothing else can and hide really well. They do have a strong feeding response and unlike my bulls and pines do not practice bluffing strikes so if they see movement while thinking food is present they will hit whatever it is. At less than 3' though they barely break skin on those occasional accidents and if you are using feeding tongs and handling them enough between meals to realize every time the enclosure opens is not feeding time you will rarely suffer a bite. They are desert and mountain dwelling from the western US to mexico so they don't need high humidity. Some come from the most extreme deserts in North America where there is nothing but a single cacti species for named plants and a handful of other small animals or insects. They actually do great with top heat and plenty of ventilation to keep things dry and will fit comfortably in a 20gallon tank their entire lives. You'll care the house humidity is low before they will but with top heat I've also had no problems with mine when it stays 60% for awhile in summer. Those with racks or reptile specific enclosures and bottom heat in humid locations often place small bowls of water in only a few times a week for the night or 24hrs rather than letting it evaporate in there all the time since those setups are designed to keep the humidity higher than the room. Since they don't bolt, don't bite without signs of food around(or probably if actually being injured), and are slow to move they are exceedingly easy to handle. Except for the fact they don't wrap things well and will topple off your arm rosy boas and sand boas are probably the easiest snakes I've dealt with for beginners to try to hold or care for. Sand boas can be a bit picky about eating, tend to hide a lot more and stay burrowed 24/7, and actually need higher humidity despite the fact they like a deep, loose substrate that goes best with the more drying top heat options. It makes their setups and care a little more difficult. A rosy boa is the reason my husband gave in to allow snakes so while I like the corns and my desert king if I had to reduce species I'd try to keep the rosy boas and preferably one of the bulls or pines for myself. Really I don't know why these snakes are not more common.
Barairo when she was 3years old and that's a 6" marble flooring tile to make the top of her hides.
Another 2 years later she just barely reaches the length of that tank so 30" long.
Love snakes
I bred Mexican black kings in my teens, the "poor mans Indigo" but sold out when I went to university and I only kept my first snake, a Pueblan Milksnake I rescued that had severe burns from hugging a lightbulb for heat I still have her and she must be in her 30's
I bred Mexican black kings in my teens, the "poor mans Indigo"
but sold out when I went to university and I only kept my first snake, a Pueblan Milksnake I rescued that had severe burns from hugging a lightbulb for heat I still have her and she must be in her 30's The spring I got Barairo (literally translates as "rose colored" named after the typical red rosy boa stripe) I went into the room to find her sitting in a 5gallon tank on the floor with no heat, the windows open, it was about 60F, and she was supposedly still eating only the occasional pinky. I handed over $30 and a box. When I got her warm she spent months eating anything within range. Including my finger. It took me 15mins to detach her from my hand once. After 4-6months of that she settled down, quit eating anything offered every week, never bit again, and went from as skinny as a big hatchling at more than a year old to over 2' long and rather thick that winter. I heard the person's ball pythons were in even worse condition and they wouldn't give them up without getting far more than they were worth for them. If she hadn't eaten just pinkies to digest easily without heat and been such a hardy species Barairo would probably have died.
Emergency setup was paper bowls with holes and that's her first meal bigger than a pinky.
2months later
By that following spring she had eaten adult gerbils and was as thick as the photos above. She just continued to put on a little length after that.
Emergency setup was paper bowls with holes and that's her first meal bigger than a pinky.
2months later
By that following spring she had eaten adult gerbils and was as thick as the photos above. She just continued to put on a little length after that.
Although I generally like snakes, I don't keep them as pets, I am guilty of stopping on the highway to pick up, healthy and wounded snakes, to bring back to the hog farm [in California] to help with rodent populations. The wounded would usually live in a box , or barrel in the feed room, where I fed a mouse to them almost daily until they seemed well enough to be let out to get their own. Some of the wounded ones would come back quite often to see me, [or maybe see if I had another mouse for them]
We also had a lot of snakes at the place i lived in Florida. The only ones I killed were the water moccasins... Even the big eastern diamondbacks caused us no trouble... and some of those were huge...
We also had a lot of snakes at the place i lived in Florida. The only ones I killed were the water moccasins... Even the big eastern diamondbacks caused us no trouble... and some of those were huge...
Here are my four. I have two corn snakes, a ball python, and a hognose. For a beginner, I definitely recommend the corns. I've never had a problem with them eating or shedding. They are also fairly easy to handle. The ball is a little more easy going and will just hang out on the couch. However, She insists on eating live. And I know it my fault for not keeping the humidity high enough, most of her sheds are a bit of a mess. I just got the hognose, so I don't really have much to say on him. But he is rear-fanged venomous so that might but some people off.
shazza
Well-known member
i'm a big fan of snakes, especially pythons. i love a big chunky noodle. i've never had issues with my balls, and the native humidity here in houston makes them easy keepers since i don't need that much climate control. corn snakes are also real easy keepers, but they're so tiny as hatchlings they're just impossible to find if they get out. if one of the bps escapes for whatever reason i never worry that much, because they're lazy and fat and not hard to find afterwards.
i've currently got four - three ball pythons and a corn snake, and i've got my eye on a sumatran short-tail python in a shop nearby that i'll likely pick up this coming week.
sam, 4yr old male ghost ball python
ember, 1yr old female fire (het pied) ball python
panic, <6mo old male disco (het hypo) ball python
chika, 7mo old female reverse okeetee corn snake
i have mostly pythons now, but i love pretty much all snakes. my new office is pretty much gonna be entirely snakes, i feel. i am interested in breeding a couple clutches of ball pythons every now and then just for interesting morphs, but that'll be next year at the earliest. it's a lot to set up
i've currently got four - three ball pythons and a corn snake, and i've got my eye on a sumatran short-tail python in a shop nearby that i'll likely pick up this coming week.
sam, 4yr old male ghost ball python
ember, 1yr old female fire (het pied) ball python
panic, <6mo old male disco (het hypo) ball python
chika, 7mo old female reverse okeetee corn snake
i have mostly pythons now, but i love pretty much all snakes. my new office is pretty much gonna be entirely snakes, i feel. i am interested in breeding a couple clutches of ball pythons every now and then just for interesting morphs, but that'll be next year at the earliest. it's a lot to set up
My issue with humidity is winter. All late spring through fall my room humidity can sit at 50-60% with a dehumidifier in the basement but no matter what I do my furnace kicks out somewhere below 15-20% humidity. I don't have anything that reads lower than that. Despite the blood python enclosure reading around 80% all the time I think it caused him shedding issues and he would only eat live. I gave him away to just keep the colubrids. Half can brumate in winter after their first year anyway. I just have to maintain a fridge stacked full of snakes at the right humidity for ~3 months. :lol:
There are some pics of nicon in my thread on our bioactive enclosures. He's my test subject since he's currently my biggest bulldozer. The picture above I took a bit nervously because he was fairly new and got startled by something so he was in the process of giving me death threats. That's also the farthest I could get him from my face while wrapped around my arm. It was a bit concerning to have a pissed off 6 1/2' bull stuck to your arm. Nicon has proven to be all talk though. The only time he's tagged me was a feeding oopsy.
