Calling all snake keepers.

[Oscar_Wild]

We have friends with snakes, and my children (ages 7, 13) love them. They have asked for a snake for Christmas. A friend with snakes has suggested a corn snake as being good for new snake keepers. So, I have a couple of questions for you folks.

1. Is a corn snake as a beginners snake a good suggestion?
2. Is there a good snake keeping forum on the web?

Thanks,

Oscar_Wild

[qtaquaman]

I' knew who had a corn snake years ago I I rember it as being small and docile, so I wpuld guess yes as a begginer snake, but I far from an expert on these matters.

[swreefer]

No colubrids. :sad

The BEST beginner snake is a children's python (Anterasia childreni). Extremely docile, stay small, and can handle beginner mistakes very well.
They are also easier for new handlers or kids to interact with than corn snakes.

[Max]

Corn snakes are wonderful critters but, there are some things you'll want to consider. The kids can't be rough with it they can't take much abuse they'll stop eating etc. Also some of them are pretty reluctant to feed so watch it eat first. I know this sounds sort of strange but ime the white ones tend to be the most skittish and never seem to get used to handling. The good thing about the corns is they stay small and never eat anything much bigger than a mouse. Also lots of times when they strike they'll do it with their mouths closed.
The python's children's and balls are sweet hearts they eat well and are pretty docile if you handle them regularly.
Either snake will make a good pet depending on the conditions you can provide for them . The corns don't take as much room, food or cleaning. The pythons can take a bit more abuse, are easier to handle. The colubrids will reach their adult size quicker and come in every color in the rainbow.
Just keep in mind ," I know that I probably don't need to tell you this but..." just remember any critters you get for a minor you're responsible for. So make sure which ever one you get them is something that you like as well and are willing to take a responsibility for. Either of those two make a great pet but research to the nth.
hth and merry Christmas
Chris

[amosf]

I'd also suggest the children's, but are they very available in the US? not sure. Easy going, smallish, docile, pretty...

[Dale W.]

The Childrens Python's are not as readily available in the US as the Ball pythons are. Most Ball pythons are captive bred these days and they are quite docile as suggested. Dont let the word "Python" scare you as these guys are fairly small. The Corn snakes (Elaphe guttata)are pretty good but dont really care for a lot of handling and yes, the lighter phazes have a tendancy to be more skittish. The same goes for most species. Another one to look at is the King snake (Lampropeltis sp.) namely the Florida Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getulus floridana) or the California banded Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getulus californiae). Make sure that you do a lot of reading into the care and set up of any reptile and dont just go by what the pet shop says. Also find out if what you are getting is captive bred or wild caught.

Just to let you know, we had over 250 snakes in our collection when I was into Herpitology. They are fascinating.

[Seattle206]

get a ball python, I had one if was niceeee...too bad I had to throw it away.

[Nippy]

I just got into snakes and I must say I absolutely LOVE them! They are the greatest pets!! I would also suggest a ball python. Mine is captive bred, extremely friendly and docile. You know how pet rats will sit on your shoulder and travel around the house with you? That's how my python is. The other night, this snake sat on my head for THREE HOURS! I usually wear my hair up and he'll curl around the bun part and just hang out. http://web.acsalaska.net/~vlaun/PythondoII.jpg I even did some water changes and fed fish while he was up there. A girl at one of the LFS does the dishes with hers. :D
Do what Reefscape says and read up on the snake you think you might be interested in. I talked with ball python owners, looked on the net, bought a general python book and talked with co-workers (I work in a pet supply store and a couple co-workers got to take a reptile class in Vegas at a trade show). You might try kingsnake.com as an info site. It was one of the sites I went to for help.

[stellablu]

You know how pet rats will sit on your shoulder and travel around the house with you?

Unfortunately, I've had pet rats and fell in love with them. As much as I would LOVE to have a snake I am afraid I would constantly be "saving" the mice and rats from being its dinner...verrrry bad. In fact, once I babysat a python for two weeks and I couldn't handle feeding it the fuzzies, so I snuck it out of the box and made someone else drop another fuzzy in the tank. I kept that mouse for a loooooong time as a pet haha

I wish I could have them ALL!

p.s. very cool hair tie! haha

[swreefer]

There is no reason to feed snakes live prey.
You can feed them thawed out food. Buy the feeders in bulk and thaw one each time you need it.
Most of the breeders will have the snakes feeding on frozen thawed before selling them nowadays. It's safer for the snake since it's food can't bite back.
Children's pythons are not too common in the US but they can be found with some looking. Kingsnake.com will have breeders selling them. Isis reptiles has very good captive bred stock for sale at the moment. I also breed and sell these guys but won't have anymore until Springtime.
If you do decide to buy from a breeder online (which is your best bet to get a healthy truly captive bred animal) check their reputation on the Board of Inquiry on faunaclassifieds.com.
Good luck. Snakes can be very rewarding pets.
Here is my list of good starter snakes.
Small - Children's python
Medium - Ball python
Large - Dumeril's boa
All 3 types are known for being very docile.

[swreefer]

Here are a few pics.
One is a children's python, the other is a ball python, and the last is a dumeril's boa.
I have many different types of herps. LOL.

[Dale W.]

swreefer,

How much did you get your Childrens and Dumerili for? Those have always been very expensive snakes in the states which is one of the reasons I didnt really suggest them.

[swreefer]

The children's I got a few years ago and they were running about $150 for a tiny hatchling with no guarentee it would be feeding. Over the past few years, more people have started breeding them so the prices have come down. They are still quite expensive if a pet store happens to have one in stock, but you can get one direct from a breeder for about $100.
Same goes with the dumeril's. A few years ago you would be paying a fortune for one but now since people have been breeding them with regularity, you can get a baby from a breeder for about $200.
Both Children's pythons and dumeril's boas are still not a common petstore animal due the markup they need to charge but they are showing up regularly at shows and on breeder pricelists.
The good thing about both these snakes is you can only buy captive bred animals. Australia does not allow children's pythons (or any other native animal for that matter) to be exported and Madagascar will not allow export of the dumeril's since they are now classified as a CITES 2 species.

[MasterBlaster]

The other night, this snake sat on my head for THREE HOURS! I usually wear my hair up and he'll curl around the bun part and just hang out.

Haha, that's cool. I caught a big King one day on the job, and I kept him wrapped around my neck and shoulder, til I got him home. There was nowhere to stash him that he couldn't escape, so I wore em. I took him home and put em in a 90 gal tank, and feed him shiners. When he started to bore me, I released him in the woods.

[Nippy]

Ooo! I want a Dumeril's for my next snake. I am going to wait a couple of years though before I do it. Want to have some more experience with snake keeping before I take on anything bigger than what I got. I work at a pet supply store that also sells fish and hamsters so I get to see some of the wholesale lists every once inawhile. One place has a Dumerils for 195 wholesale. I imagine the mark-up would be to around $400 retail. It's not a baby snake, though. It's listed at being 3' already.

[Dale W.]

Wow, Prices have come down more than I thought they would. When I was into the herp's Dumerils where about $1200. Albino burmese where around $1500. Keep in mind that these are prices from breeders, not retail. Diamond Pythons where also a fav of mine but where running about $900.

As far as Boas are concerned, guyana and Surinam where the sweet ones to have but where very hard to breed. I hope that has changed.

[swreefer]

Albino burms are down to between $125 and $200 depending upon the breeder.

Diamonds are still way up there. They are still the hardest carpets to get to breed and not many of them are out there. The cheapest I have seen them go for is about $700 for a single male hatchling.

Centralians have come down dramatically. You can get them now for about $600 a pair thanks to Casey Lazik dumping a ton of hatchlings onto the market at wholesale cost. Forced a lot of breeders to adjust their prices and gave a lot of keepers the chance to finally afford them.

Suris and Guyanas have come down somewhat but can get between $250 and $700 each depending upon the quality. The really high priced ones now are the Colombian morphs. Salmons run about $1200, albinos for about $1000, ghosts for about $2500, and motleys for about $12,000.

You should see the ball python market recently. Man those prices are out of control. Het for luecistic (solid white BP with blue eyes) run $100,000 a pair!

[need4mospd]

There is no reason to feed snakes live prey.
You can feed them thawed out food. Buy the feeders in bulk and thaw one each time you need it.
Most of the breeders will have the snakes feeding on frozen thawed before selling them nowadays. It's safer for the snake since it's food can't bite back.

I would like to reinforce this. You should NEVER feed live prey. Sometimes the snake just doesn't get a good grip on it's prey, and those little mouse claws and teeth can be sharp. Plus, frozen rats are creepy and ugly. They have lost the cuteness they might have while alive, so there should be no problem wanting to keep them as pets. :D