My daughter has been asking for a snake since she was 2. She saved up her money and was going to get one. I told her a ball python or nothing. We both read up on them, she was still eager.
I started out with a Ball Python and they are a good choice for a beginner snake in some respects. They are quiet, gentle and need very little. Unfortunately, they can also be a little picky about eating in captivity, and sometimes refuse to eat non-live food. I didn't want to feed live because it can be a risk to the snake - sometimes a mouse or rat will turn on the snake and injure it, so I wanted my snakes to eat pre-killed food. You can buy it in the freezer section of the pet stores. Mine would only eat about once a year - I offered at least once a month but most of the time she refused. The problem there is that I would defrost the rat, and get it warm for her, then offer it, and if she turned her nose up at it, I would refreeze it once but I was reluctant to continue to freeze and thaw the same rat so after the second refusal, I would have to throw it out. That felt like the rat's life and death had been in vain and I felt bad about doing it. I ultimately sold her to a collector who had advertised on Craigslist looking for female Ball Pythons for breeding. He was so excited to get her that he drove over an hour to come and see her.
That is when I turned to Corn Snakes. They come in a variety of colors and have more personality than Ball Pythons. Yes - snakes DO have personality
. Each one of mine has truly been an individual with its own unique way of doing things. I have one who is so food aggressive, he will come swarming out of his tank as soon as the lid is off, head swaying fast one way and the other, looking for the food. Another will politely take the food I offer her, and then go and place it in the back of her tank and more often than not, forget about it. I have to remember to check on her and if she hasn't eaten it within 4 hours, I'll remove it and give it to someone else. Some like to be handled more than others. Some of mine have made eating errors, latching onto my finger instead of the food (its no big deal - it feels like being scratched by velcro) while others are always very careful and have never made such an error.
Anyway, I did find the Corn Snakes to be more rewarding pets than the Ball Python. They need more interaction - and need to eat more often than pythons - but the personality makes up for that. They do better in captivity, and I've never had one that refused a pre-frozen meal. Mine will eat whatever I offer them - they've had mice and rats that I purchased frozen from the pet store, but they've also had mice I catch around here and serve live (catch them in a live trap and release into the snake tank). They also eat chicks, and I use them to cull newly hatched chicks that hatch with defects. They'll happily eat fetuses that are full-term but didn't hatch for whatever reason.
KKB, wow - I am not familiar with Norwegian Elkhounds and had no idea there was a breed of dog that would kill other dogs as well. It sounds like you had a neighbor with a good head on his shoulders though - its nice when people can work together.
Well, my BR cockerel is in the crockpot. It all went well and I was glad for him that it went smoothly - he didn't deserve to suffer at all. Its funny, I picked BR and NH to focus on precisely because un-needed males can still serve a purpose. But when it comes right down to it, especially when the birds is mellow/good-natured and hasn't caused any problems, I really hate having to make that decision. I have two more cockerels growing out that are still a couple of months from being big enough to eat but after them I won't need to process any for awhile, thank goodness.
