Snake Owners - Share your pics and passion

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
Kdogg, Cornsnakes and rat snakes are pretty much the same they are like 'cousins' - then you have the kingsnakes and milksnakes - again like 'cousins' very similar. all non-venomous. Snakes are not poisonous - frogs and plants are poisonous - must be ingested venomous means a toxin has to be injected (by fangs like snakes and spiders). Milksnakes resemble coral snakes which are venomous - but the old saying goes "Red on black - friend of jack red on yellow - kill a fellow" to tell venomous and non-venomous apart.

My suggestions for a begginer are never young baby snakes - get one thats young but you know its eating - some snakes will be exceptionally hard to get to eat initially and some never will without force feeding or will only eat specialized foods like birds or frogs a few times - which is not something for a beginner.

Corns/Rats - one of the most popular first snakes
Kings
Milksnakes
Ball Pythons (my most recommended first snake - but again never a newly hatched - atleast about a month or two in age ) Ball pythons stay in the 4-5 ft range fully grown which they achieve between year 2-4 depending on how often they are fed.
Garter or Ribbon snakes - quite small no bigger than 3 ft and quite thin bodied - usually only eat baby mice or little frogs/goldfish - always depends on the individual snake what they'll eat. These guys are native to the U.S. and are known as 'garden snakes'

Do your research - and find out what you like the look of better and temperament - to me Ball Pythons and Kingsnakes have the most laid back attitude of any of them - corns, rats, milks, and garters are all really fast movers and wiggly when little - which can make new owners and non-snake loving parents nervous.

Take care and I hope you can get you a pet snake sometime in the future!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Quote:
Kdogg, Cornsnakes and rat snakes are pretty much the same they are like 'cousins' - then you have the kingsnakes and milksnakes - again like 'cousins' very similar. all non-venomous. Snakes are not poisonous - frogs and plants are poisonous - must be ingested venomous means a toxin has to be injected (by fangs like snakes and spiders). Milksnakes resemble coral snakes which are venomous - but the old saying goes "Red on black - friend of jack red on yellow - kill a fellow" to tell venomous and non-venomous apart.

My suggestions for a begginer are never young baby snakes - get one thats young but you know its eating - some snakes will be exceptionally hard to get to eat initially and some never will without force feeding or will only eat specialized foods like birds or frogs a few times - which is not something for a beginner.

Corns/Rats - one of the most popular first snakes
Kings
Milksnakes
Ball Pythons (my most recommended first snake - but again never a newly hatched - atleast about a month or two in age ) Ball pythons stay in the 4-5 ft range fully grown which they achieve between year 2-4 depending on how often they are fed.
Garter or Ribbon snakes - quite small no bigger than 3 ft and quite thin bodied - usually only eat baby mice or little frogs/goldfish - always depends on the individual snake what they'll eat. These guys are native to the U.S. and are known as 'garden snakes'

Do your research - and find out what you like the look of better and temperament - to me Ball Pythons and Kingsnakes have the most laid back attitude of any of them - corns, rats, milks, and garters are all really fast movers and wiggly when little - which can make new owners and non-snake loving parents nervous.

Take care and I hope you can get you a pet snake sometime in the future!

ScaredofShadows, yeah i meant venemous and i think i was probably thinking of coral snakes as the venemous ones or something. so you'd reccommend ball pythons or kingsnakes if and when i get a snake? yeah, i guess i wouldnt want a super fast snake anyways...

but ball pythons and kings dont get too big right? also, the ones in the stores are little babies so you wouldnt recommend them (at first)? how do you tell how old they are? sorry for all the questions and stuff, i just think snakes are cool...

thanks for all your help.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

The ones at the petstores - if they've had them for a bit - you should be okay. If anything - ask what day they feed the snakes or what the next day will be - and time and be there to watch them eat, and buy one you see eating. You want a baby snake is you KNOW is eating. - Ball pythons are reknowned funny eaters - and babies can be hard to get started sometimes.

No problem with the questions! I was right there where you were 12 years ago - so hey I'm returning the favor to the next potential herp owner as the ones who dealt with me and my pestering!

I swore I was going to get told off or something for how often I would get on AOL reptile chat and ask questions and opinions - I firmly believe no harm in being curious and researching the best resource - owners.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

You didnt come across mine from a few months ago? I made a large post with a ton of pictures. -http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=341397

I've been keeping and breeding snakes for about 15 years, usually keep around 70 or so (not including hatchlings) however am trying to sell and reduce it for awhile.

I've kept everything from racers and sand boas to burms and retics, my preferance though are Asian ratsnakes and other more uncommon colubrids and pythons. Nothing hot, have never been in a place where I felt comfortable accomidating them. Back in MN I was a very active member of the MN herp society, my father was the vice president, I've modded and admined on many large reptile forums and chatrooms and have gotten to know many of the top people in the hobby from big breeders and businesses to those on the science and conservation side working out in the field.

My tops are a lot of the Asian ratsnake species,if I had to narrow my collection down I would be more then happy with just a handful of them. Also I would love to get a couple more Whitelipped pythons again. My top absolute dream snake probably is a boleans python.

What I would not like to own - I really have no plans of any more giants as impressive as they are, just too much work involved. I'm not big on anything that needs fish or insects. Balls I just find very boring, getting a bit too inbred, and often really not pretty enough to be worth a couple thousand. Babies are too much of a pain for me to want to breed them again too.

Hard lessons learn when I was little about tight fitting lids, have lost a few baby corns. Boas and pythons are strong enough to muscle their way out of many cages too, although often they are a lot easier to find once again.

I only take my animals out when volenteering with the herp society or anywhere else where they are invited. Never do I suggest just walking down the street with one. If the wrong person sees it it could cause all sorts of issues including bans. I love it when people get over their fears and touch one for the first time, and kids fascination with them. I hate it when people scream and really play it out trying to be cool around their friends, I just want to smack them.


A few more of my guys

 

[TwistedSerpent]

And cant keep from posting some baby pictures -

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Twisted - No I hadn't seen your previous thread! I dunno why - guess I didn't look hard enough - lol.

Beautiful beautiful snakes.

When I first got mine, we lived right on a main road in our little town, and had more front yard than back, and the back was for the dogs, so we'd take them out front in the yard...Needless to say we got alot of attention, especially when the plant across the road was open, and there was alot more traffic down N.Main st.

I had many people who would come up and just sit out and ask questions watching the snakes - at 12, and having answers that people were curious to know - was amazing and I loved it - so it became a thing for me. I have taken my snakes to my daughter's preschool by request of the 'principal' - headstart program facility so I I think they called her the coordinator? Dunno - but the kids were absolutely fascinated - I kept them in their tank and just took the little ball's set up with both snakes to the school - I figured less panic and safer environment for my snakes.

Anyway I am glad to see so many snake owners I love them.

Don't mean to pry, but why are you downsizing your collection so drastically? Economy?

If I had the room where I live currently for a redtail I would love to have another one. I prefer large ranging set-ups over the seemingly cramped breeder setups - my 2 boas I had previous one was about 7+ foot, and the other 5.5 ft (female and male - male was an injured rescue with a back injury that fused two of his vertebrae so he stayed that size for the 4 yrs I had him

) they were in a cage 2' off the ground 7' long, 3' tall and 2' wide - a friend of my mom's who is a hobby carpenter built it for me. (complete with plexiglass on 3 sides, drawers underneath, locks on the top and side door) great cage - wish I still had it. But the snakes loved the thing and I enjoyed watching them in the big cage in our livingroom - yeah we didn't get too many guests I didn't care for

thanks again for sharing the pictures! My Neo just shed and Kiara just ate - so hoping Tuesday i can take them outside for some good pictures in natural lighting.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

Not so much due to the economy, but I got so spread out with all I kept I kind of want a breather to settle back down and focus again on what I really want to keep later on.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I got you, and I totally understand. I couldn't imagine having that many and having to keep records of identification, feedings, shedding, breeding etc.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

I don't currently keep snakes, but I used to, and will again someday. I had a ball python, 2 kingsnakes, and a few corns. my sister and her husband used to breed corns. Right now what's keeping me from getting snakes is the feeding issue. I don't have a good local source for feeders anymore, and i can't buy frozen in bulk because my parents don't want them in their freezer. Its just not worth it to me at this point, but when I'm not living at home anymore, I'm getting a spider ball python. and probably others after that.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
I can understand that! One of mine eats F/T only, the eldest snake a ball python who is 13 14 years old - will only eat freshly killed unfortunately. I have a couple places I shuffle between to find live rats, but I go to petco for frozen food - they come in packs of 1 and 3 feeders - which is awesome.

I agree that having a good steady source of food can be hard to come by - it used to be around here too, and i resorted to breeding my own - and geez thats alot of trouble especially when all the extras that are coming out your ears you have to put down because theres not many reptile keepers around here!!! lol - now i just buy 2 live rats at a time for 2 feedings, and a 3 pack of F/T for the other - she tends to get 2 sometimes and 1 a week later -so its all good in that category.

Good luck, hope you get your spider ball later on!