There area a number of smaller snakes on the pet market, but most of them don't make the best pets. I guess the best smaller snake pets would include:

- males of some species of sandboa. Male Kenyan sandboas rarely exceed 24 inches long.
- male Western Hognose snakes are generally less than 2 feet as well.
- males of some species of gartersnakes stay small, although the most widely available species (i.e. through pet shops) aren't the best pet snakes. Checkered Gartersnakes are decent pet snakes if you can find them.
- some morphs of Rosyboa generally stay under 2.5 feet in overall length

There are a lot of snakes that stay between two and three feet in length overall that make good pets. You may not be able to find them at your local pet shop, but they are generally available online.

Here's a chart I put together many years ago trying to compare the "best" starter snake species based on a series of criteria. It also includes their max size, so I would say many of the species in the top half of the chart would be fine if they are small enough for you -

Ignore the second image, that only posted because of KS's stupid image photo posting mechanism that you can't undo/override if you accidentally choose something!





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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

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