well I first got into snakes a little over a year ago, and i'll tell you, you learn fast. That's for sure.



I started with a genetic morph of a black rat snake. These guys grow to be about 7 feet long and are some of the most docile north american snakes there are. I had also never handled a snake before, and a word to the wise is don't dodle around before you pick the snake up, reach in and grab it (as i'm sure you know from handling the lizards and such.)



Some I would reccomend:

Colubrids - a colubrid is a breakdown in the scientific classification. These include kings, milks, rats, corns, and many other less commonly known snakes (which i'm not even going to list because i've heard there can be problems getting them to eat.)



Kings and milks - very pretty, however from everything i've been told they're very flighty as babies, meaning that they won't stay still in your hand. While rat snakes will be moving around, kings and milks will literally be racing out of your hands.



North American Rat Snakes:

Corns - they are actually a sub species of a north american rat snake. they grow around 5-6 feet at full size, and have a pretty docile tempermant, however can be nippy as babies.



Black rats - grow 6-7 feet as adults, more natural colorful mutations than you can think of. check out mike jolliff's ads on the classifieds, he has a poster he made of a lot of different types. He's who i got my first black rat through, and I'd highly reccomend him. More than happy to answer your questions, also.



Texas rats (in particular the Texas Bairdi) - These are a little more nippy than the others, but what can you expect they're texans with attitude! These are kinda ugly ducklings, but grow to be beauts! Not too expensive, grow to be about 5-6'.



Yellow/everglades rats - these are both a little more agressive than a black rat, similar to a texan. they grow 5-7 feet.



gray rats/gulf hammock/white oak - grow 5-6 feet, fairly docile from what i've heard (which isnt much.) I have them in the wild around here, never had a problem with them when handling in the wild.



I'd go into the classifieds section and look for pictures of those, go to the specific forums and ask questions. That's probably going to be how you'll find the best one for you. Also when you narrow down to one type, you will probably get reccomended something close to that which may fit you better that I haven't mentioned here!



best of luck.
-----
-Chris



0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat

1.0 Black Rat

0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty

1.0 Green Tree Python

0.1 Texas Bairds Rat



The educated are the few. The uneducated are the masses.



North American Rat / Corn Snake Care Sheet

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