Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Curious about the prospect of getting a snake, always wanted one, and trying to do some research to learn what I'm going to need to know, setup, expenses, care, etc. Oddly enough, I'm having the most trouble finding information on these small snakes. So, in your opinion, which would you say is the most beginner friendly small snake? Since this will be my first, I would hate to have a delicate one that would die due to a small but stupid error on my part (typical beginner stuff). Right now I'm kind of learning towards a hog nosed. Others I've read about are pine woods, ring necked, red bellied, northern brown (DeKay), glass snake, grass snake, and garter snake.

I have an unused 10 gallon aquarium I'd like to use, if possible, but not necessary. I believe a hognosed would require a larger tank?

So, which snake would you recommend? Also keeping in mind availability, ease of getting food, etc.

I read the three pages of threads on this forum and couldn't find a thread like this one, exuse me if it's been covered before.

Thanks!

Justin

Garter snakes are good for beginners. They get 2 to 3 feet long, depending on whether you have a male or female. They are generally tame. One would do ok in a 10 gallon tank with a water dish and a hide box. They are easy to feed, with a varied diet of fish, amphibians, worms, and rodents. There are several websites with lots of good info on keeping them. They are my favorite!!!!

don't know much about the snakes this forum is about but I have a western hognose that is great. soooo cute, and easy to care for, though sometimes inconsistent eaters. My first snake was a FL kingsnake and I'd consider something like that too if I were you.

For an even-tempered and generally hardy critter, corn snakes are great to start with. They're usually good eaters, don't have many attitude problems and are readily available in a lot of places. A 10 gallon will also last one for a while, though you'll eventually need at least a 20 for an adult. Feeder mice are relatively cheap online, if you find some other folks in your area and go in on a bulk order (otherwise, shipping might exceed what you're paying for the mice...) Anyway, good luck!
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0.0.1 Normal corn snake (Frito)
0.0.1 Creamsicle corn (Tang)
0.0.1 Ghost corn (Raynham)
1.1 Bay of LA rosy boas (Rivet and Cali)

I had initially passed the Corn by, "Too big" I thought. I'm still reading, but regardless of where I go I am constantly running into the Corn Snake With so many recommendations, can't go wrong, right? Right now I'm torn between the Hognose, Garter (WOW, I didn't know they were that colorful: florida blue), and Corn. I also thought the corn snakes would be alot more expensive than the others, guess not. Thinking about building my own tank, so I suppose size wouldn't really be a hard requirement anymore.

I'm not impatient and I'll just have to keep thinking on it, advice still welcome. Thanks for the tips so far!

By the way, buying some plexiglass cheap off Ebay. Should get a 19.5 Gal tank out of it, 33.75x11.5x11.5 inches. Tank size requirements are less of an issue, although if they're climbers they won't have very high to go (11".

If any of you are interested, 1/4"x33.75"x11.5" plexi at $2.25 a sheet. Ebay Item number: 7618023666 Currently the web generated shipping is incorrect on mine, but if you guys are interested in buying some I'll let you know if he makes it right or tries to get an extra $17 out of me.

$25 shipped sealant/adhesives for a 19.5 gallon tank sounds pretty good to me, though.

He fixed the shipping, quickly! So, cheap plexi if anyone wants to make a good sized tank.

I didn't know plexiglass was that expensive, now I know where all that expense comes from. I thought they were just overpricing because it's a niche market (like boats, rc planes, etc)!

Right now I'm kind of learning towards a hog nosed. Others I've read about are pine woods, ring necked, red bellied, northern brown (DeKay), glass snake, grass snake, and garter snake

Pine woods-red belly-can be hard if you dont have the right food . Garter very easy-male hognose stay small all you have to do is find breder that sells pinkie eaters thats not hard and great choice. Hognose would be your best handle snake as the rest to nervous . Male garters small to and active so would say a male of either type . Females much bigger and 10 gallon to small for females of either but not males .
Oh the acrylic prices you mentioned are great. I just bought acrylic but brand new shipping was $12 from factory pieces are 24 inches by 12 inches 1/4 thick each runs like $6 so what you got it for is great.

I just didnt want to risk any scratches on it

I'd recommend garters. The periodic fasting that hognoses are notorious for can make them a trying first snake. Garters are typiclly enthusiastic eaters and are very personable snakes. If you go cb, you can often get one that's already conditioned to accept mice. You can check out this page for a good caresheet: http://www.gartersnakemorphs.com/ . Mine are just about always out and about and if they see me looking at them they'll often crawl over to see if I have their dinner (great display snakes). I've managed to switch all but one of my 4 over to a predominantly rodent diet. My two T. elegans are particularly aggressive rodent feeders and were the easiest to get to accept them. They're very active snakes so they'll never be a "lap snake", but if you handle them regularly they're pretty quick to get over nasty habits like musking.

You may want to peruse the rosy / sand boa forum too. Most rosys and sand boas stay under 3 feet, they're calm, docile, and easy feeders. If you intend on doing a lot of handling, these are worth looking into too.

-Alice

I recall long time ago you posted you had 2 together . Have you had any problems keeping two together?

I intend this summer to get an African house snake and a pair of Albino garters . Making their enclosures close to done.

I like the activity of garters . Thought that switching to pinkies wouldnt be good for them? As they eat fish,worms in wild.

I keep all my garters individually. From my observations, certain garters do eat a lot of mammals. We've had T. elegans (western terrestrial garters) raid our pitfall traps and eat shrews and harvest mice. I have both T. elegans and T. sirtalis where I live. Worms are very seasonal and fish are few and far between. In addition to mammals, they feed primarily on reptiles and amphibians. I'm not aware of any literature documenting premature demises from garters fed primarily rodents. On the contrary, those fed feeder fish often succomb to thiamine deficiencies, worms do not provide complete nutrition, and those fed amphibians are more likely to run into problems with parasites. I currently have two T. elegans, a T. sirtalis and a western blackneck (still trying to switch him over). My original plan was to house the T. elegans together, but I had to scrap that when I read that they were the most likely garter species to turn cannibal.
-Alice

I house my garters separately. Some garters are known for feeding on rodents. Wandering garters (t. elegans vagrans) are big eaters of rodents. I work all my garters on to rodents. More nutrition in a smaller package. They do just fine. Scott Felzer feeds his rodents also and has for years.

Thanks for the info. I decided to keep seperate after reading it can be a risk. I havent gotten them yet but going to might just opt for a male albino since males bit smaller than females.

I never thought that garters would eat mice/pinkies thought strictly fish,frog,tadpoles,worm eaters as around here the very very few times I have seen them it has been chasing tadpoles in shallow ponds . Just assumed they ate only aquatic type stuff and that eating small mammals was unnatural for them.

Thanks again