Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking about getting a snake sometime in the future and I'm wanting some advice.
I want a snake that is not more than 6 ft. Can be somewhat frequently handled. Won't slither off frantically. Isn't likely to bite. Is relatively hardy.

It fits all your criteria. It can live forever in a tank that is only 30X12, although it would appreciate a longer tank, of course.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

there are a couple of snakes I always suggest to people as "starter" snakes: corn snakes and sand boas.
corn snakes are very easy to cage, have wonderful personalities, and don't get too big. Young corn snakes can be very flighty, but usually calm down pretty quick. But even an adult corn snake usually won't sit still; they love to move and explore, and usually don't stop moving. Kenyan sand boas stay really small. Males usually only reach 15 inches long, and can be kept in a 10 gallon cage, which is really nice if you are tight on space. Also, since they are a burrowing snake, cage requirements are very simple: deep substrate and low humidity. All you need is a heat lamp on one side during the day to heat it up, and then cut it off at night. Food for them is really cheap, and mine has always been very friendly. Many people suggest ball pythons for a first snake, but I personally would not recommend one. They are wonderful to have; great personality, relatively small size, and you can wrap one around your wrist and it will just chill there for hours! But, they can worry a first time snake owner to death! They sometimes will simply stop eating, for no apparent reason, and even go months refusing to eat. And even when they are feeding, then can be finicky eaters (you might have to try a dozen different tactics to get one to eat). They also have slightly more complicated caging requirements because of the fairly narrow humidity range they need to thrive. Like I said before, they are great snakes, but I think it's better to get some experience with something else that won't stress you out more than the snake!

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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
0.0.1 betta fish (Captain Morgan)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)

David,

Quick question I have seen people using odd numbers in there signature and I am not able to figure out why. For example you have,
1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)

what does the 1.0,0.1 and 0.0.1 mean? At first I thought male female but why the third pattern, help me out what does it all mean??

Also I would recommend a corn snake, cheap, don’t get very large, easy to keep, easy to feed, fairly calm and doesn’t require crazy heat/misting/cage setups.

I agree, I'd probably recommend the corn first; I always put the kenyan sand boa up there too because I know the biggest factor for a lot of people is size, and many want to start off with something that won't get very big at all!

Yes, you were on the right track with the numbering. The first is number of males, second is females, and the third is unknown sex, so 1.2.3 would mean someone has one male, two females, and three of unknown sex.

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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
0.0.1 betta fish (Captain Morgan)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)

Ahh I didn’t think about unknown sex, thanks for the explanation.

>>I'm thinking about getting a snake sometime in the future and I'm wanting some advice.
>>I want a snake that is not more than 6 ft. Can be somewhat frequently handled. Won't slither off frantically. Isn't likely to bite. Is relatively hardy.

How about a "dwarf" boa? There are several localities such as Nicaraguans, Hogg Islands, Sonorans, etc., that only get around 3-5 feet(4-6 for Hoggs). Male Colombians usually don't get bigger than 6' either. Most CB boa constrictors are about as tame as a snake can get, and they're slower and much less flighty than corns and most other colubrids.

I have a male Colombian and a hypo Sonoran, and they both feed fine and always have perfect sheds even in low humidity, while my ball pythons go off food all the time and have never shed in one piece, no matter how high the humidity is.
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Blood Python
0.0.1 Hypo Sonoran BCI
0.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
1.0 Salmon BCI
0.2 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Suriname BCC
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
2 ferrets

Cornsnakes are a great choice. Another excellent choice would be a Florida Kingsnake or Eastern Kingsnake. I think Florida Kings handle better then corns on average. All of my Florida and Eastern kings are very relaxed, will wrap around my arms and stay for extended periods of time. They are very powerful snakes for their size. They do tend to have a very intense feeding response, so use caution when feeding. Here's a few of my kings. First pic is a couple of my florida kings. A 2005normal and an 06 axanthic. Second is an 06 Eastern King. Third is an 06 Florida king. All are very laid back

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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

Don't forget the often underestimated Gophersnake, "Cornsnake of the west"!

reako45