Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 10 year old daughter and I are experienced with Bearded Dragons (successfully keeping breeding pair for several years).

Now she wants a snake, and she thinks Ball python, whereas I was leaning to Corn snake.

In terms of relative ease of care, not biting, handleability, ease of breeding, and any other relative merits, pluses and minues for each... what do you all think?

This is just my opinion but,I'd go with the cornsnake.They are easy to keep and breed plus,there is a multitude of variations in colors and patterns that won't hurt your budget. Good Luck!, Jeff

hi i also have bearded dragons and have been breeding them for about 12 years.in my opinion i think that bearded's are much harder to take care of than either of the two snakes that you have mentioned.you have to feed bearded's more often.you only have to feed a snake once a week, plus lighting and vitamin requirments for bearded's, snakes do not need special lighting. if you had no problems with your bearded's you should have no problems with either snake.i have cornsnakes and have been breeding them for 8 years.i love them and think their the best.i had ball python's in the past really didn't like them that much. some of them like to fast and that can be frustrating.also adult cornsnakes can be fed mice. with adult ball's you will have to move up to rats.hope this helps you.
greg

I've kept and bred both. Corns are far easier for a few reasons:

1) Flexible temperature requirements (ball pythons need it warmer than corns and are less forgiving of cooler temperatures).

2) Food - a significant number of ball pythons prefer live food. They also go on hunger strikes for no apparent reason. Most corns are good eaters on frozen/thawed mice.

3) Cage size - although not necessarily longer, in general adult ball pythons are heavier than adult corn snakes and need more space.

4) Disposition - there are a heck of a lot of corn snakes that cannot be induced to bite. Boas and ball pythons are more primative than colubrids and in my experience more likely to bite. This is not to say that they are "mean," but if taken by surprise they are more likely to bite.

Of course every snake is an individual and there's plenty of exceptions to the above "rules" - but the above has been my experiences with both snakes. I really like ball pythons, but for a "starter" snake a corn is a better choice.

Tim

Third Eye

As stated already, ball pythons will fast, or refuse to eat, for sometimes months. This does no damage to the snake, but kills a young keeper's confidence.
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V.P.
Austin Herp. Soc.

My highest recommendation for a first time snake owner is actually a female kenyan sand boa. However, since this is not that forum and that was not one of the snakes asked about I will have to agree with what has already been posted and vote corn snake. I've kept both and enjoyed corn snakes more than ball pythons. As stated before, corn snake requirements are much more forgiving for a first time snake owner than those of a ball. They are also easy to handle and rarely bite. Also, don't underestimate the stress on the new snake keeper that can be caused by a long term fast....been there, done that, got very stressed. Hope this helps.

Rob

>>My 10 year old daughter and I are experienced with Bearded Dragons (successfully keeping breeding pair for several years).
>>
>>Now she wants a snake, and she thinks Ball python, whereas I was leaning to Corn snake.
>>
>>In terms of relative ease of care, not biting, handleability, ease of breeding, and any other relative merits, pluses and minues for each... what do you all think?

Definately go with corn snake, she already familiar with 'pinkies', corn snakes rarely, if ever turn down a meal, whereas ball pythons can be a pain when they go off food.
Once a snake turns down a meal, you gotta do the whole process of elimination, with temperatures, conditions, parasites, stress, is she gravid?, etc....
If the snake never goes off food, you basically know it's not in immediate danger, and never have to divert your attention from handling a pet to the am I doing everything right syndrome.
Corns are the ideal starter snakes.

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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

...gopher snake.

I know they are not as popular and they get a little longer(but not thicker) then a large corn does but they are more atractive as first time snakes to me then even corns(which are one of the best). I've dealt with only wild caught gophers but I assume the captive bred ones are even better on each point then WC.

Positives
- tame, just like corns gophers tame to the point of biting being excedingly rare(I've never had one actually land a bite on me)
- very hardy, I never even bothered to use temperature or humidity controls. Room temp and room humid are fine with a water dish.
- Eat like a pig, just like almost every corn I've had gophers will eat everything and anything you throw them(at least if it's a rodent).
- very active and friendly, just like corns they seem to enjoy handling and in my experience gophers have even more personality then corns. Even had one of mine free roaming the house as a kid and it was always back in it's cage on feeding day lol.

Negatives
- can cost more, the average price is a little more excluding high end morphs in corns.
- local laws, depending on where you live they may be a native species and thus be protected. This is the case in California and here you need a permit to keep them unless it is a albino morph because 'fish and game' does not consider albino's a naturally occuring form lol.
- higher adult food costs, because they get longer then corns your rodent bills might be slightly higher then with a corn but not that much.
- personal prefference, some people just do not find the appearance/pattern of gopher snakes appealing, to each his own
- less profitable, if planning on breeding and selling gophers are less profitable as they lay fewer eggs and don't double clutch with the regularity of corns(at least to my knowledge). Also while they sell for more individually it is harder to find buyers quickly as they are not generally as popular as corn's are.

Both Corn snakes and Gopher snakes in my opinion make excellent first time snakes. I just lean a little towards gophers, if you like their look, because in most of the areas that corns excell gophers excell as well or better.

Hope was helpfull.

Sean.

it's a no brainer.just get a stillwater hypo bullsnake like this one.just kidding i would not recommend a bullsnake for a first time snake keeper.would anybody else ?

No I would not as I have never worked with them.

I do have to make a qualification to my post above in that I have only worked with wild caught Pacific Gophersnakes. I cannot say anything about the other subspecies personalities.

I hadn't thought to specify the subspecies until a friend of mine was mentioning the horrible, and bloody, behavior of some maltempered somnorans she had to deal with regularly for a while. I by no means expect all sonorans to be aggressive but I did think I should clarify my experiences as I forgot to in the first post.

Sorry if my information was confusing.

Sean.

I have both which my 5yr. old helps me raise.I feel either one is a good choice both are very gentle. Both are totally different snakes but I have no worries about either one biting my daughter.The only major difference is that I noticed is the corn snake is alot more active especially when you hold compared to the ball where the snake(most cases)just stays balled up in your hand.Care wise they are very easy to take care of. The only other thing you might want to consider is the size. Which ball pythons get a little bigger I believe they get an average of about 5-7 feet depending on sex of snake and other factors of coarse. Which I haven't seen a corn snake get bigger then 5 feet. Which I could be wrong, but I just haven't seen one yet,and pythons do get fatter. But like I said both are very good snakes. I would say ball pythons have a little more cool features then a corn. Like there pits around there mouth that sences heat. and the anal spurs which some believe is whats left after they lost there hind legs(not 100% sure if I believe that one)but like I was saying I don't think you could make a bad choice in this situation. Good luck

Just a note on the respective size of the snakes... A Ball Python really won't get longer than 6ft unless you have an EXCEPTIONALLY large female, and the average is much closer to 3.5-4.5ft. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that an adult corn isn't going to get close enough to rub against 5ft, probably more in the range of 3-4ft. A wild caught corn could most definitely reach 5ft, but you wouldn't really want that as a first snake, anyway.
All this is just in my experience and research...
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2.1 Normal Ball Pythons ('04-Captain Jack; '05-BoBo; '05-Queen Latifa)
0.1 Normal Corn Snake ('06-Little Prince)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Blondie)
2.0 Fancy Rats (Ho0dz, Donnie)

I know a guy who has a 6ft creamsicle, I know they get bigger than normal Corns, but still that thing is a monster.

True, but a cream has emoryi blood in it, and (correct me if I'm wrong) Rat Snakes are in general a little bit bigger than corns to begin with, so... it makes sense that a creamsicle would be longer than another type of corn.
Just my $.02.
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2.1 Normal Ball Pythons ('04-Captain Jack; '05-BoBo; '05-Queen Latifa)
0.1 Normal Corn Snake ('06-Little Prince)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Blondie)
2.0 Fancy Rats (Ho0dz, Donnie)

Cool,Thanks for the correction I knew I was close I just wasn't sure of the exact sizes.Thanks