Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys --

I have unintentionally ended up acquiring 4 female snakes. That's okay with me, especially since I have no strong desire to breed them at this time.

But, this has started me wondering --

Are there significant differences in the pet qualities of male vs. female snakes? If so, what are they?

Thanks for any input!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa
0.3 Honduran milk snakes
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

In some snake species, the males and females are different sizes. Males I think get restless in the spring sometimes and wander all over the tanks -- part of their drive to mate. In terms of care, behavior, personality, etc, I do not think there is a big difference.

>>In some snake species, the males and females are different sizes. Males I think get restless in the spring sometimes and wander all over the tanks -- part of their drive to mate. In terms of care, behavior, personality, etc, I do not think there is a big difference.

Ahh. I knew about the size differences, but I never thought about restlessness. Good to know, thanks!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa
0.3 Honduran milk snakes
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

In every snake species I have kept, males get more ancy in Spring. Not a bad thing persay, but that is one big noticeable difference. Doen't affect the quality of the pet.
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Mark

Should have said breeding season. Not all species breed in Spring.
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Mark

Some male snakes (reticulated pythons come to mind) can become more aggressive around breeding season (especially if there are females within scent range), but I haven't noticed that with most species.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

sometimes one gender gets larger than the other; this is really noticable in bigger species. A male reticulated python may stay around 12-15' where a female would be more like 16-20'. Boas, males stay 5-6 (most of the time), but females can hit 7' or so. In Crotalus males average about 10% larger than females. Not really in difference in terms of temper that I've ever noticed though.

With some lizards, males may be more aggressive during mating (horny male iguanas are minature Satans).