Reptile & Amphibian Forums

brought home 3 cheap little snakes ive been meaning to buy lately. a normal and anery corn (neglected buying a normal for so many years) and i picked up a texas rat. my first texas rat, she is very calm. i have alot of experience with corns. what should i expect or look for in the texas rat?

Getting new babies is always fun!! I have only kept WC texas rats, and all were on the aggressive side. None really calmed down to the point of being tame. I am sure a CB baby will be much easier to calm and tame. Worst it can do now is give you a peck. I think if you calmly and consistently handle it, it should calm down well. They are probably more moody than a corn, maybe more like a bull or pine snake. The babies are much more arboreal and like to climb more than a corn baby. A juvie a buddy of mine caught would often rest on top of a branch in its cage. Little sucker was mean though LOL!!

Good luck with the new ones!
KevinM

LOL, WHOA! Night and day! I suggest a hockey mask, welding gloves, and some room deoderizer! Seriously, all snakes are different, but T rats have quite a nasty reputation, the T Rex of North American rats! you may be able to get it to calm down, but don't be surprised if it doesn't turn out to be a sweetheart!

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Todd Hughes

I grew up in the Dallas area and I am all to familiar with why the Texas Rat has the bad rap it probably deserves. As wild caughts they are nasty and take a long time to calm down. HOWEVER, I would imagine the animal you purchased at a show is captive bred and they are much more calm and tolerant of being handled. Even captive bred are a bit nippy out of the egg but they to calm down tremendously over the first few months. Mine are captive bred and are very calm and have not tried to bite in years. Is yours leucistic or natural pattern? Not many snakes can match the beauty of a 6' solid white Texas rat. Especially for the price. have fun with it

Allen

I have two CB Texas Rats, and both are very tame. I also have a Emory that will strike at anything. I think that if the animal is calm whae you get it, it will stay clam.
Good luck with your new additions.

I bought a texas rat as my first snake in 2007. he was an awesome snake when you were handling him. but if you sat him down or tried pulling him out of a hinding spot for anything he would bite and bite and bite. but once you had a hold of him he was an angel though. still to this day he is my favotite snake.