Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am trying to put together a list of the "best" starter snakes. I have experience with most of them and have a pretty good starting list, but am wondering what I have forgotten.

So, if you have any experience..what makes your top-ten-best-starter-snakes list? I am only interested in different species (i.e. Cal Kings and Desert Kings count as one species).

I have basically given each species a score for each of these criteria -
- juvenile temperament
- adult temperament
- handling
- feeding ease
- feeding ease (juv)
- feeding cost (monthly)
- housing issues (size)
- price
- availability (common/rare, CB/WC)

The snake with the lowest score is the "best". For example, Rosy Boas only beat out corn snakes by staying smaller (less food cost, less expensive housing).

I don't wish to get into discussions about which species should be 5 and which should be 6, rather I am looking for suggestions of which other species to include as contenders.

Here is the working list...
1. Rosy Boa
2. Corn Snake
3. Checkered Gartersnake
4. Mexican Kingsnakes
5. Gray-banded Kingsnake
6. Kenyan Sand Boa
7. Ball Python
8. Common Kingsnake
9. Western Hognosed Snake
10. Twin Spotted Ratsnake
11. Dione's Ratsnake
12. Common Gartersnake
13. Russian Ratsnake
14. Common Ratsnake
15. Prairie Kingsnake
16. African Brown House Snake
17. Indian Sand Boa
18. Trans-Pecos Ratsnake
19. Gopher/Pine/Bullsnakes
20. Children's Python
21. Spotted Python
22. Rubber Boa
23. Rainbow Boa
24. Rough Greensnake
25. Boa Constrictor
26. Borneo Blood Python
27. Milksnakes
28. Jungle Carpet Python
29. Burmese Python
30. Reticulated Python (for entertainment purposes only - I only included these because some people consider them as first snakes!!)

I am sure there are some flagrant omissions - what are they?
-----
Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

Didn't see any Nerodia on your list. They keep very much like garters and can be good first snakes, especially if they're captive bred (Northern bandeds are the ones I'm thinking of mainly). Of the Asian rats, I'd also include Taiwans- get a little large but they're hearty eaters and pretty easy to find.
Lora

Hey, you took mine! Taiwans rock!
Were carpet pythons on the list? They're an awesome snake that gets a bit of size, but are still safe.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Golly. I think that you might get as many answers as there are keepers. I personally feel that the top points to consider are as you outlined them though.
I felt that Corns tend to be the best overall just for ease of feeding etc. Though if you are at all timid about snakes a better "starter" might be the Rosy or Kenyan Sand Boa. I personally find Garters less rewarding than constrictors. And I have yet to find a Ball Python that stayed consistently easy to feed. Their seasonality to me would make them a frustrating beginner snake.
I think that after the top 5 there is a little less separating them and it is predominantly personal tastes.
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Sonya

Well I would have to disagree with lumping the "common ratsnakes" all in one category and ranked at 14. After all, the corn snake is a rat snake, and could be lumped in there as well. But since it isnt, what about the differences in personality of the other rat snakes?

I had to make some changes. Just my opinion.

Here is the working list...
1. Corn snake (due to the wide diversity of color morphs and ease of care)
2. Rosy Boa
3. Grey Ratsnake
4. Yellow Ratsnake
5. Mexican Kingsnakes
6. Checkered Gartersnake
7. Kenyan Sand Boa
8. Florida Kingsnake
9. California Kingsnake
10. Eastern Kingsnake
11. Black ratsnake
12. Dekays brown/Red bellied brown/ring neck snake (often forgotten snakes that are very easy to care for)
13. Nelsons/Pueblan milk snake
14. Childrens python
15. Honduran milk snake
16. Twin Spotted Ratsnake
17. Common Gartersnake
18. Texas ratsnake
19. Western Hognose
20. Russian Ratsnake
21. Dione's Ratsnake
22. Black milk snake
23. Prairie Kingsnake
24. African Brown House Snake
25. Indian Sand Boa
26. Trans-Pecos Ratsnake
27. Gopher/Pine/Bullsnakes
28. Eastern/red milk snake
29. Water snakes
30. Scarlet king snake
31. Spotted Python
32. Rubber Boa
33. Rainbow Boa
34. Rough Greensnake
35. Boa Constrictor
36. Borneo Blood Python
37. Grey banded kingsnake
38. Jungle Carpet Python
39. Burmese Python
40. Reticulated Python (for entertainment purposes only - I only included these because some people consider them as first snakes!!)

>>
>>I am sure there are some flagrant omissions - what are they?
>>-----
>>Chris Harrison
>>
>>...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

-----

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

I agree with almost all of the comments I have received so far. What I was trying to do was determine a non-subjective way to form a top ten list. Anyone can throw together a top ten list, I was trying to exclude as many of my personal biases as possible.

Well I would have to disagree with lumping the "common ratsnakes" all in one category and ranked at 14. After all, the corn snake is a rat snake, and could be lumped in there as well. But since it isnt, what about the differences in personality of the other rat snakes?

I thought about separating out ssp in certain snakes (like obsoleta) but then I ended up with situation where the list was filled with several ssp of the same species of snake (for example, Black Ratsnake, Gray Ratsnake, Yellow Ratsnake, and Everglades Ratsnake would all fall in together somewhere occupying 4 spots (and a fifth somewhere lower for TX Ratsnakes).

The same problem would occur with Kingsnakes due to the ranges of adult size and a Pinesnake and a Gophersnake are quite different beasts.

And the list goes on. I would personally put the rat snakes ahead of the ball python just for the simple fact that they require less attention to detail concerning the enclosure humidity and temps.

I probably agree. When I added bairdi to the list, it came out ahead of BPs. Realize that I tried to construct this list in a non-subjective manner. I gave each snake a score for each character (generally ranging from 1 to 4) and then simply totalled up the points.

What about ball pythons being picky eaters once stressed out? Take a look at the amount of non-feeders posted on the ball python forum vs. the rat snake forum.

I gave BPs come out ahead of obsoleta ratsnakes mostly because I gave the ratsnakes a higher score (worse) on juvenile temperament, ease of handling adults (due to their larger size - I used to perspective of an unruly ratsnake vs an unruly BP), and cost of feeding adults (my adult Everglades ate more than my adult BPs).

In regard to BP problems, my experience has been that cbb BPs are easy to feed while wild caughts and farm bred are not. I actually tried to incorporate this factor by giving the BP a higher (worse) score for availability, implying that good ball pythons are harder to come by.

Gray banded king snake at #5. I would list this snake way down the list. It is not a good beginner snake and is not easy to care for at all. They are a very beautiful snake, that is for sure!! But not easy to care for.

I later rescored both L. alterna and mexicana to raise the score for difficulty of feeding babies. But once an alterna is eating mice, they are as easy to care for as any cornsnake in my experience, maybe easier (they don't die if their water bowls dry up while you are out of town for two weeks!).

Milksnakes at 27. Once again, a bunch of snakes lumped together. Agreed some are very hard to take care of. But there are others that are very easy to take care of.

Couldn't agree with you more. This was a real problem spot. I have kept Sinaloans, Mexicans, Scarlet Kings, Louisiana, New Mexican, Pueblan, and Black Milks. They are very different. Black Milks are great snakes and easy to keep, Scarlet Kings are very difficult and Pueblans are simply a pain in the a$$ personality-wise.

I thought about splitting them up into the big milks (4ft+) versus the small milks or maybe just grouping the easy ones (the Central and South American ssp, Mexican, Sinaloan, Nelsoni, etc) together and the rest separately. But then I started thinking I would have to do the same with getula, obsoleta, etc. The same could be said for certain populations of Rosyboas as well.

So I was left with the conclusion that milksnakes as a species aren't great pets while some populations/ssp are phenominal. I guess I better split them up.

I guess I did that with the carpet pythons already (by only including Jungles). Coastal Carpets are a totally different snake! I might lump Spotted and Children's Pythons as well.

BTW - here is my new ranking (without ssp splits). Species with an * are species I have kept myself for an extended period (more than a few weeks).

1. Rosy Boa*
2. Corn Snake*
3. Baird's Ratsnake*
4. Common Kingsnake*
5. Kenyan Sand Boa*
6. Checkered Gartersnake*
7. Gray-banded Kingsnake*
8. Mexican Kingsnakes*
9. Ball Python*
10. Russian Ratsnake
11. Common Ratsnake*
12. Western Hognosed Snake*
13. Dione's Ratsnake
14. Indian Sand Boa*
15. Common Gartersnake*
16. African Brown Housesnake*
17. Trans-Pecos Ratsnake*
18. Gopher/Pine/Bullsnakes*
19. Twin Spotted Ratsnake
20. Prairie Kingsnake*
21. Children's Python
22. Spotted Python*
23. Rubber Boa*
24. Arizona Mountain Kingsnake*
25. Rainbow Boa*
26. Rough Greensnake*
27. Boa Constrictor*
28. Beauty Snakes*
29. Borneo Blood Python*
30. Jungle Carpet Python
31. Milksnakes*
32. Indigo Snake*
33. Burmese Python*
34. Reticulated Python

-----
Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

And the list looks just about right, as far as how I would list them, but who am I, other than just a fellow herper!! LOL
Not an easy task by far, and quite hard to try and rate a snake and figure out how it measures up against others that are very close to the same qualities/needs.

Happy Herping
Brian Baker

>>I agree with almost all of the comments I have received so far. What I was trying to do was determine a non-subjective way to form a top ten list. Anyone can throw together a top ten list, I was trying to exclude as many of my personal biases as possible.
>>
>>Well I would have to disagree with lumping the "common ratsnakes" all in one category and ranked at 14. After all, the corn snake is a rat snake, and could be lumped in there as well. But since it isnt, what about the differences in personality of the other rat snakes?
>>
>>I thought about separating out ssp in certain snakes (like obsoleta) but then I ended up with situation where the list was filled with several ssp of the same species of snake (for example, Black Ratsnake, Gray Ratsnake, Yellow Ratsnake, and Everglades Ratsnake would all fall in together somewhere occupying 4 spots (and a fifth somewhere lower for TX Ratsnakes).
>>
>>The same problem would occur with Kingsnakes due to the ranges of adult size and a Pinesnake and a Gophersnake are quite different beasts.
>>
>>And the list goes on. I would personally put the rat snakes ahead of the ball python just for the simple fact that they require less attention to detail concerning the enclosure humidity and temps.
>>
>>I probably agree. When I added bairdi to the list, it came out ahead of BPs. Realize that I tried to construct this list in a non-subjective manner. I gave each snake a score for each character (generally ranging from 1 to 4) and then simply totalled up the points.
>>
>>What about ball pythons being picky eaters once stressed out? Take a look at the amount of non-feeders posted on the ball python forum vs. the rat snake forum.
>>
>>I gave BPs come out ahead of obsoleta ratsnakes mostly because I gave the ratsnakes a higher score (worse) on juvenile temperament, ease of handling adults (due to their larger size - I used to perspective of an unruly ratsnake vs an unruly BP), and cost of feeding adults (my adult Everglades ate more than my adult BPs).
>>
>>In regard to BP problems, my experience has been that cbb BPs are easy to feed while wild caughts and farm bred are not. I actually tried to incorporate this factor by giving the BP a higher (worse) score for availability, implying that good ball pythons are harder to come by.
>>
>>Gray banded king snake at #5. I would list this snake way down the list. It is not a good beginner snake and is not easy to care for at all. They are a very beautiful snake, that is for sure!! But not easy to care for.
>>
>>I later rescored both L. alterna and mexicana to raise the score for difficulty of feeding babies. But once an alterna is eating mice, they are as easy to care for as any cornsnake in my experience, maybe easier (they don't die if their water bowls dry up while you are out of town for two weeks!).
>>
>>Milksnakes at 27. Once again, a bunch of snakes lumped together. Agreed some are very hard to take care of. But there are others that are very easy to take care of.
>>
>>Couldn't agree with you more. This was a real problem spot. I have kept Sinaloans, Mexicans, Scarlet Kings, Louisiana, New Mexican, Pueblan, and Black Milks. They are very different. Black Milks are great snakes and easy to keep, Scarlet Kings are very difficult and Pueblans are simply a pain in the a$$ personality-wise.
>>
>>I thought about splitting them up into the big milks (4ft ) versus the small milks or maybe just grouping the easy ones (the Central and South American ssp, Mexican, Sinaloan, Nelsoni, etc) together and the rest separately. But then I started thinking I would have to do the same with getula, obsoleta, etc. The same could be said for certain populations of Rosyboas as well.
>>
>>So I was left with the conclusion that milksnakes as a species aren't great pets while some populations/ssp are phenominal. I guess I better split them up.
>>
>>I guess I did that with the carpet pythons already (by only including Jungles). Coastal Carpets are a totally different snake! I might lump Spotted and Children's Pythons as well.
>>
>>BTW - here is my new ranking (without ssp splits). Species with an * are species I have kept myself for an extended period (more than a few weeks).
>>
>>1. Rosy Boa*
>>2. Corn Snake*
>>3. Baird's Ratsnake*
>>4. Common Kingsnake*
>>5. Kenyan Sand Boa*
>>6. Checkered Gartersnake*
>>7. Gray-banded Kingsnake*
>>8. Mexican Kingsnakes*
>>9. Ball Python*
>>10. Russian Ratsnake
>>11. Common Ratsnake*
>>12. Western Hognosed Snake*
>>13. Dione's Ratsnake
>>14. Indian Sand Boa*
>>15. Common Gartersnake*
>>16. African Brown Housesnake*
>>17. Trans-Pecos Ratsnake*
>>18. Gopher/Pine/Bullsnakes*
>>19. Twin Spotted Ratsnake
>>20. Prairie Kingsnake*
>>21. Children's Python
>>22. Spotted Python*
>>23. Rubber Boa*
>>24. Arizona Mountain Kingsnake*
>>25. Rainbow Boa*
>>26. Rough Greensnake*
>>27. Boa Constrictor*
>>28. Beauty Snakes*
>>29. Borneo Blood Python*
>>30. Jungle Carpet Python
>>31. Milksnakes*
>>32. Indigo Snake*
>>33. Burmese Python*
>>34. Reticulated Python
>>
>>-----
>>Chris Harrison
>>
>>...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham
-----

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

Not bred (that I know of) and not usually offered in the trade, but a darn hardy, easy, small snake that loves crickets and spiders: the shovelnose snake from the American Southwest. Might not be added because it is so uncommon in the hobby. You can forget to water them for 6 months with no worries and easily keep them in a 5 gal cage.

Oh, and every glossy snake I've maintained has been a real trooper. Another snake that is not common in the hobby but is a nice one.

That is a good suggestion. I think I will add them to my list, although I don't think they will score well.

They are very hardy, but the availability and housing issues would probably push them down the list a little. They also aren't particulary fond of being handled!
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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

1. Common kings, Baird's ratsnakes
2. Boa constrictor imperator
3. Carpet python
4. Carpet python
5. Carpet python
6. Carpet python
7. Carpet python
8. Carpet python
9. Carpet python
10. Shovelnose snake
...
...
100. Honduran milksnake

LOL!!

Seriously, this is a daunting task but will be much appreciated by new herpers.
-----
Mark

>>1. Common kings, Baird's ratsnakes
>>2. Boa constrictor imperator
>>3. Carpet python
>>4. Carpet python
>>5. Carpet python
>>6. Carpet python
>>7. Carpet python
>>8. Carpet python
>>9. Carpet python
>>10. Shovelnose snake
>>...
>>...
>>100. Honduran milksnake
>>
>>LOL!!
>>
>>Seriously, this is a daunting task but will be much appreciated by new herpers.
>>-----
>>Mark
-----
Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham