Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently own a beautiful ball. She's a normal and I love it that way as I'm not too crazy about all the variants out there.

Anyway, I'm looking at other snakes (6' length or less) and was curious as to other people's favorites. Looking for a reasonably docile snake. Diurnal would be a bonus.
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Kane

I love all my snakes, but I've grown really fond of kingsnakes after getting my 2. They have so much personality, will eat anything and are more active than Ball Pythons - so it's a nice difference. My little ones seem to be more crepuscular (active at dusk and dawn) which is nice also.

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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa
"Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa
"Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake
"Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

Most colubrids are very nice

Corn snakes are very nice, fairly active, mostly terrestrial (mine aren't good climbers...), and easy care.

Another not well known colubrid is the Fox Snake, which is one of my favorites. It is arguably one of the most docile snakes, mine has never even attempted to bite me. They are terrestrial, arboreal, and aquatic, so they make very interesting captives.

Rat Snakes are also very good snakes with many color variants and are fairly docile.

Kingsnakes are also very good snakes, but never handle one after you've held another snake.

Rosy Boas and Kenyan Sand Boas are also good snakes. Both are relatively small, docile, and fairly easy to care for.

The Rainbow Boas are also very cool snakes, but when young they are a little snappy. Their caging requirements are a little more advanced, so if you plan to get one be prepared to provide a proper cage for it.

I haven't worked with many Pythons... but if you were willing to go over 6' Jungle Carpet Pythons are very cool snakes. They sit out when they are adults (most do) and make wonderful display animals. As young some are a little snappy, but most are docile.

Hope that helps
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Currently have:
0.1 Antherystic Elaphe guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Leucistic Elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake

Saving for:
Agkistrodon Contortix mokasen - Northern Copperhead

I thought Rainbow Boas got up to 10' long... is that incorrect?
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Kane

I believe the Brazilian Rainbows average out at about 6'.
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Currently have:
0.1 Antherystic Elaphe guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Leucistic Elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake

Saving for:
Agkistrodon Contortix mokasen - Northern Copperhead

All of the above are good sugjestions but you might want to look into the Sawu Pythong. They are pretty small (males about 3-4' and females at about 4-5, max) and easy to take care of. They enjoy medium humidity so you have to be able to provide that. They are aboreal 50% of the time, mostly at night though. Pretty cool little guys. They are a bit on the rough side when young but tend to calm down by about 1 year of age. Mine, for the most part has been quite plesant.

You have a lot of options, have fun!!! Post some pics when you decide!

I see your saving for a Copperhead. Come to KY and you can find plenty of them . There is a really cool reptile zoo in KY. Mainly poisonous snakes... one of the larger venom suppliers in the country.
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Kane

lol... Plenty of em here in Ohio too!

I normally get my snakes from Michael Jolliff
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Currently have:
0.1 Antherystic Elaphe guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Leucistic Elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake

Saving for:
Agkistrodon Contortix mokasen - Northern Copperhead

That would be ANY of the North American Ratsnakes, including the corns. And a 6 foot black, yellow or gray rat is actually a much smaller animal than a 6 foot python or boa. Much thinner-bodied. Great animals. Often active by day (not so much with the corns, actually). Generally good feeders and easy to care for. Easily tamed, for the most part. Duffy

I have to go with Boids. Harder to keep than colubrids, but I think more rewarding as well. They look exotic and grow to nice sizes. (ok so some to big, but they are easy to find if they get out!) A nice one to try is the eryx or sand boas. Also an diurnal active little bugger is the ugly but fascinating Calibar python. Yes, a diurnal fossorial python. I manager to mate mine and my female is late in season gravid!!! They have hard to beat personalitys, and always appear to be smiling if you can find which end is the head! They also have an amazing and unique defense system. First the roll up in a ball if startled. However if they see you coming hte coil up like a rattler ready to strike. One differnce here is the head is the part sticking out as if it bites to. The snakes make thier tails look around as if its a head and some times fake strike at you with thier tail as their real head hides safely under their short but fat bodies. Another bonus is these 3-4' snakes like small enclosures in order to feel secure. A 15-20 gallon is enough for two. They have been kept in 10 gallons and bred, but I like them to have some room to move. And they do move. They even climb on sticks to bask during the day. They eat mice, not rats so they are cheap to keep. A lot of fun and something unusual I reconmend them a lot.
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1.1 Malaysian Blood Python
1.2 Pastel Red Tail Boas
2.2 Ball Python
1.0 Albino Retic
0.1 Tiger Retic
0.1 Albino Burmese Python
1.1 Calibar Python
1.0 Macklotts Python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
0.0.1 Brown Water Snake
0.0.1 Florida Banded X Northern Water Snake
0.0.1 Costa Rican Parrot Snake
0.0.1 Desert Night Snake
0.0.1 Oreintal Whip Snake
0.0.1 Mangrove Snake
0.0.1 Shovel Nose snake
0.1 Western Long nose
0.0.1 Fresno Speckled Coco King (rare)
0.0.1 Mojave Side Winder

maybe a childrens or spotted pyton never kept one but there small and i heard they are docile

is my favorite because he is always out and about and he sits in the corner of his tank closest to me and stares at me sometimes like he wants me to pick him up.. but I love all my snakes..I have two ball pythons (Titus and Hercules)and I did have a beautiful cornsnake that got away and of course my Hoggie(Fuego).

That's too much like picking a favorite child.
You've got American rats and kings, Asian rats, rainbow boas, hogg island boas, IJ carpet pythons, rosies and sand boas, hognose snakes, blood pythons...
(All of these can be quite tame and under 6', not all diurnal and they vary in degrees of excitingness)
I do want to note that if you get a sand boa, either get a rather young one or one that the seller confirms is tame. They don't have 'naturally' nice dispositions and require handling to stay tame. This goes at least for Kenyans and roughscales, I don't know about Indians or rosies.
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!

I bet that you would appreciate the ball python variants much more if you were to see exceptional examples "in the flesh". I've never known anyone to not be in awe when beholding exceptional albino balls and high white piebalds.

My favorite snakes with respect to appearance are albino ball pythons. I also like the contrast of black and white (cleanly) banded California kingsnakes.... 50/50's are nice, but not when the width of the white bands exceed that of the black.

I believe that corn snakes are the best with respect to a combination of ease in maintenance and "personality".

One snake that doesn't get the attention that it deserves is the black milk snake. They are skittish as youngsters, but calm down as adults... and very impressive appearance as adults.

I like:

1) Eastern indigo
2) Brown Water Python (Liasis fuscus)
3) White lip python

Solomon Island Boas. They grow to be 3-5 feet, and are pleasant snakes to work with. They are also very unique and prehistoric looking.

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1.1 Ball Python 1.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon 2.0 Solomon Island Boas 0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband

I currently have mostly ball pythons which are my favorite but i have to say i like the variations like a really beautiful lemon ball i just bought. To get into something new my boyfriend got a red-tail boa (yes they get big but ours is so docile and has quite the personality) and an albino king which is a really beautiful snake but a little tempermental. I also recommend cornsnakes.