Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Looking to get a snake...for a few months actually. I know this is a rat snake forum, but I'm trying to decide between a rat, a corn, or a milk snake. Any benefits to any of them? I seem to be getting the same info everywhere I look - they all feed well, get roughly the same size (rats a little bigger), good beginners snake. Any thoughts?

Are you getting a snake to keep for a few months or are you planning to get a snake in a few months?

If you only want to keep the snake for a few months, then don't get one.

If you are looking to get a snake to keep for the next 10 years, then folks like myself think that Rat Snakes are great snakes.

To help to keep things clear, Corn Snakes are Rat Snakes. Another name for them is the Red Rat Snake. Most captive bread Corns are tame, and feed well. They are native to the United States and don't have a lot of special needs. Find good care sheets for all the snakes that you are considering. Make sure that you can provide what the snake you decide on needs.

Rats are great, and Corns are easy to find and keep. They are a good place to start, but just be warned that they are addictive.

Good luck.

Rick

im also a little foncused about are u gonna get it in a couple months or just keep it for a couple months? Snakes can live upwards of 15 years, i've even heard 20? not sure on that though.

as he said, snakes are addicitive. they're like pringles...once you pop you cant stop, lol. i'd say they were like those chips "cant eat just one" but i hope nobodys into eating snakes here, lol.

milks and kings are good...but they tend to be very flighty as babies...love to try and get away from you. rats and corns (for the most part...depending on the particular morph though) tend to be more calm.

If you want a snake thats not going to be too large (around 4-5 feet as an adult) and is still active, go witha texas bairdi. these guys are kinda cheap...mainly because as babies they're ugly. but you will soon learn that we all love these guys...they grow to be freakin BEAUTIFUL snakes! Look at any of Jimmy's (draybar's) posts...these are wonderful snakes.

here ill post a pic of his female, rosie. as an adult.

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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

haha, sorry about that... I meant that 1) I've been researching it for a few months, and 2) I'm not going to get one for a few months yet - January or so. And I'm hoping to have it for a long time because I want to use it as an educational animal in my classroom. Any of those snakes make for a good genetics lesson!

If it's a genetics lesson you want, then certainly what you want is a cornsnake. There are so many genetic morphs available that it's hard to keep track of them all.

for a class room I would DEFINATELY say a corn or a rat. The #1 snake I would reccomend is a licorice stick black rat snake. These things are so freakin docile and calm its crazy! Mine has NEVER attempted to strike at me, has never rattled her tail, or anything - from the day i got her in the mail. I have heard that about all of them. They look pretty cool also.

I've also been told the same about leucistic BLACK rat snakes. The Leucistic Texans have an attitude i've been told.

However you can get a hatchling licorice stick for about $75, yearling for $125. Leucistic black is closer to $200, leucistc texas about $75 I think. But yeah in a classroom setting i'd say the licorice stick black rat snake. They're wonderful.

Or a corn snake. that will work nicely as well.

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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

A few years ago, after reading dozens of posts similar to this on these forums, I decided to try and develop a table of good some of the more common snake species available and compare them based on a series of criteria to see which ranked as the "best" beginner snake.

So I scored each species based on a number of criteria, such as temperament, ease of feeding, cost of feeding, handleability, as these were the criteria that most people mentioned when searching for a first snake.

Here are the results. Of course, every time I post this, people respond with "yes, but you forgot species X" or "I can't believe you thing X is better than Y". Generally I get those comments from people who only have experience with one or two species. JSYK, I have kept 30 of the 38 species on this list and have direct experience with the other 8 as well.

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Chris Harrison