Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a beardie and a uromastyx in the room but the students really want a snake. I am looking for a snake that will not grow any larger than 5 feet (relative small snake) that the students with supervision will be able to hold and interact with for limited amounts of time. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Also a hard and relatively easy snake to care for is ideal in the classroom.

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I have a 6ft jungle carpet python. They do get longer then 5 feet though. Average 6-8. But they are slender. I bought mine from a reptile store when she was 3 feet. They told me the previous owner was a school teacher so she is real docile with handling. They are semi arboreal so like to hang out in branches. Mine loves her 2 big branches and she also hangs out on the bottom.
Babies tend to be nippy but my 6 foot adult has only tried to bite me once and that was at feeding time. Just as idea

Your dollar investment will be minimal (If you can find a reptile show near you...even better...click on Events above),
care will be simple, and you will have a snake you can hold. And a five-foot corn is a much smaller animal than a python of similar length. Check out the corn forum for pics. Duffy

A friend of mine had an albino corn and it was very nasty, I realize that it was probably the way it was handled and cared for. Are albino's generally more agressive? Are king and milk snakes the same as corn's in behaviour?

Of the three, I would say that a corn is your best bet for a calm snake. A "nasty" corn is not the norm, but snakes are individuals and some are mean. The vast majority of corns, if handled regularly and properly, will be very calm animals. All 4 of mine are gentle as can be. Albinos are no more likely to be mean than normals. Of my 10 ratsnakes(that includes 4 corns),
only one was ever a biter. One of my Texas rats would bite when picked up at first. Now he never bites.

If you can, go to a show and handle a few before buying. A baby corn that will handle well would be a good start. See how the snake reacts when it is first picked up. With most of them, that's the only time a bite will happen. You can almost always pick up a nippy snake and then hand it off once it has calmed down...which is usually within a few seconds. Duffy

Other good choices are spotted and children's pythons and African house snakes.
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1.1.30 albino burms (male also labyrinth)
1.1 normal burms
1.2 ball pythons
1.1 spotted pythons
1.2 albino corn snakes (1 female snow)
0.1 house snake
1.2 kenyen sand boas
1.0 guyana red tail boa
1.0 amazon tree boa
1.1 everglades rat snakes
1.2 iguanas
1.1 leopard geckos
1.3 bearded dragons
0.0.1 ornate box turtle
1.2 dogs
0.1 children
0.1 wife

grow to be absoutely beautiful. around 5 feet long.

texas rats grow to around that size, and have a very similar tempermant to a corn snake. i love mine.

this is a picture of draybar's... mine arent fully grown yet so they dont look that impressive lol

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-Chris

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
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

.............ball python,slower moving and easily handled by novice students.also easy care and housing.every year i loan snakes to the local high school biology teacher,kings,milks,corns and balls,the balls are always the favorite of teacher and students.have fun!

I have to vote for the corn snake. The corn snake is the best beginner snake. It is the most kept pet snake in the world for a reason. I have a kingsnake, 2 boas and 3 corns and I have to tell you the corns are the easiest to house, feed and handle (they don't get to big) snake I ever had and as duffy mentioned they are the easiest on the wallet.
Chuck

I think it is much better to have a snake that occurs in your local area as the educational possibilities of the animal are greatly increased. I am not saying you should go out and find one, but rather buy a captive born snake of a species that occurs in your area. Then you could have students put together informative signs about the species and its habitat needs in your area.

Having a Ball Python or some sort of non-native snake limits the amount of information you can teach about local environmental needs etc. Yes, you could teach about the abysmal export of 10s of thousands of Ball Pythons which die in captivity every year, but I think discussions about local habitat use issues can be more informative.

I also don't think you should focus on a snake that people can handle. I don't suggest an aggressive species, but not allowing students to handle classroom snakes can teach them something about the "value" of "pets" and the fact that living organisms shouldn't be treated as possessions. Snakes don't "enjoy" handling in the same way people would like to think they do. Sometimes, they are better off left alone. There are alot of lessons that can be learned from a classroom snake other than the standard "cool, its a snake" lesson.

So, where are you? Then we can recommend an appropriate species.
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Chris Harrison

Some great points there. I might just do something like that local wildlife poster/report idea this summer.

Problem with MY area (Massachusetts), the wild snakes don't make for good pets. The closest I think would be maybe a common garter.
There are lots of small terrestrials...red bellies, browns, greens, ringnecks, but they don't strike me as easy to keep. Maybe browns, but strangely enough I've seen only one in my life.
The bigger snakes, timber rattler, copperhead, black rat, black racer, eastern hognose, eastern milk, are either not suitable for captivity, or just plain illigal to own here.

I think balls can be good too but I think you will be alot less likely to have low humidity problems w/ kenyan's. Corns can be ok but they seem to be built more delicately and move a bit faster.

Ok, first of all, what are you kids like, typically?
I work at a private boarding school with lots of learning disabilities....especially ADD and ADHD.
I wanted some sort of pet in the classroom when I started the job. I opted for a pair of rats. Bad idea really. Way too active and they just disrupted the class.
Lesson learned: Don't get something too active

Then I went for an albino horned frog. Kids didn't care for that either. Heck, it pretty much just stays buried so they never see it. I have to admit they like the feedings however. It also isn't handleable.
Lesson learned: Don't get something too inactive

In short, find something that fits all critera for you AND the kids.

Then last year I was given a mexican black kingsnake. Decent sized beast at over 4 feet, but very tame and handleable (don't forget to have a supply of alcohol-based antibacterial hand sanitizer on hand...they rarely remember to wash up after handling). He is also active enough that the kids see him all the time, but he's not too active that he makes alot of noise or distracts the kids.
My only problem with this monster is it's a mouse vaccuum cleaner (I named him Hoover) and makes quite a mess. Spot cleaning isn't awful (but the spots are quite large), but his output is huge compared to my other animals, so full cage breakdown and cleaning is needed more frequently.

I think basically the majority of beginner snakes would be decent choices. Snakes make ideal classroom pets compared to lots of the other beasties.

Alot of people said corn. I'd have to agree. Never owned one, but I understand they are pretty active (like my mexican black), easily handlable, not too big, and pretty cheap. Plus the colors are fantastic. Heck, just a typical albino is pretty impressive.

If you want cheaper, try a brown african house snake. Although they tend to hide alot. On the plus side, they are remarkably tame (except when you try to hold them behind the head).

Just out of curiosity, where are you situated? As ChrisH said, a local snake might be a great learning experience.

Thanks for the great response to the email question. I live in Calgary Alberta and have had reptile growing up in Ontario Canada for many years. We have a bearded dragon and a persian uromastyx in the room that the students learn about each year. The are not handled by the students but the bearded dragon makes his rounds in the classroom from time to time in my hands and student can touch him. Our school nurse keep a good supply of bacterial hand soap in the room for the students after touching the animal. They are great animals for my grade 9 biodiversity unit in adaptation that animals have.

My reasoning behing getting a snake is the unfounded fear that alot of students have over them. I want to let them know that they are not a threat and are beneficial to the environment. Garder snakes are probabley the most common snake here in Alberta but law govern here do not allow you to keep native species as pets. There are ways of getting around this. Most students need something a bit more "exciting" to capture their interest. Since I have introduced reptiles in the classroom many of my students have become fastinated by them and many have research and obtained their own as pets.

Interesting that two days ago a family called me and asked if I would be able to take a corn snake for the classroom. A friend of theirs obtained two "male" corn snakes and well you know how the story goes they had some eggs. They didn't think the eggs would be viable but then again the had 5 new corn snakes. The were born in August and have been eating and growing ever since. I am going to see the snakes next Friday and hoping to bring one home. I have purchased the cage 20 g long tank, reptile carpet (3 pieces), water dish, two hiding spots (plastic containers), the flexable reptile climbing branch, a tight fitting lid (4 rocks for corners on top) and a heat lamp with a 100 w reptile reflector bulb. I think I have everything I need to get started. Oh yes I also will be getting pinkies from a wholesaler here in alberta.

Thanks again for you help and if you have any other suggestions please let me know.

You really can't go wrong with corn snakes, and to be offered one like that just fills the bill, doesn't it? I was going to mention the "native species" thing after reading some of the other posts. Here in Ohio, you have to get a special dispensation from the Pope to keep native species. Duffy

Its like it was meant to be

A couple of things:
You might find the reptile carpet wasn't needed. It looks nice, but I find the constant cleaning a bother. I just use newspaper covered with a layer of aspen shavings.

Also, I'm assuming the snake is still pretty small, but soon enough those 4 rocks won't do a thing Look for cage clips at a local pet shop. Their metal strips that clamp down the top much better. Snakes might not look strong enough to move a rock, but you'd be surprised how good snakes are at escaping.

And spend some time adjusting the heat lamp to get an idea of whats too hot and whats too cold. Does it have a clamp or will it just lay on the top? You might need to adjust height a bit to get a nice, perfect warm spot for the little guy.

Otherwise, sounds like you have things well under control