Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im looking for my next snake, And i'm wanting something extremely uncommon. I've always been the type of person that steers clear of extremely common snakes (with the exception of my columbian RTB) wich means i've never been big on corn snakes, ball pythons etc. Anyway, I've decided it's time for an addition to the family, but i just can't decide on anything. Right now, im thinking about the following.

Emerlad tree boa
Yellow anaconda
Blood python

I'm not looking on opinions on these 3 snakes, But more so for opinions of other unique snakes.

>>Emerlad tree boa

These snakes are hard to maintain. You could try a Green Tree Python as they are hardier, but still not for beginners. They also cannot be reliably handled (without you shedding some real blood!).

>>Yellow anaconda

Keeping a snake that gets 10 feet long can lead to all sorts of problems. Local ordinances, feeding, cleaning up, etc can be a real hassle. Many yellows remain very unpredictable.

>>Blood python

Blood Pythons are actually much easier to keep than the preceeding species, IMHO. Borneo Bloods are pretty hardy and docile as long as you can meet their temperature and humidity needs. They do get heavy bodied and you would never want to get between a Blood Python and anything that smells like a rat.

There are literally dozens of other hardy species that you should consider. It sounds like you don't want anything small, so you could consider some of the larger Ratsnakes (Beauty Snakes, etc), some of the big Pinesnakes, some of the Carpet Python morphs, Rainbow boas, etc.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

haha. I'm by no means new to keeping snakes, and as i said, wasn't looking for opinions on what i listed. Im very use to large snakes, as of now i own 7 burm's, and 2 retics. And im quite use to moody animals, as my ATB's, and cooks tree boas are all mean as spit. Im just trying to think of some out of the ordinary snakes, that aren't often kept.

In that case, I'd suggest a water or olive python.

You seem to have a penchant for ill natured species. A good non Boid snake that is still uncommon is Elaphe Janseni. Only gets around seven feet long but has some "interesting" behavior.

Frank
-----
"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Maybe a tiger rat snake. They're more like racers than like rats, they get pretty big, look extremely cool, are active and curious, and from what I'm led to understand, relatively few people keep them.

Here's a real uncommon snake. A captive Bred & Born "NORMAL" Ball python. Rumor has it they're still out there.
A russian Ratsnake is not very common in collections. Gets to a nice 6 feet, somes closer to 7. Ringed pythons, or maybe even a false water cobra. Now that's something different and uncommon.

Steve

Steve...were you at Daytona?

Balls of all kinds were there and plenty of c/b normals. WAY TOO MANY...

Frank
-----
"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Ignore that posting about the fabled "normal" ball python. It is actually just a myth that they still exist... while evolution dictates that they did infact at one time really exist, they were bred out years ago. Sometimes you will see one that the owner is trying to pass off as a "normal" but upon further examination you will find that it is just an average plain morph like a Pied, Clown, Spider, or Pastel that has just been painted to look like the "normals" once did. I have even seen them go so far as to take one of the increadibly common Leucistics... It is like gluing a horn onto a horse and calling it a unicorn... Some of the little balls have been told the lie so often that they begin to believe that they really are a "normal" ball python. Its really quite heartbreaking. I have heard that they also try to so the same thing with corn snakes, trying to pass one of them off as "normal", but I have not researched that one yet.
-----
Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Go for a Drymarchon spp. (Indigos and Cribos) If you want something truly uncommon, try getting yourself a Mexican red-tail indigo (Drymarchon m. rubidus)..
Pseudaspis cana (African mole snake) is anoth rare and impressive serpent and relatively more available than D. m rubidus to boot...

Best regards,

Jeff

-----
Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947