Snakes

[stormo41]

hey there!

I was wondering of anyone has owned a pet in the past or present because it's looking like one could be in my near future. I've been e-mailing breeders and googling all week and think I've decided on a corn snake because they stay relitvly small, and from i'm i'm hearing great for first time owners.

If anyone could share their experinces with me that would be great. I'm also open to suggestions of you feel that my choice is not the best for me. I wont have room for a large snake so keep that in mind please.

thanks a bunch

-Vanessa

 

[frekles93]

[SIZE=14pt]I bought a Miami Phase Corn Snake for my son a couple of years ago. As far as snakes go, I guess she is a good one. Her name is Teena.... Serpenteena....... well I am beginning to think she is a he.... Teena has never laid eggs, which they will even without a male. She does get "crabby" when she is bugged alot. Once I get her out she is fine and goes all over the place. You HAVE to have a VERY secure lid on the cage. As you can see I have weights on the top. She got out a couple of times. Found her on the coffee pot one AM and they she was out all one weekend ( BF "looked" for her RIGHT!) she was in one of those electric hot plate burners they was right next to her cage on the counter. I have started raising her "food". To go buy, they are about 1.75 per mouse. I feed live. You should always take them out and put them in a "feeder" cage or tub. sometimes I do sometimes I dont. Right now her box is occupied by the mice. If they get used to mice coming to her in her cage she could strick thinking it was chow time. I keep mine in a 35 gallon take. They will tell you 55, but she does fine. I have the wrong light on her right now, but gets along fine. Those red lights cost 15 to 20 each and I was blowing them every 2 months!! She also has a special heat pad on one end of the cage. She has a hot end and a cool end and a water bowl she can get into (deep dish pie pan) mine eat MAYBE 2 times a week if im lucky to get her to eat. She got pnuemonia on me last year and I had to treat her! YES this meens SHOTS!! very interesting and NOT for the faint of heart. And takes at least 2 people. I also paid about $75 for her.[/SIZE]

April

 

[lilminiluver]

I've never voluntarily owned a snake...but when we were kids, my brother would find snakes and milk their venom for a vet he knew...I have no idea what THAT was all about, but he had a couple all the time in a tank in the den. Needless to say, one got out one day... :new_shocked: It wasn't very long, perhaps 1-1/2 to 2 feet, tops....what it was, I don't know, and frankly, don't WANT to know!

Fast forward several months. I mean solid multiple 30 day periods! I was sitting on the couch in the living room and guess who slithered up from between the cushions. I think it was actually very happy to get back in the tank and get fed regularly again. I can't believe it made it that long, considering the dogs and cats running around, too. Good thing it didn't find the cockatiel!!! It may have stayed hidden because of the hawk and crow, not really sure...

Yes, it was a zoo....!!!

:

So, given the circumstances, they are VERY adaptable, don't mind handling, and are very 'trippy' to play with! Good luck!

Hugs, lilminiluver

 

[stormo41]

thanks for the advice April, your sons (or yours, is that not how it works most of the time? :lol: ) is very pertty. I have a ten gallon fish tank I was hoping to modify til he/she grew larger. Do you think this is a good idea, or it is bad for them to change invrioments other then feeding. I would prefer to feed pre killed mice as the narest pet store that would sell them is half a hour drive away and there is no way in heck I would be aloutd to keep live mice in the house plus a snake :lol:

Wow lilminiluver that is quite the story! Glad no one got bitten while he was out, you did say he was milking them for venom right? that would not be a good thing :new_shocked:

thanks for sharing with me

-Vanessa

 

[Sterling]

A few years ago I had a Garder snake as a pet I got at the pet store. Very nice little snake. Gentle and friendly. I have to say he/she (?) was an escape artist too. One day he got loose and we could'nt find him for a few weeks...we had a big Victorian house at that time. I finally found him one day when I was doing the laundry. He was hanging out around the washing machine. Seems like he was looking for water. I lifted the lid up and felt the lid not giving, so when I looked it was my snake that had lodged itself around the rim of the washer lid. He was ok tho...I did'nt open it fast or hard...thank goodness.

I could'nt do the mice thing...so I kept an aquarium with goldfish and since he had his own water bowl I'd drop one or two goldfish in there and he'd go fishing on his own. Kept him active, hunting and happy. :bgrin

 

[frekles93]

[SIZE=14pt]It isnt going to hurt them with a change of cages..... they will adapt to anything! Teens was full grown when I got her so a 10 gallon was out of the question. Fish got booted and the snake got the big tank!! As for the mice- I can watch the snake kill them but I CAN NOT do it my self plus they charge over 2 bucks a mouse for frozen! These mice I have now are my first litter to raise. I have already fed one of them. They sure where cute growing, but I was happy to feed the little devil that bit me LOL[/SIZE]

April

 

[keeperofthehorses]

I used to have a Ball Python and a Red-Tail Boa. My python (Mr. Gifford-long but sort of funny story on the name) was awesome. When he was young and only a couple of feet long, I'd wrap him around my neck, hide him under my hair and wear him to work, or to the clubs, or shopping, wherever. When he got bigger, his weight made my back hurt after a while, so I couldn't comfortably carry him around anymore. He never offered to bite or constrict me and actually seemed to have a happy-go-lucky personality. I used to take him to "Learn about Pets" days at Elementary Schools, and he changed the minds of many squeemish little girls. My boa was the opposite; edgy and he would bite if I put my arm into his cage just wrong. He was really moody, didn't like to be handled, would never settle on me and would constrict me given half the chance.

When I got them, they ate pinkies and then grew into mice, then rats. I ended up raising my own rodents for them because it does seem silly to pay so much for such a prolifically reproducing menu item. I didn't have a seperate feeding cage, but never let them see me drop in a meal. I always did it out of their sight when they were in their hidey holes or under the blanket. I fed twice a week in the summer and once a week or every other week in the winter. Sometimes they'd go even longer in the winter.

Each snake had a full-spectrum day-time light, black night-time light, under-bed heater, soaking pan, scratch rock (for shedding), sleeping den (started as a rock den, as they grew they got a blanket), and climbing branches. I tried putting live plants in with them, but they were so heavy and strong that they'd break them. I used pieces of rough I/O carpet in the bottoms because bedding would stick to their rats and they'd have a harder time eating. The carpets were also easy to take out and wash. Their cages were about the size of a hope chest. They were talented escape artists, and I had to replace the screened tops with sturdier mesh and customize a locking mechanism to keep them in.

Mr. Gifford got out once for a couple days. I was so worried at the time because I had a litter of 9 one-week old Golden Retriever babies. One morning I went to clean the puppy pen, took out each puppy and mama, lifted the blanket, lifted the newspapers, and there he was curled up on the heating pad! I recounted the pups, but they were all there. Scared me to death though.

 

[Mnmini]

We've had ball pythons, red tail boas, and corn snakes. Though corn snakes are supposed to be the easiest, we've had better luck with the ball pythons and boas.

If I were to recommend a good first timer snake, I'd really suggest the ball pythons. They are relatively inexpensive (though not as colorful, or come in as many color morphs as the corns), slow moving, stay the same length as the corns (though fatter, lol), and are VERY unlikely to ever nip. They truly have some of the best temperments out there. If we picked them up, they pretty much stayed in one spot. Downside, they were all live food only. The corns and boas were much more flexible in that regard, they would eat alive or dead meals, so much more convenient to keep a bag of frozen pinkies, etc. than have to run out and buy a meal for them, but that was really it for downsides. The one time Monty (as in Monty Python) escaped, he made it all of 2 feet before becoming "stuck" in a roll of wrapping paper. Apparently, he thought if he couldn't see us, he was well hidden, lol, but 3/4th of him was hanging out the tube!

Anyone want a nippy, large, lavender phase red tail boa? She's very pretty, but a lousy pet.

 

[disneyhorse]

I would suggest the Ball Python. They don't get too big and are very pretty, mellow snakes. They are probably my favorite snake. I haven't owned one because I can't bear to feed them but at my work we have had Ball Pythons, Burmese Pythons, Red Tailed Boas, tiny sand snakes... oh no I forgot I DID own a Florida green snake and garter snakes because they were small and ate crickets and goldfish, not anything too cute. I highly suggest going to the library or a good reptile shop and getting a good setup. It is tempting to just go buy a ten gallon tank, but in the long run it is cheapest to just buy the biggest enclosure you can and spend the initial investment rather than keep trading up and trying to figure out what to do with smaller tanks. Also, while glass tanks are more economical the best enclosures are the plastic kinds with screen vents built in and sliding glass door fronts. They are expensive but the best for reptiles and herps.

Andrea

 

[lilfoot]

Hey Vanessa!

I've got a little snake here that you can have...it's a Florida garter (?)

I'm sure I'm remembering the name wrong as he/she isn't mine but Casey's.

It was given to us by someone who was moving away & only eats feeder goldfish.

PM or call me if you are interested...tank & light included!

:

Sandy

 

[CharmedMinis]

I had a ball python when I was growing up.

We got her full grown from a pet store, she was 5 feet in length. Her name was Gypsy, and as someone already said, she used to wrap around my neck and go to sleep. She liked the warmth and the fealing of my heart beat

:

We did have problems with her though. We didn't get her from an upscale pet store, and she had been imported from Madagascar or Indonesia. She had ticks under her scales which were easy enough to clean up. But she also had constant upper respiratory infections which caused her to not eat willingly. We had to force feed her frozen pinkies. Had to open her mouth with a cerdit card and shove the pinkie down with the eraser end of a pencil eraser.........so not fun!!!

We finally after a few years gave her to a vet when her infections got to be too much. She needed daily shots. She succumed to a form of pneumonia 3 months after we gave her to the vet.

So make sure you buy your snake from a store who can tell you exactly where the snake has come from. Preferably the snake has been bred by the store and they know it's history. Babies are better, rather than adults, as far as knowing health history.