How to Choose Your First Pet Snake

Choosing the Right Breed

Know what you want in your snake. Here are some options you can consider: The size of your snake: Some big snakes, such as Anacondas, Burmese Pythons, and Reticulated Pythons, can grow up to 20 feet (6.1 m) long, so they are not recommended for first-time snake owners. Anyone considering adopting one of these types of snakes needs to keep in mind that these snakes require huge, expensive cages and can be quite dangerous to handle. Medium-sized snakes can get about 6-8 feet (1.8-2.4 m) long; this includes most boa constrictors like the Colombian Red Tail Boa and the Brazilian Rainbow Boa. Smaller snakes are more suitable for most pet owners as they need smaller cages and less food. They usually get up to 2-5 feet (0.6-1.5 m) in length which is also more manageable for most people. Usually a corn snake or a king snake is recommended for a first-time snake keeper. Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 1Bullet1.jpg Food: Most snakes eat mice or rats; these can be purchased frozen or live at the pet store. Feeding your snake frozen food is preferable because in some cases live rodents can actually injure or kill your snake. Some snakes will occasionally become picky and demand live food. In this circumstance you may want to try scenting the frozen rodent with scents from toads and egg yolk (you can sometimes buy these online). If you eventually feed live, watch the snake the entire feeding and remove the prey item if necessary. Some snakes, such as garter snakes, can occasionally eat small fish or worms. Some snakes can occasionally eat quail or finch eggs, and African Egg-eating snakes solely feed upon those types of eggs. Big snakes, such as Reticulated Pythons, typically feed on rabbits and chickens. Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 1Bullet2.jpg Some snakes are easy to handle, others not so much. Think about how much you want to play with your snake. Ball pythons, corn snakes, and many other types of snakes are great to handle while snakes like Green Tree Pythons may not ever want to be handled and will only be observation animals.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 1Bullet3.jpg Consider the place from which you purchase your pet snake. Most pet stores obtain their animals from reptile mills or untrustworthy places, and the majority of their animals easily fall ill and perish. There are also numerous websites online on which you can purchase a pet snake to be shipped to your house, but be very cautious with this because not all of these companies will ensure the safe delivery of your snake. A great place to purchase a reptile is from a reputable breeder. Attending local reptile shows can give you an opportunity to find a wide range of snakes for sale where you could actually meet the breeder in person. Be cautious of purchasing venomous snakes. Only people with decades of working with reptiles should even consider handling "hot," or venomous, snakes. Most reputable breeders and pet stores do not sell venomous snakes. Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 1Bullet4.jpg You should also take into consideration the different morphs, or colors and patterns of the snake's scales, prior to your purchase. Each morph will have a name like "butter" or "scaleless". For example, corn snakes come in a huge variety of colors, and almost all of them are not very expensive. However, there are many rare morphs out there that can look stunning yet cost a fortune. Make sure that you purchase your snake from a reputable breeder that will not rip you off by lying to you about the morph or severely overpricing their snake. Do your research first.

Choose easier snakes for simpler care. There are a couple of beginner snakes that you should think about for your first pet snake. These are snakes with a calm temperament and are fairly easy to look after. Corn snakes are perhaps the easiest of snakes to care for and can be held and tamed very easily. These are an active and curious species which will like to slither around and check stuff out.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 2Bullet1.jpg You could also take a look at Ribbon snakes, Black Rat snakes, King snakes and Milk snakes which also have similar personalities as members of the Colubrid family.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 2Bullet2.jpg If you would like a snake that is less active and slow moving, a great choice is a Ball Python. They do not get very big and will enjoy just sitting in your hands or hanging around your neck.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 2Bullet3.jpg

Choose snakes depending on whether you have children in the house. Children will often benefit from different kinds of snakes than adults. The minimum age for a child to have a snake it about 5. Corn snakes and Ball Pythons are great choices for kids, since they are friendly, slow, don't get that big and are fairly robust.

Know what kind of snake you are getting. If you are not purchasing from a reliable source, you can find a lot of snakes appear to look the same and it can be difficult to know exactly what species of snake you are getting unless you seek professional advice.

Know which snakes are no good for new owners. Anacondas, reticulated pythons, venomous snakes and Burmese pythons can be dangerous animals if proper care and locked enclosures are not provided. It is best to leave these species for more experienced keepers. You will also find that these have very specific care requirements meaning that the smallest of mistakes will result in an almost catastrophic accident!

Making Sure You Want the Breed of Snake You Choose

Check the life span of the breed of snake you have chosen. Before you decide upon having a snake as a pet, remember that some species can live over thirty years, making this a lifelong commitment that you should be one hundred percent sure about.

Make sure you can take care of the snake. Different snakes have different needs for equipment and feeding. More advanced snakes need monitoring of temperatures, humidity and complicated feeding that you need to take into account. Research is essential and is the first step that you must take. Corn snakes and Ball Pythons are equally friendly, but Ball Pythons can not tolerate temperatures below 75 degrees F (24 degrees C). If your house gets cold, would need heating for the Ball Python's cage.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 7Bullet1.jpg Asian Vine Snakes are very interesting, but they only eat lizards. Buying one would involve quite a chore in keeping it fed.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 7Bullet2.jpg

Choosing the Right Place to Buy Your Snake

Check wild caught snakes for local and federal laws. On occasion, a child brings home a snake caught in the wild, which turns out to be an endangered species! Check with your local humane society or the Department of the Interiorto check.

Choose a legal breeder or pet store. Exotic animal smuggling is a large business and can contribute to the extinction of endangered species.

Watch for behavior issues for smuggled animals. Animals that are wild caught and smuggled across continents have the following issues that you may notice: You may see increased aggression. A wild captured snake will be stressed out and unsure of the new smaller surroundings. This can make the snake scared of you and be more aggressive.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 10Bullet1.jpg You may have trouble getting a smuggled animal to eat due to its stress level. Secondly, it may not eat until it is adjusted to captivity.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 10Bullet2.jpg You may find parasites in snakes that have been living in the wild and may need expensive treatment by a veterinarian. Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 10Bullet3.jpg

Know that getting a captive born snake from a reputable breeder is best. Even when you get a snake from a friend of a friend and you do not know how badly or how well the snake has been treated, making long term implications for future care of the snake. Craigslist is full of people trying to get rid of their snakes, but for reasons above is less good than other places to get a snake. Still, many times you can get a snake for free there.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 11Bullet1.jpg Reptile shows are fun places to get your snake, and the exhibitors are knowledgeable compared to pet store employees. Still, it is hard to decide which are the reputable breeders and which are not.Choose Your First Pet Snake Step 11Bullet2.jpg

Taking Care of Your New Snake

Read up on the care and feeding of your kind of snake. There are many related wikihows for all kinds of snakes that you can read. It is also great to chat with other snake owners and learn from them.

Watch online videos on snake care.

Take good care of them. Snakes are wonderful creatures if you take care of them and make sure that they are fed correctly, homed correctly and handled in the right manner. Research cannot be stressed enough; the more you know, the higher the chance that you will get everything right and the longer and happier relationship you will have together.