Hey, I’m Ally and I just discovered MorphMarket . I just recently got back into having turtles (red eared sliders specifically). We bought one from Petco for my daughter’s birthday. (Though we like to say we rescued it. She’s missing toes because of fights in the Petco “tank.” She’s finally adjusting to her new home (her name is Sunflower) and she’s eating easier now. She’s about 4-5 inches long, and has a very interesting personality. Kiddo has absorbed turtle facts like a sponge. I don’t let her clean the tank right now (she’s only 9) so I handle weekly cleanings. Sunflower’s newest favorite activity is leaping off her basking platform randomly and then climbing back up to do it again. (Not even kidding, I wish I had a video of it.) We’ve had her for about 3 weeks now, and we have plans to build one of those indoor pond tables with a stock tank for her. Right now she’s in a 29 gallon tank. Hoping to have the table built and set up within the next month or two. Nice to meet y’all! 
Hi, welcome to the community! You will find everyone is pretty helpful here, so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Cute little slider you have! Also nice plans on making her a indoor pond setup, they really are fun to watch and interact with in a large space like that! Be careful though for most people 1 reptile is usually never enough! 
One is definitely not enough! I’ve been bugging hubby about it for months now and finally got kiddo in on it with me. Still trying to figure out what we want next. I’ve had fire bellied toads before too (they were my absolute favorite so far.) Been looking at tortoises mostly, but dang if bearded dragons and various geckos arent the absolute cutest little things. We love sitting and watching Sunflower just be herself. I don’t really let kiddo hold her unless it’s tank cleaning day and only once I can sit with her because I’m paranoid!
It’s starting to get cold now so I don’t really want to order anything until it’s warmer. But that just gives me more time to figure out what we’re gonna get and get all kinds of stuff for it 
We’re really excited about the indoor pond idea. We’ve looked up tons of others for inspiration. We’ve decided to use the reptile fake grass stuff (which I can’t remember the name of to save my life) and river rocks mostly for decorations. Ours is going to include a nesting area as well just in case. We have a corner already picked out for it. We want to build it fairly large because the turtle is so active. We want to try to replicate a natural environment as much as possible. Though I’m still undecided on using plants.
Welcome! I had a box turtle when i was younger but he disappeared, honestly i think my brother did something to him like he did to my skink. Yes i had those kinda brothers pretty toxic and parents typically sided with them. Now i just keep lots of arachnids and have 3 Rosy boas and a cat. If you ever have questions feel free to post them someone here will have experience and an answer. I think i started keeping around 9 or 10 so your daughter can definitely learn.
Wow that is horrible! I’m glad you’ve got some tank babies now though! Kiddo is definitely learning, and we made a deal with her that if she wants another tank baby she has to do research for it. Hubby told her if she wants it she has to prove she knows what it needs and how to take care of it the right way. She’s been researching several types so far but hasn’t picked one specifically yet besides her turtle. She says “she’s not in a rush because she wants to focus on Sunflower right now.” We make the joke that they’re the closest we can get to dinosaurs without repeating the Jurassic park disasters She seems most interested in axolotls right now, but I told her she has to learn a lot more for those, and that I didn’t really see those as a beginner option. 
She’s also in love with hognose snakes and I think bull snakes maybe? She’s rattled off so many different options it’s hard to keep track of it sometimes. But she hasn’t made a definite decision yet.
Rosy boas make great beginner snakes and imo fairly simple care. They aren’t aggressive ( typically) they don’t get too large so they are definitely manageable. My baby Rosy can be a bit defensive but she calms down so long as i go slow at her pace. They have good appetite ive never had them turn down a meal ever. My Rosys barely use the heat mat that i keep at 85° most likely because its super hot in my home like 83°+ daily.
Having her do the research is awesome because she is learning about the animals. I had so many animals as a child, i didnt really have many friends. I use ro read my parents encyclopedias cover ro cover A to Z and some of the encyclopedia sets were not child versions. I played and raised my animals, read…alot did art and cooked. Children niw are lucky to have knowledge at their fingertips instead of just reading some outdated books. You can find information on just about any species and care unless they are more obscure ( such as some of my aracnids ) i would recommend getting different sources as the internet can have contradictory info about care. Having a community forum like this can answer any questions pretty fast and accurate since the people have real world experience in care not just generalized info.
Personally, I think a male BI is a wonderful first snake if you want something that can get bigger but that is coming from someone who works mainly with boas lol 
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Welcome to our forum, I am happy that you chose to reach out and say hi. We are like one big family here, sometimes there are fights but we really do work it out in the end and we all try to remember why we are all here. I believe your knowledge of reptiles will grow quite a faster due to being in community with other reptile lovers. Again, welcome to our family and I can’t wait to see more pictures of Sunflower as she gets bigger.
I don’t think I know what a rosy boa is to be honest. We watch a lot of snake discovery on YouTube that’s how she got into reptiles with many much encouragement from me lol
As far as research goes I tend to jump back and forth between several websites and some YouTubers (like the turtle girl and snake discovery.) I’m definitely always learning and looking up stuff.
We were originally going to go through a breeder to get her turtle, but we ended up seeing her at Petco while picking up some other stuff for our cat and we couldn’t leave her after learning she didn’t have some of her back toes 
So we ended up having to get a bigger tank quicker cause I was preparing for well started hatchlings and well that didn’t go as planned! But her back legs are healing up nicely. I’m overly paranoid about keeping her tank clean as I possibly can because of her wounds and stuff.
What is a BI? I am definitely not well versed on snakes! I’ve looked into rough green snakes a little bit but not enough to know more than they eat bugs and are shy
Don’t worry about @lumpy he pushes boas on EVERYONE! I mean you can’t blame him though, look how beautiful his is, and they do make wonderful pets! That being said, the best pet snake for first time owners is a corn snake. I don’t even breed them anymore, but that’s what I would tell anyone. Especially for kids, they are not large or intimidating, captive bred, usually very tame and gentle, husbandry is the easiest for them, they eat great, come in lots of morphs, and they are affordable.
Green snakes are small and neat, but most bug eating snakes are not usually a good choice for beginners.
OMG that snake is beautiful! 
@banereptiles haha yeah I’m definitely not getting a green snake for myself. They’re cute but I don’t know enough about them to feel comfortable caring for them as of right now. I’ll definitely look into corn snakes as an option to see what kiddo thinks. Thanks for the tip!!
LOL what can I say? They are my first love 
. Of course then I love retics 
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Boas get too large and retics forget about it. I prefer small snakes that aren’t going to harm me. Although pretty rare large boas and pythons have killed their owners, some of who people claimed they were"experts" i kinda doubt the validity of the expert claim not the the deaths. Remember you are giving advice for a 9yo girl not an adult. Not trying to be insulting but imo boas and pythons are not a good 1st snake for a little girl. A boa will reach 8-10 feet and they are quiet strong. Even if a boa doesn’t have the girth of a python, it definitely has the strength to coil around a neck and choke, still your pet dog is way more likely to kill than a snake. Im an adult and i don’t even want a boa i can appreciate their beauty but they are just too big.
Probably should have prefaced that I was giving the suggestion for the adult and the child could interact with it supervised. Males are much less girthed also and usually are shorter.
Honestly whatever snake kiddo picks has to be approved by me first and she knows never to mess with them without supervision I’d like to have her pick something that doesn’t get taller than me if I can help it I’m only 5"1 I’m not fighting a 7 foot long snake lmfao I don’t have as much muscle as a snake does lol The one thing I can say beyond a doubt is that kiddo is really good about directions and rules as long as I explain why in a logical scientific factual kinda way not a “cause I said so” kind of way. She won’t even hold her turtle without supervision or feed it without checking with me first. I’d definitely like to pick a beginner friendly snake because I’ve never had one, and all I really know about them is most eat mice. And it would take a few months for me to learn about them before ever buying one anyway. We’re not in any kind of rush to pick one we’re still in the “what kinds are ok for beginners” stage.
Meanwhile, I’m over here trying to pick only one type of tortoise to get xD tortoises, turtles and frogs I got. Snakes not so much yet lol
And lookie there, now you got me in the mix. I suggest a Kalatoa dwarf retic if you really like the personality of giant snakes but don’t have the space for a 17+ foot monster
Edit: I would also like to add this suggestion is exclusively for the parents and put a lock on the enclosure just to be safe
Beginner snakes that fit the size requirements would be corns, garters, milks/kings, sand boas, pine snakes, gopher snakes, most rat snakes honestly, dwarf localities of red tail boas. I can go on but these are the bare basics.
I wouldn’t recommend hognoses only because they are rear fanged venomous and this is a child we are talking about, and even though they are mostly harmless no one knows until they are bitten if they are allergic to hognose venom
And this is why I came here! I don’t know a single thing about snakes yet lol
We’re still definitely doing research (not very often or in depth but sometimes we’ll sit and look at different types and care guides) and trying to figure out everything. It’s prolly gonna be several months before I’m comfortable enough to get a snake. But I really appreciate all the suggestions!!! I have a lot to learn lol
And about the lock on the cage. That is 100% gonna happen no matter what kind we end up getting. I also definitely wanna get a beginner snake that doesn’t get big big. Kiddo has done really well with her turtle, but we have a long, long way to go before we get a snake.
I’ve been trying to divert her attention from snakes to lizards for now (without making snakes sound impossible if that makes sense.) I’ve basically told her that snakes require a lot more prep and learning.
Repticon is in November, so she’ll get to see more types of reptiles. We’re hoping to find a tortoise for me there. I’ve been researching about different tortoises since December of last year and showing kiddo that you have to take time to research them before you just buy one. However the problem I have now is do I want a redfoot or a Russian or a Herman’s tortoise. But that’s getting off track lol
I’ve mentioned corn snakes to her and explained that they’re more beginner friendly than a hognose. We sat and browsed around looking at pictures and various care guides. She thinks they’re pretty, and wanted to look more into them but understood that it’s not a priority right now. She said, and I quote, “I think I should focus on Sunflower for now” (which made me super proud lol)