Hey there, I just need some advice

Hey my name is Josh and I love reptiles. One peg I haven’t had is a snake. I was just wanting to know which snake is best for a pet that is one of the smaller breeds. I can’t afford the space or want a giant lol I just want one that isn’t over the top. I have a veiled chameleon and a leopard gecko that is 20+ years old lol got him when I was 9 and I’m 29 now . If anyone can give e me any suggestions that would be awesome. I am interested we in buying right away . Once I find the right one. I work at petco but we only get a snake in not so often and it’s gone like that. Thanks look forward to a reply!

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Hi Josh,

I think a cornsnake would be a wonderful choice for your first pet snake.

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That’s what I was thinking myself. They’re just so darn hard to find in stock at my pet store and even rival ones lol. I was looking on morph though and plenty of variety. I just never got a pet online lol.

Approximately where are you located? I would advise against purchasing from a pet store and instead try to find a breeder. You can easily get animals shipped to your door or FedEx hub, so pretty much anything you could think of is available.

I really enjoy California Kingsnakes personally, even if they are little finger nibblers on occasion. If you want something that is dirt cheap and hardy as hell then a Corn is a great choice! If you can take good care of chameleons though I doubt that is a concern

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If your not sure about buying online, you can filter by distance, just set the ‘nearby’ That way you could see and pick up whatever you buy.

You can really get anything, a corn snake is a great first recommendation but do you prefer colubrids or pythons? Also do you want something that is a display animal? Do you prefer it be active during the day? Also would you want to hold it? This should help limit down what your best option would be.

First off, I’ll admit I’m biased, because I breed them, but I personally think Sand Boas are an excellent choice for a first time snake owner. They stay small, almost never bite, are easy to handle and easy to care for, and come in all price ranges. No high humidity requirements, no special diet requirements. In addition, they come in lots of fun colors and patterns, so that if you become obsessed, there’s plenty of room to branch out. Enjoy some pictures of mine:

Snow Splash Kenyan

Paint Kenyan

Gene X Paint Kenyan

Canary Dodoma cross Kenyan

Black Russian

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Sand Boas are great!

Other small species, Rosy Boas, Stimsons/Childrens/Spotted Pythons, Milk snakes, various North American Rat snakes, or African House snakes.

I’m a big fan of corns personally! Really nice pets, easy to keep, reasonable prices, and so many colorful morphs to choose from.

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Corns, kings, and rats. All good snake choices! Some can be pricy, but others are very reasonably priced. If you are nervous about getting pets through the mail, just remember that most of Petco’s animals are shipped in to them as well. Good luck!

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You can go to shows and buy directly from breeders, and find local breeders online. I would recommend that any day over buying from pet stores of any kind. King snakes, rat snakes, corn snakes, rosy boas. Basically any North American native snake is going to be pretty solid. Some can be kept on ambient heat depending on how warm your house is.

I would think twice about a Stimson’s python,1 don’t know if the others mentioned are the same but my Stimson’s has such a crazy food response that she bites and wraps me every time I handle her. Not much of a bite but could be upsetting to a new to snakes person. How about a hognosed snake,they stay small and have an adorable durpy face.

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Also gonna recommend the cornsnake. No fuzz, quite active and I think they are sooo beautiful in all their variants.

I have rainbow boa, cornsnake and hognoses, had tigerpythons and gartersnakes when I was younger. I LOVE all species, but the cornsnake is the most easygoing and charming of them all. <3 Make great pet snakes, in my opinion.

But go for what your heart and gut tells you, everyones taste is different.

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Hognoses are known to be picky eaters, one of mine is horrible :roll_eyes:, and some of them can be quite sensitive when it comes to handling and with their enclosure.

Can be good to know if you’re getting one. I love mine, but if I could own only one snake I would go with the cornsnake.

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Thank all of you guys so much! I’m leaving towards a cal kingsnake or rosy or sand boa…idk why but I just think they are awesome and even if they may get a little bigger it be worth it . I also love quite a few corn snakes I’ve seen too though lmao. Honestly it’ll probably end up opportunity and how close one is to me. But yea I also just got a Azureous Blue arrow frog. He’s so small but I love him lol so beautiful looking .

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