The seasonal behaviors is a good point. Is it applicable to all snakes?
Thanks a lot for the large amount of thorough info @t_h_wyman, I appreciate your commentary! I’ll take a look at each of these in detail.
What is your response to a hissy snake? What steps do you take to tame and calm them down?
Is there a person height to snake size ratio, for ability to handle by oneself? For example, a 5.8 ft person can handle with ease snakes up to x amount of feet.
Hand feeding a snake does sounds nice
I am particularly interested by dwarf boas, like the Tarahumara. But like you said, finding a reputable and honest breeder will be crucial. Do you know how big cross BCO/BCI get? And if they would be a good fit based on my criteria?
I’m not sure about localities but I would recommend a BCI due to their size. As far as handling it’s whatever you’re comfortable with, I would recommend getting a juvenile so you have time to get used to handling it. They are very strong snakes so I would recommend handling an adult first to see if it’s something you’ll be comfortable with.
I would suggest a small subspecies of carpet python. An irian jaya would be best. They spend most of their time perching, they’re about 5 feet long, they get a bit of a bad reputation, but are actually pretty good to handle, they can be handled multiple times a week, they might move a little bit, but they can be very easy to handle, and they’re great for intermediate keepers. In my opinion, carpet pythons and morelia in general are the perfect pet snakes.
To a greater or lesser extent, yes, all species experience some kind of seasonal change. Sometimes it is temperature swings, sometimes it is humidity swings, sometimes it is light cycles, sometimes it is all three, sometimes it is something totally random like food availability due to bird migration patterns.
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Depends on the snake really. I strongly recommend Lori Torrini’s YouTube channel for how to work on snake behaviours. She has great information on other behavioural conditioning outside of defensive behaviour as well, like target training and such.
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The “rule of thumb” is usually cited as 10’ but, personally, there is no one concrete size. Again, it is more down to the animal. I am 6’ and never had concerns working with my 8’ blackhead by myself. However, I would never work with a 8’ scrub python alone. Very different mentalities and very different capabilities between those animals.
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I will soft caution against this. With smaller species there is generally no serious threat but even then, some animals can do a lot more damage to you that you might think. Plus, there is also the potential to hurt the animal to account for. While a corn snake bite in and of itself is nothing, the almost innate reaction to jerk your hand back when bitten is very real. And the potential to trebuchet an animal across the room in that case is not unheard of.
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While we are not allowed to recommend breeders here the rating system on the Market itself is a great tool to at least get you started. You can also join groups on FB and ask around for trusted breeders there. If you get the same name(s) from multiple people within/across groups then you should be on the right starting foot as well
Interesting and very good point about handling an adult. I’ll try to find a reptile shop that has an adult boa, or a keeper in my area willing to let me do that
Dumerils boas are the best. AlthO…they can get a little larger than you want.
& no one mentioned a Children’s python! They can have hardcore food responses thO…but realky alot of different tyoes of snakes can.
Even with there drama queen reputation I think hognoses fill a lot of boxes as they are awake during the day, if you start them young they are great handling
Elaphe Schrenckii Schrenckii also known as the Russian rat snake, ticks all your boxes.
Super smart, beautiful, fearless, indestructible, active, kind, and fun snakes! With everyone who has them, they quickly become one of the most beloved snakes in their collection.
There is no one specific set of rules, it is all going to depend on the species.
For a quick example - egg-eaters: Because of the seasonal nature of bird breeding, theses snakes are not designed to receive constant, repetitive feeding. They will glut during the breeding season and then spend the rest of the year living off of those calories. When I kept them, I would feed heavily April through June, lightly in July and August, and then cut off all food September through March. At the same time, while I did not specifically modify temps for them, the ambient temps in my room would naturally cycle with the seasons. And I run all my lights on smart timers to effect a seasonal light cycle.
Now, that system works for egg-eaters but I run a completely different set of parameters for my balls, and for my kukri, and for my bredli, and for my Rhamphiophis, and for my GBK, and for my GTP, and for my rubbers, and for my Calabar.
Here is a great paper that discusses this kind of keeping:
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No, I would not. I do not care how well-behaved an animal is, there is always potential for it it have a bad day. And 10’ of grumpy boa would be too much for me to handle solo
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Understand, I am not saying absolutely DO NOT, I am just saying be very very cautious about it and understand the consequences. I have, on very rare occasion, hand fed my kukri. And if you have any knowledge of that genus you can understand how that could be a particularly bad idea. I knew the risk I was taking and I knew the potential consequences.
Sorry for the delay. I somehow missed your question to me. How often I handle mine varies. I’m no longer on the classroom, which has meant less handling for the ones who spent time with students. I have a smaller collection (20ish) so I’m able to handle everybody frequently. At least weekly, everybody’s handled a bit as part of a health check. Some get extra handling time out and about. Some really seem to enjoy it, others don’t. If a young one or one new to me seems skittish, it gets more handling until it’s more relaxed.
