Hey everyone! I’m looking for suggestions on what snake species to research and consider diving into next. I currently keep BPs, Corns, Brooksi Kings, Bulls, RTBs, Tri-Color Hogs, Stimson’s Pythons, Cat-Eyed Snakes, Bloods, and African House Snakes. I’m looking to get out of the RTBs - I only have a 1.2 group now. I’m also looking to trim down my BPs a little. Not looking for lizards or the giant snakes - yet. 
If you have some good, off the wall suggestions for a new species to look into and consider, I’d love to hear it. Thanks for your time - have a good one everybody!
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Some day,… I will own a gray-banded kingsnake. Gorgeous!
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Squams!!! You already have the other cool stuff!!! Lol
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Lol, not doing hots! Although Bush Vipers are amazing animals. If I ever did get into hots, I’d like to keep some Sistrurus miliarius. Not as vibrant as the squams but ever since I saw one at the OKC Zoo waaaay back in the day, I’ve been mesmerized by them.
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Come on… wasn’t like I said king cobra!!!
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I have owned “Alterna” kings back in the late 90s or so. I do love the contrast and small stature of these guys.
I kept higher contrast animals, called “Blairs Phase” back then - not sure that’s still a thing anymore. Might be time to revisit them for sure.
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My wife and daughters are all the venom I can handle. Lol - honey, if you see this, I’m just joking…
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I have not kept any snakes in about 8 years now and those were balls and BCI. That being said I have heard some people say they enjoy keeping mandarin rat snakes. I think they are a beautiful snake but I have no experience with them. Just a thought.
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You know, now that you can find captive bred Mandarins, that might be something. Back in the day, when they were all imports, it was a tough go to get them established and thriving. Might be a decent challenge familiarizing myself with their “cooler” husbandry requirements and such as well. Thanks for the suggestion!
I am biased, but I’d say rosy and sand boas. Small size, easy care and breeding, lots of variation.
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I accidentally left off Rosy Boas from the list - we have Bay of LA and San Matias rosies currently. We love these little guys! Very under appreciated species. I have considered Rough Scale Sands and the egg laying Saharan Sand Boas.
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I have Rough-Scaled Sand Boas and they are great. I’m also really enjoying my Sunset Indian Sand Boas. They are extremely docile.
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I would say an Eastern rat snake (black rat snake, yellow rat snake, Everglades rat snake, Greenish rat snake). Since you have bulls already you will be able to handle the sass the babies will give you. My Eastern rat snake acts more like a lizard than a snake, and is more intelligent than my other snakes. They can also get a pretty good size, but not huge.
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Just listing some off the top of my head, GTP/ETBs, mandarin rat snakes, northern water snakes, garter and ribbon snakes, carpet pythons, dumerils boas, racers (black, Vietnamese, blue, ect), rainbow boas, vine snakes, woma or black headed pythons, king snakes and milk snakes, ring necked snakes, mud snakes, and one of my goal snakes: Sunbeam snakes!!
I know you said no huge snakes yet, but have you looked into dwarf or super dwarf retics? They stay a smaller size!
And this is kind of cheating since they aren’t snakes, but glass/legless lizards would be funny to keep!
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I’m a big fan of all the various Epicrates ssp. out there. I’ve never worked with anything in the Morelia genus, that would definitely be new. Same goes for Aspidites. Australian pythons in general might be really interesting to work with. Thanks for the suggestions!
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I’ve also been intrigued by the Mexican Burrowing Pythons and the Calabar Pythons. Only draw back is all that I’ve seen are field caught or imported and I really don’t wanna get involved with all that. Overall, I don’t support field collected/ wild caught being sold - except in very limited circumstances.
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May I suggest my dream species, the magnificent False Water Cobra? They do have a very mild venom technically, but nothing that’ll send you to the hospital unless you’re allergic, other than that you’ll get some swelling 
. Some people don’t even get swelling… I take it that its a spectrum reaction like yellow jacket stings. Some people get a yellow jacket sting and get a huge bump, it hurts for days, and they get super itchy. I get a yellow jacket sting and well, it stings bad as it happens, is sore for a few hours, and that’s about it.
That being said from what I’ve heard they aren’t prone to biting if handled regularly. They need a good amount of water they can actually swim in though, not just soak. They’re an extremely active snake so need more space that you’d think.
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Love FWCs! It has been on my bucket list for many years. I would definitely have to do some research, which is part of the fun.
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How about pied mussurana???
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They are still what I would consider a large snake lol. But they are awesome for sure!
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