jayhay, Honestly a corn snake is a great starter snake, and they are not a big snake. I don't have any experience with garter snakes, or grass snakes. I'm not sure how they are for feeding, or if they are easy to care for. I can only recommend the corn snake because I have 2.
An amazing beginner snake that I'm surprised has not been mentioned is a rosy boa. I have one that is a full grown and a few inches over 2 ft. The males are significantly smaller than the females (I have a male) and some variations are smaller than others. Mine is from the LA Bay (Bahia de los Angeles - sorry if I butchered the spelling) area which is one of the smallest varieties. My rosy is easy to care for, friendly to everyone (this has been tested...I'm a college student and he has been held by most of my friends and the small children of close friends of my family), and will fit in a 20 gallon tank forever.
Actually I to myself am looking for a begginer snake. I am thinking about a Garter snake or a Ribbon snake. If any of you guys have one please PM me. Thanks.
I dont think you have to force feed a garter..Ive never had to and the ones Ive had are wildcaught and Ive had several Plains garters and redsided and both were happy to accept frozen/thawed...In fact they tamed fairly easy too so I would think a captive bred should be a breeze..the Plains garters get bigger but the redsided stay fairly small. Let me add that a corn is a very easy snake too, not to make it sound like Im trying to sell garters or anything it just that I really do think that because they are so common, people tend to overlook garters.
That's true. Garters are overlooked because they are so very common and easy to obtain. I think a lot of ppl like a little challenge. Not that corns or any of the other great beginner snakes are much of a challenge, but they certainly aren't as easy to find in the wild. But ppl really shouldn't be catching herps from the wild anyway.
rosy/ sand boa............short, but pretty cool if you want insects/ worms for food...go with a garter......i had a wild caught one that was LOVING goldfish I would dangle in front of his hide box, and he would take it right from my hands BEN
I have never seen a rosy boa around here in stores.Im thinking they are hard to come by..In fact Ive never seen one first hand at all..
Right now Ben Segel is selling many different garter morphs at great prices. I, myself, have 16 garter snakes (mostly easterns) but I also have 2 corn snakes, and 2 brown snakes, and 1 mexican rat snake. The garters are my favorites. They are easy to care for, they are not picky eaters, they are curious and active in the daytime, and very easy to tame. If you get a male, they stay smaller than the females. Here is a picture of my newest garters, 2 California red-sided garters. It's not a great picture, but I think you can see the colors are amazing. What you can't see is the red on his head and red spots are a bright red.
Good point. I see that you are from Kansas, in which case they may very well be hard to come by since they are native to southern california/arizona/northern mexico areas. They are very common in pet stores around here but I forget that they are probably hard to find elsewhere. They are excellent beginner snakes but availability can be a problem if you're not around here. They're so common here that SlavetoMetal (I think I got that right) mentioned in the boa forum about finding one and picking it up and I know some naturalists that caught their own rosy boas (they had special permission to use them for education since they are protected) in canyons or some areas with lots of chaparral and they talk about just lifting it out of a bush.
im a begginer and ive heard and read alot of things and im debating weather to get a rosey boa or a bearded dragon what would also i live two hours from the nearist pet store would it be smart to colonize mice and crickets[if i get a bearded]
Well a bearded dragon is going to cost you a lot as well as take up a lot of space and time. Though they are good for a beginner if these things are not a problem. Rosy boas are also good and not so expensive and don't need too much room. But you need to decide if you want a snake or lizard. I'm sure someone with more experience on the two can go into better detail.
In my experience, mice are a lot easier to breed. A bearded dragon is very costly for proper set-up. I don't keep rosy boas, but I have several snakes. Like Ash said, you need to decide whether you want a snake or a lizard.
jumpstart, rosy boas are very low maintenance and friendly and fun to play with. I've had mine for about 3 years now so send me a message if you have any questions.
A few good beginner snakes that people have failed to mention. Kings (except the big bad eastern chain kings), Milks (except the big bad hondurans), Gopher snakes (Pituophis sp.= sweet little guys), Children's python (Antaresia childreni) Anthill python (Antaresia perthensis) African Brown House snake (lamprophis fuliginosis). LOL! reako45
Yah i am 13 and have a corn and at first i though NO WAY 4-6 FEET THAT HUGE but now that i have it and now that it is 4.5 feet long there the BEST and AWSOMEST snakes.. 4.5 feet isnt that long.. It SEEMS long but isnt I Wouldnt reccomend a ball python as a begginner snake because my brother has one and some of them go on and off feeding which can make u FRUSTRATED and make u NEVER want a snake again (No Offence Ball Python Owners) Corn Snake All The Way
