Aked a million times

[Lferg]

I know this is a dead horse BUT....... I am looking to get something for me and my daughter. I want something with the temperament of a male boa or burm. It has to be able to NOT out grow a 36" X 18" viv. No or extremely low humility requirements because it has a screen top that I'm not wanting to modify (Zilla 40). I know nothing about Colubrids as in which ones are "flighty" and which ones are relaxed, again think male boa or burm. I like the looks of milks and kings but a pet store guy says corns are what I'm looking for. There are two reptile shows coming here these next two weekends and I have the viv all set up and ready to go. So what am I looking for?

[cmack91]

corns are fantastic starter snakes, ambient humidity in the house is usually fine unless you use heat lamps, then youll have to keep an eye on it, heres a caresheet for them:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...uttata-guttata)
and heres the one for kingsnakes, their super easy too:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...la-californiae)

both of them can be snappy as babies, but just like boas and burms, it depends on the individual snake, these guys grow out of it 99% of the time though

[Lferg]

Sorry for not thinking to add this info. I have flex watt for heating and two extra SyperRobotics thermostats. I want a boa really, but like I said I don't want to have to ever but a larger enclosure and dont want to have to mod the screen top

[cmack91]

that'd be fine as long as you can keep the temps right, you might want to look into sand boas or the hognose, i dont know much about the care, but they definitly wont outgrow that size enclosure

[blackcrystal22]

Try spotted pythons or children's pythons. They don't get any longer than a ball python and have pretty good temperments and easy requirements.

[wolfy-hound]

Corns are awesome, fairly easy to keep(esp with humidity) and come in about two billion colors/patterns to choose from. Many of them are inexpensive too.

[Evenstar]

Try spotted pythons or children's pythons. They don't get any longer than a ball python and have pretty good temperments and easy requirements.

Agreed. And if you really have your heart set on a boa, a Kenyan sand boa may be a good choice. I've heard you may even be able to keep 2-3 together in that size enclosure (please research that/ask someone more experienced with them to be sure). But they are small snakes with BIG personality!

[BeastMaster]

Kingsnake, all the way!!

They can get to 5ft + , handle any temps/humidity that you can (room temps of course ) and they are a total joy! I can only speak of my 3 years of keeping my ever friendly, totally awesome, Prince Albert. When he was a little worm, he would shake his tail like a rattlesnake to greet me. But as soon as I would pick him up, he was like, oh, its you, then calm right down. He doesn't do the rattlesnake bit anymore, he outgrew that a long time ago (sigh).

I can hand him to children, with no worries....ever! He is the first snake I grab when kids come over and want to "see" the snakes! Unlike my chilled out BP's who are very content to just be a necklace, for anyone, Albert moves around a good bit and really has personality (I'm pretty sure he like girls best and he loves children for sure). He likes to get all wrapped up girls hair (too cute), and will loop over my ears and gives lots and lots of snake kisses!

In three years he has never tried to bite or even hissed at anyone! 3yr old children and terrified adults love him and he has been kept for the last year in a special $5 walmart special sterilite tub (34" x 17" x 6"), he actually has done better in that (with cut down Pink dollar store trash cans for hides) than he did in the Reptirack with reptile basics hides!!

A Herpstat pro with a Zoo Med heat mat keep his temps good, but half the time, I don't think he requires any additional heat than I keep my house at (74deg). I have kept him in cheap glass tanks and nice reptile specific plastic enclosures with equal success. He resides in aspen bedding and it gets changed every couple of weeks (cause its cheep). A stick on $2 thermometer tells me what his ambient temps are, while the Herpstat maintains his heat mat (always within 1 deg ), which I still check with my digital temp gun once a week or if the house temps change more than a few degrees.

Oh, and he cost me a whopping $50 although you can get them cheaper than that at a Repticon event. So with all that said, he would be my first choice again (100 times over), but that' s just my

[mainbutter]

Snakes I WOULDN'T call calm, but fit your other needs

- Milk Snakes
- King Snakes

All the above, in my experience, tend to be active at the very least, if not flighty even as adults.

Species i would look at if I were you:

- Corn Snakes
- Hognose Snakes

Childrens or Spotted Pythons may also be a good choice, but I have no experience keeping them myself. In particular, I don't know what kind of humidity they may require, and they probably like temperatures high enough that it would be difficult at least for ME to manage with a screen top, living in Minnesota.

[thedarkwolf25]

I have a juvie Sand Boa and they will only get around 3ft max. He is a chill little dude and never has struck at us or even acted aggressive. Boas are a little bit slower in their growth rate though so if you get a Kenyan it will stay small for a good amount of time.

We keep ours on aspen as it allows him to burrow but he won't get any impaction from it. You can find a care sheet on them here: http://www.kingsnake.com/sandboa/captive.html