What to get next?

[BPGator]

I am having an uncontrollable urge to acquire another snake. I currently have two ball pythons but am interested in a species that doesn't get too big yet has girth (6-8 ft max), has good temperament (will be around kids) and is active (at least more active than a BP). I've narrowed my list to the following:

Rainbow boa
Irian Jaya or Jungle carpet Python
Woma Python
Dumerils boa

I'd appreciate any info anyone has on these species and how they fit into my requirements. I'm also open to other species I may not have thought of.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[das_nooblet]

I vote jungle carpet. Just got one myself, and he's an absolute hoot

From what research I did before getting him (those more knowledgeable correct me if I'm wrong) a jungle should top out somewhere between 6-7 feet. Stay away from anything jaguar/tiger/diamond, as those are morphs from cross-breeding with coastals and will potentially get much longer.

Haven't had Akurra long enough to really speak of activity comparisons, but he has yet to use either hide, or touch the bottom of his tank voluntarily. He just hangs out in his vines all day in plain view

[Sauzo]

Well out the ones you listed, I have a jungle carpet and dumerils. The dumerils is kind of like a big BP that is more friendly. My little girl is only 2 months old but she is such a sweetie.

Now my jungle is always out, never uses a hide and is always on a perch somewhere. Shes about a year old. When I got her, she was a TERROR!! She would strike at anything. She bit me 3 times, would strike at me, at anyone near me and even struck at the tv. It took work to get her mellowed down. I just sucked it up and let her bite me until she finally got bored of it. She then would do head butts on my hand and would always move fast if you touched her. Took me about 2 weeks of work every other day and now she for the most part is mellow. She still has cranky days where if you go to pick her up off a perch, she will hiss and coil and look at me and maybe do a small lunge or a head butt but she doesn't bite me anymore. She is feisty and full of personality lol.

Seems to me boas are pretty even tempered and laid back all the time. Pythons seem to have good days and bad days. Even my BP has bad days where if you take her out and let her explore and then pet her, she will do drive by hissing. She wont slow down or stop or anything, just hiss as you touch her as she is cruises by lol. And the jungle seems to have good days like yesterday where she was a sweetie and sat around my neck and shoulders and just looked around. Then today, she had a hissy fit at being taken out and held lol.

Hard decision. I love both my dumerils and jungle as well as my other snakes and my beardie. If you find a jungle that is very laid back, then my vote would probably be for the jungle but imo, they take a lot more work than the dumerils who is just a sweetie right out of the box and a complete lap snake lol. My little girl who is 18" sat curled around my fingers for an hour with me while I watched tv lol.

[EDR]

Maybe not the best overall choice but for me i'd go for a woma or it's relative a blackhead python. Second for me the rainbow boa. Don't get me wrong i like dumerils and carpet pythons. Also just to throw it in there if its just a pet maybe a hybrid as a interesting choice. I almost bought a carpball (carpet python x ball python) some time ago.

[Neal]

With the Woma it's a tossup. I've seen some that are really aggressive, some that are bitey when they want to be and I've also seen a few that are really chill. Out of those listed I think your best bet for the better temperament would be the Dumerils.

[BPGator]

Well out the ones you listed, I have a jungle carpet and dumerils. The dumerils is kind of like a big BP that is more friendly. My little girl is only 2 months old but she is such a sweetie.

Now my jungle is always out, never uses a hide and is always on a perch somewhere. Shes about a year old. When I got her, she was a TERROR!! She would strike at anything. She bit me 3 times, would strike at me, at anyone near me and even struck at the tv. It took work to get her mellowed down. I just sucked it up and let her bite me until she finally got bored of it. She then would do head butts on my hand and would always move fast if you touched her. Took me about 2 weeks of work every other day and now she for the most part is mellow. She still has cranky days where if you go to pick her up off a perch, she will hiss and coil and look at me and maybe do a small lunge or a head butt but she doesn't bite me anymore. She is feisty and full of personality lol.

Seems to me boas are pretty even tempered and laid back all the time. Pythons seem to have good days and bad days. Even my BP has bad days where if you take her out and let her explore and then pet her, she will do drive by hissing. She wont slow down or stop or anything, just hiss as you touch her as she is cruises by lol. And the jungle seems to have good days like yesterday where she was a sweetie and sat around my neck and shoulders and just looked around. Then today, she had a hissy fit at being taken out and held lol.

Hard decision. I love both my dumerils and jungle as well as my other snakes and my beardie. If you find a jungle that is very laid back, then my vote would probably be for the jungle but imo, they take a lot more work than the dumerils who is just a sweetie right out of the box and a complete lap snake lol. My little girl who is 18" sat curled around my fingers for an hour with me while I watched tv lol.

When you say the dumeril a is like a BP, are you referring to her activity level in the enclosure? I think they are mainly a terrestrial species that like to burrow, right? Do you just have to find her and take her out when you want to see her?

And sounds like the jungle is opposite - it's a a snake you can sit back and watch.

Neither of my BPs have ever hissed or struck, but they do always hide. I just figure out which hide they're in and pull them out, seemingly against their will, but they tolerate it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BPGator]

I guess another criteria is environmental requirements. I know the rainbows are sensitive to humidity - they may drop on my list due to the difficulty I may have in trying to maintain it. Are the other snakes on the list fairly robust when it comes to temp/humidity?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Neal]

I guess another criteria is environmental requirements. I know the rainbows are sensitive to humidity - they may drop on my list due to the difficulty I may have in trying to maintain it. Are the other snakes on the list fairly robust when it comes to temp/humidity?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've never owned either, but I have a friend who owns Dumerils. I want to say he keeps his humidity around 50-55 and has never had any issues.

Now regarding humidity, where do you live? If the humidity isn't too terrible you can always get a misting system, like the Monsoon system, I can't recall if it's made by Zoo Med or Zilla, but that will help you a lot with humidity.

[Sauzo]

When you say the dumeril a is like a BP, are you referring to her activity level in the enclosure? I think they are mainly a terrestrial species that like to burrow, right? Do you just have to find her and take her out when you want to see her?

And sounds like the jungle is opposite - it's a a snake you can sit back and watch.

Neither of my BPs have ever hissed or struck, but they do always hide. I just figure out which hide they're in and pull them out, seemingly against their will, but they tolerate it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, pretty much. My dumerils is usually under the aspen stretched out sleeping. At night when she is hungry, she will venture all over but yeah they aren't something that is super active lol. And my jungle is always out, I don't even have hides for her as she doesn't even use them. She prefers to coil up on perches like green tree pythons and when you open the cage, she instantly is wondering whats going on.

[Sauzo]

I guess another criteria is environmental requirements. I know the rainbows are sensitive to humidity - they may drop on my list due to the difficulty I may have in trying to maintain it. Are the other snakes on the list fairly robust when it comes to temp/humidity?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As for dumerils, I keep her around 50ish humidity. They like it cooler so I keep her ambient around 79-80F and give her a hot spot of 87F on flexwatt. The carpet is kept around mid 50s humidity too but I use a CHE for her heat and have that set to 90F for a hot spot with ambient on the cool side around 80. Depends if your carpet likes the floor or not. Mine hates the floor so I use CHEs or RHPs when I get her an AP cage. If yours sits on the floor, you might be able to use flexwatt. Bottom line is neither of them require anything special as far as temps or humidity unlike a BRB.