little advise needed

[Dusty]

OK, heres the deal:
a friend of mine at work is wanting to get her 8 yr old son his first snake (getting one started young )
the problem is she is scared of them and dosent want to get anything to big.

i know about BPs and that would be my first guess for a first snake becuse of temperment and i would say a male because of the size vs. the size of a female (the smaller the happyer she would be).
i also know how picky they can be at times so i know to look for that panic call... "it wont eat... HELP"

but i have also been thinking because of size, maybe a sand boa, they stay smaller yet.
i just know so little about them and was wondering what you all thought about one of those as a first snake?
also how picky are they about feeding (will they take f/t or easy to switch over?).
do they take well to being handled (keeping in mind this will be the pet of an 8 yr old)?
what about bedding material?

i've done a little reading and know they like to burry themself, but havent found anything on best bedding to use for them, also found info one feeding them but nothing saying if it has to be live or f/t will be taken

from what i have found on them thus far, i know temps, lighting, humidity are all about the same as with a BP so that much i can help her with.

ok, i think i have made this long winded enough at this point.
ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated at this point.

PS:
i've talked her into to going to the reptile show here ( on the 26th) with me so she can get a better idea of what is out there and so on.

[JLC]

Given the circumstances you've described, I would highly recommend something more along the lines of a corn snake or maybe even a garter. Show her how to research their care, so she can actually learn for herself what is involved.

[Shelby]

I have three sand boas (with a fourth in my care as well)

They are GREAT snakes. Easy care, and males can stay in a 10 gallon their whole life! I feed two live, and one f/t. One of the live feeding ones will take f/t sometimes, but she takes live more consistently.

Bedding can be many things.. they don't need hides, just enough substrate to completely cover themselves. You can use aspen, bed-a-beast/eco earth, or even shredded paper.

Sand boas are very easily tamed.. they aren't skittish and rarely ever bite.

Here's my two male kenyans. They won't get much bigger.



My female roughscale

[cassandra]

Neat pics, April! How's that one doing?

[Shelby]

She seems good. She kept her rat tail down. Tomorrow I think I will give her another.

[Dusty]

the main reason i was thinking sand boas is because last fall i had spoke with some one about them at a show here, just not a lot at that point in time.

i did get to find out that a male can be kept in a 10 gal. tank it's entire life.
so size of the animal would be something the mom could deal with with out freaking out to much as aposed to something that would be 4 ft or longer.

i will have to let her look for herself at the show and make up her own mind as to what she thinks will be best for her son, just need to help her out a bit as to what direction to lean to over all for her best interest cause my fear is that the snake will become like that puppy all kids want and as soon as the new wares off the mom will be the one tending to it.

thanks for the replies

oh and AWSOME looking snakes there!
thanks for sharing those with me, gives me a better idea what an adult one looks like (the ones i seen were babies the size of night crawlers )

[cassandra]

She seems good. She kept her rat tail down. Tomorrow I think I will give her another.

Oh yay!! Let us know how it goes...I keep thinking about that poor little girl...