Harmless attitude

Just for my own curiosity, which snakes are recommended that are entertainingly belligerent without being particularly injury inducing? I'm curious about an active snake that has tons of personality that isn't a result of too much stress.

I suspect you'll get a myriad of replies with different opinions.

Of the snakes I've observed (nonvenomous), few are more active than the colubrids. I read a lot of funny stories posted here and elsewhere about King snakes and their "I'm the KING" attitude. I'm not sure how harmless it is because they sometimes decide YOU or your finger/hand are a food source and there is a recent thread on another board where owners talk about the bites they get from their king snakes and how waiting them out to release isn't always a given. They'll wrap and chew and actually keep it up. Harmless yet, distressing I'm sure after a while.

I'd love to have one. Truly they are harmless, but they like to eat and being quite active they eat more frequently than most boas and pythons.

Diurnal snakes are usually pretty active. Indigo snakes are quite entertaining yet rarely bite, and I know a few people who just love them. They are a bit expensive though.

I've chatted with some folks from Australia and asked them what they felt were some of the most active pythons from their land and though there were different answers, the majority felt scrub pythons were fairly active, based on python standards.

I'm not going to call them harmless as they have the same potential to make a mistake, or I should say WE have the potential to make a mistake dealing with them and they can get rather large depending on the subspecies.

Retics seem to be rather busy as well, by boa and python standards, so maybe a nice super dwarf would be something to look at.

Of the 3 species I own, I'd say my coastal carpet is the most active, and also the most seen, then the boa constrictor and then there is the royal which is not very active. None of the 3 mentioned in my collection are going to be like a colubrid.

I'll bet you'll get some good info here once a few others chime in.

Both of my garters have a "don't mess with me or I'll gum you to death" attitude. They're fun to watch, not so much to handle.

Kings are fun to handle without the defensiveness. I only have one female that has every bit me though, and you can tell when she's "foody". A cotton ball soaked in white vinegar waved in front of her nose is enough to get her to release when she decides your pinky is really a pinkie...

Coluber, Masticophis, Nerodia - take your pick. Out of all the wild snakes that I've wrangled these genera tend to be the most prone to prolonged hissy fits. Not really much for an aggressive display unless you count copious musking and rapid-fire biting.

Some pits could fit your bill but are more hit and miss with the attitude. Out of my 7 the only one that puts on a proper display is an old adult that I've only had since August. I'm enjoying it while it lasts but don't expect her to be quite as fun after a year or so, even with our only interaction being general maintenance.

She gives a good threat display and makes a lot of noise but when push comes to shove she'll either throw her midsection at me(displacing a ton of bedding for me to clean) or send some closed mouth strikes - aka, harmless headbutts.

She's always hungry and comes flying out trying to latch onto anything she can when I pull her tub. Even if she otherwise tames down I figure feeding will always be a hoot. As soon as she bites down she slingshots back into the tub to eat in peace. She has a surprising amount of strength for a relatively small snake.

Here she is, in all her glory, voicing displeasure at my tidying up her home. Ignore the poor lighting, one of the reasons I avoid inside pictures as much as possible.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psqz1vm2xm.mp4

nothing harmless hisses and gives attitude better than a western hognose - i love them

I second the western hognose suggestion.

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Originally Posted by salt

I second the western hognose suggestion.

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I'll third it, though my Tarahumara Mountain boa also makes up for her diminutive size with plenty of attitude as well.

My baby king snake has a little bit of an attitude when I first pick him up...and he tries to pee on me. Fun fun. He tends to calm down with a little bit of handling.

Now if you want attitude with mostly bluffing, go for a blood python. Nothing like a 15-20lbs snake that is hissing most of the time. Only my matrix has ever bitten me, but my two red blood love to sit on my lap, hissing the whole time. Very vocal snakes.

thanks for the replies. I've never heard of a Tarahumara Mountain boa. I looked it up, very cool looking and boas are my favorite snake.

Every milk snake I've handled has pissed on me, I don't find that entertaining.

I've only handled a couple of hognose snakes, definitely cool!

I like the looks of leucistic texas rat snakes (non-bug-eyed) and I hear they have some fun personalities.

I've never owned a kingsnake but really like the looks of the arizona mountain kingsnake.

I'm planning on going to the Charlotte NC Repticon next month and there's a bunch that I want to seek out