Part 2 of smallest snakes thread.

So I am looking for your thoughts and experiences with these species. Keep in mind this is with a focus on education and will need to be able to interact with people once or twice a month.

1) Sonoran shovel nose snake

https://tucsonherpsociety.org/inhabi...l-nosed-snake/

2) Kenyan sand boa

http://www.arkive.org/kenyan-sand-bo...is-colubrinus/

3) Open to more suggestions.

Let the voting begin.

Why are u wanting to keep it small? I’m not saying having a big snake is better, but I tend to see more people get introduced to snakes that are large enough for u to hold their front half and then they touch the back half of the snake since the pointy end is not in their hands. Then they see it’s not going to hurt them and normally will hold something like a ball python. IMHO it’s the best snake to teach and introduce to outsiders that are afraid of snakes. I know that my purple passion will not bite once he is out and had a few minutes to warm up. Hell he has never even struck at me. But u will know their temperament and adjust accordingly, as no two snakes are the same.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Danger noodles

Why are u wanting to keep it small? I’m not saying having a big snake is better, but I tend to see more people get introduced to snakes that are large enough for u to hold their front half and then they touch the back half of the snake since the pointy end is not in their hands. Then they see it’s not going to hurt them and normally will hold something like a ball python. IMHO it’s the best snake to teach and introduce to outsiders that are afraid of snakes. I know that my purple passion will not bite once he is out and had a few minutes to warm up. Hell he has never even struck at me. But u will know their temperament and adjust accordingly, as no two snakes are the same.

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Read here.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ecies-Smallest


This would be in the middle of the education process not at the start. Comfort would be established first.

Just read your other post and I apologize for my ignorance lol. I’d say a sand boa in the original orange and black. That was the first pet snake I held just due to his colors being so cool looking. But I soon figured out it wasn’t the pet snake I wanted but the look of them is what made me say wow that’s beautiful and I started doing reasearch.

Easier to care for, colorful & not too much bigger would be one of the smaller milk snakes; I'm not sure that shovel-nosed snakes would do well, even though
tiny & adorable. And both shovel-nosed snakes & sand boas are burrowers...might be more stressed by programs?

Don't forget that with handling it's easy to over-heat a tiny snake with our normal body warmth...that's one reason my small (not "tiny") Aussie spotted python
does well in programs...she loves warm hands, & she is slender so she doesn't look as long as she actually is (about 3.5') It's also fun to watch people's faces
when you tell them this is a python, since most people think all pythons are large & heavy-bodied.

I’m not familiar with the shovel nose snakes, so I don’t know anything about their care or how they would do in an educational setting.

The sand boas are an option, but I was under the impression that they tended to be shy snakes that didn’t care for handling. This is from research I did a few years ago, so it may be outdated. I bow to whoever actually keeps them to provide that info.

I’ve recently been looking into Anthill pythons myself. From my research so far, they are calm pets and the smallest of this group of pythons, which include Childrens and Spotted pythons. It doesn’t appear that their husbandry is too difficult, but from what I’ve read so far they do need about a 95-100F hot spot. So a bit warmer than the bp’s but not too difficult to acheive I would think. The Childrens and Spotted pythons may also be an option...care for all three appears to be very similar.

The Candoia are another possible group, particularly if you go with a male. My Solomon Island ground boa is about 18 years old and around 2 feet long. He’s also very tolerant of handling. A possible bonus is that they have keeled scales, which feel very different from any other snake I’ve held. Anyone else who has held him has always been captivated by how he feels. Many of these are wild caught, as mine was, but you can find captive bred animals or long term captives that are used to handling. I would suggest a yearling at least as neonates are very tiny. Care is pretty simple as they like it cooler...ambient temps in the upper 70’s to 80F. A lot of care sheets don’t suggest a hot spot, but I provide a basking spot of 83-85F which he will use after feeding. The rest of the time he’s in the cool part of the cage. They also love to soak, so a water bowl large enough for that is needed.

I know there are a few others, because I’ve been looking into smaller snakes recently. I just can’t remember what else I’ve looked into that didn’t make the final cut for consideration as a pet.

A friend and I both have juvenile sand boas and can attest that they're generally easygoing little snakes. Definitely not speedy like a milksnake would be. I don't typically have mine out for long periods, but I can't imagine an issue with 30 mins or so once or twice a month being handled with people as long as the transport container is heated and has substrate to burrow in to reduce stress of transport.

While it is advised generally to not use sand as a substrate, they do really enjoy digging in it and I usually offer mine to dig around in an inch or so of sand every few times when I pull her out for enrichment. That might be an interesting and neat demonstration to show people that snakes adapt differently by their environments as well as giving the snake a break from being in the open during a show.

Mine is still small and young, but I think sand boas are a good alternative to the small aussie pythons.

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you got a lot of somethingelse Skyrivers lol .. idk i guess i like the sand boa as I’m familiar with it..but again .. good luck and you know we want to know when you pull the trigger