Lighting or general photography advice is needed.

OP is using Nikon, so radio triggers aren't needed. You can control almost any speedlite off-camera via the Nikon Creative Lighting System.

And oops I should have rephrased, if you're NOT using a speedlite/flashgun, I would use absolutely no less than a 1/250 shutterspeed. Though that will probably result in a shallow depth of field due to opening up your aperture, and probably some noise as you'll have to boost your ISO to get a decent exposure. If you're using a speedlite, shutterspeed almost literally does not matter, the flash will freeze the motion. Decent flashes for Nikon can be picked up very cheap on Craigslist these days. SB600's are discontinued by Nikon, but can be bought for around $150 if you keep your eye out. They're great flashes and compatible with CLS. It's all I use (so far) until I can invest in some better equipment.

Also, SHOOT IN RAW. Always shoot raw. Raw is the best way to shoot. Raw is awesome, I love raw, did I mention, always shoot in raw???? (IMO, anyways. I used to shoot JPEG but I will never ever ever ever go back!)

Even photos that are pretty badly underexposed can be brought back easily if you shoot raw.

If CS2 doesn't work for you, try using The GIMP as well, which has it's own raw plugin called UFRaw.

Here's an example of how much exposure you can gain when you process raw (not the best example, but the only before & after I have available right now. Only processing I did was an exposure slider adjustment (literally took 1 second) and then a quick LAB sharpen:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8044/8...d21254ab_z.jpg
January 15, 2013 003ba by katiagphoto, on Flickr

Oh and about tripods, DUDE!!!! They're what hold up your camera kit!! Don't buy a cheapie, you will regret it the second that tripod starts careening to the ground with your camera kit on it. The D5100 is a decent sized camera, and with a lens on there it will weigh probably 1.5-2lbs.

But again, I personally feel that shooting with a tripod is an inconvenience when shooting snakes in a controlled environment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

That is not really correct. Yes sync speeds matter and yes they are slower. that is 100% true but the thing you have not considered is the duration the flash is 'on' for. Generally the flash in a studio situation is the brightest light source by far. So how long it is lit up for is the effective "shutter speed" my dynalite for example the is only on for 1:3800 of a second and some higher speed flashes run 1:10000 and faster. Flashes under these conditions will stop motion.

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Here is a video that explains what I was trying to say. http://youtu.be/x43yftnFBBw Some of the photos in the video, you do see some motion blur. So maybe not the greatest example. But it shows that you can freeze motion with a slower shutter speed, and a flash.

Your camera is more than capable of turning out some good photo's.
Just take a bit of time and play with your settings to see what happens.
You can bump up ISO a bit. Decrease shutter speed/increase exposure etc for different brighter effects.
Higher ISO with a fast shutter will "freeze" a flicking tongue for example or a longer exposure will blur the tongue giving a sense on motion.

You could play around on this sim to learn how different changes affect your results.
http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator/
Good luck and thank you for sharing your cute hognose with us.

Thanks for all the additional feedback everyone. I now have a ton of things to try out. I'll post some new pics once I have some results. I am admittedly a noob when it comes to photography. I just recently discovered the usefulness of the prepackaged software that comes with the camera. The d- lighting adjustments fix some of the issues I've been having.