Garter vs. Bull vs. King: Which is the best display snake?

I have a Brooks king and now that he is older he people watches from his paper towel tubes. I got him when he was around six months old and he would hide most of the time. He is out and about a lot more now and is easy to take care in regards to feeding, temp and humidity.

I am in Georgia as well. Brooks are a sub or locality species of the Florida king but as far as I know you can keep them in Georgia.

Here is a link to my king's thread.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=212994

Thamnophis vs Pituophis, sounds like a win either way you go. While bull snakes are rather active, using every bit of space you give them, garters are even more so. It probably has something to do with their natural diet. I reckon the leaner prey preference of Thamnophis requires a higher level of foraging to sustain themselves.

Thanks guys!
I'll look into the brooks kingsnake. They are definitely cool snakes. I checked the list and they aren't on it (black, eastern, mole, and scarlet kings are on the illegal list).

Hmm.. On the illegal list it lists "garter snake" and doesn't specify species. Looks like I'll have to call them to see which species are prohibited. I'd think the easterns would be out, but hopefully it's not illegal to own any garters here. Although I love the eastern "flame" garters, the California neon blues are awesome looking too.

I am also considering gopher snakes, particularly applegate albino gophers (which are gorgeous).

Hey Artgecko, I'm moving to the Atlanta area in late July so I've been doing loads of research, calling around, etc to get the specifics on these laws.

The understanding I was given is that venomous snakes are considered at the species level, while NONvenomous are considered at the subspecies level. That means that all Agkistrodon contortrix are treated equally under the law for example. For the nonvenomous snakes though you are only barred for Georgia specific subspecies; you can't have Lampropeltis getula getula but you CAN have Lampropeltis getula californiae. Same with garter snakes. I think that list is written for the general public and is very unprofessional for not specifying this OR using scientific names. But again while you cannot have Eastern Garters (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) you are allowed to have California Red-Sided Garters (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis).

The whole point of the law is to make it impossible to pass off a wild collected animal as domestic(Which is why there's the blanket ban regardless of morph or captive bred status) while simultaneously allowing rattlesnake roundups to continue operating. Stupid? Yes. But it doesn't do the state of Georgia any good to outlaw animals that simply do not occur there, so non-native subspecies are allowed. If you really want to cover your butt try to find the most recent taxonomic designations as well as whether or not the animal in question has historically occurred in GA. If it's historically been in GA but extirpated I'm staying away from it; DNRs in many states list animals as "protected" that may not have been found in the wild for decades or a century.

samong- Thanks for the information! I'll do more homework on the specific subspecies I'm looking at just to be safe. I *think* I may have narrowed it down to either the neon blue CA garter, the applegate gopher, or a hypo / albino red bull, but I will also check out king snakes and some other species just in case I missed anything.

That Albino Red Bull is smokin! The Applegate Gopher is pretty sweet too.

Yeah, it'll be hard to make a choice. I have a lot more research to do, but at least I've got a short list now. :) Thanks again for the advice!

Indigo












Jk, bull or king


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My mecican black king is super active all the freaking time. On a side note a super dwarf retic or brazillian rainbow boa are nice medium sized snakes that tend to be very active. Or at least the SD retics are, both snakes also handle very well and don't have super crazy husbandry requirements. The boa does need a bit higher humidity but both snakes are well worth it. Another cool colubrid would be creabos (sp?) They get a bit bigger but are super tame from what I've heard.

Sent from my snake room

Citrus- I think Indigos are not legal to own in GA (at least the eastern ones). The prices I've seen on Texas ones are insane... at least for what I'm looking to spend at the moment but they ARE a very cool snake.

Artemisace- Thanks for the info on the MBK. I had heard that BRBs aren't very active and hide a lot, but I'm not sure if that is true for all indivicuals. Although an SD retic would be awesome, I' m waiting until they breed more morphs into higher percentage SD retics.. Then I might get one. At the moment, I'd have to spend well over $1,500 to get the SD morph that I want (and that isn't even high percentage SD), so that will have to wait. They are very nice snakes though.