new member..new snake..

do you really need to buy a garter snake cause aren't those like everywere

yeah i also thought about that. i remember as a young kid going to abandoned railroad tracks and finding 3 or 4 a day.. and at the time i never wanted one as a pet.. just one to hold for a minutes and let it go back to the wild... no that i want one i cant find any outside... plus i dont think its right to take something from the wild and put in in a 10-20 gallon glass tank.. even though thats probally what 90% of pet shops do...

well actually i just handled my bp for the first time with no striking at all.
actually he crawled around my hand while i was changing the bedding. so i just slowly lifted him up...

as for corn snakes im looking for something under 50-60.00 i think theyre one of the most beautiful colored snakes available for that cheap... and i heard they can grow up to 3-5 feet which is about the average size for a bp.

heres a couple pictures i have NO idea why he came out with a red tint
enjoy my crappy camera phone pictures ...

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2/1a36d461.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2/61cb2022.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2/214f1614.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2/488b19f3.jpg

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Originally Posted by slipknot666

do you really need to buy a garter snake cause aren't those like everywere

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Garter snakes are great snakes to keep. They do not require rodents, are very active during the day, are fun to watch, and are great display snakes. Just because an animal may appear to be 'everywhere' does not make it a bad animal to keep.....there are probably more ball python owners than garter snake owners in the US.

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...and i heard they can grow up to 3-5 feet which is about the average size for a bp.

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That may be the same length as a BP, but the size is much different. Corn snakes will stay very slender compared to any BP. For instance, my BP is 31" long (as of my last measurement)....and my gopher snake is somewhat over 4' long...hard to say exactly because it's VERY hard to get a shot of him being still long enough to measure. But looking at the two, you would swear the BP is a much larger animal, even though the gopher is much longer.

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Garter snakes are great snakes to keep. They do not require rodents, are very active during the day, are fun to watch, and are great display snakes. Just because an animal may appear to be 'everywhere' does not make it a bad animal to keep.....there are probably more ball python owners than garter snake owners in the US.

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i dont think he meant it as "why would you get a garter snake when its such a popular pet and everyone has one"
i think he meant it as in the sense why would you pay for one when they're free everywhere outside..

can anybody reccomend any good websites to buy snakes and have them shipped besides lllreptile.com if you wanna keep it secret you could pm me ;) lol... thanks

That's a pretty broad request. Any specific snakes you are looking for?

Give kingsnake breeder listings a try. :)

Welcome to the forum. I'm the Mod that had a really aggressive BP for awhile. Brannagh was an adult when we got her from a pet store though not for sure wild caught. It gets a bit confusing because in a really short space of time we adopted a non-eating confirmed wild caught adult female and then found two more adult females at our local pet store LOL. Bit of a crazy time.

Anyway, Brannagh was highly aggressive and struck at anything that moved near her enclosure. The newspaper trick is a good one and I'd definitely recommend it. Brann was so stressed she couldn't even use her hides as she felt the need to patrol and defend her enclosure till the point of exhaustion. The crumpled up newspaper took care of that. Time, firm but gentle handling, routine...routine...routine and the wearing of gloves till she stopped trying to nail us took care of the rest. Fast forward a few months and this big 2,000 gram female that was once so aggressive that we couldn't even safely change her water is now being handled by children.

The big thing is to realize this isn't about a mean snake or even aggression just to be aggressive. It's about fear. That snake you've just gotten might have been wild born or it might be captive born, whatever it is, it's still been through some reptile supply company, then a pet store, now to you so it stands to reason it's a bit freaked out.

Try making sure that the enclosure is in a very quiet room in your house, not the main room. Maybe cover three sides of the glass with a background stuck to the outside so only the front is open, clear glass. Add in as much as you can so there's very little open space for the snake to deal with (hides, etc). Make sure your husbandry as far as temps and humidity is bang on (glass tanks are a challenge but it can be done). Do whatever you can to minimize stress and fear driven strikes but realize they are going to happen so put on gloves for now. The bite won't really hurt but why get bitten if you don't need to and it can cause the snake to lose a tooth in your skin so again....why risk that. For me, gloves are a useful tool.

Other than that, establish routines and stick to them every step, every time. Regular, short handling preferably in the evening when these nocturnal snakes are naturally more active. Very calm, very firm handling. Make sure the removal from his/her enclosure and the return to it are calm and easy. Even if this snake is flipping out don't return it until it calms even for a millisecond. Don't push the handling at first...even 2 good minutes of calm handling is a step forward. Baby steps, patience, compassion for the snake's fear, routines that the snake will start to recognize...also don't be stressed yourself when handling. I firmly believe the snake's sense this (they are after all highly tuned predators), so if you are feeling rushed or stressed or concerned about a bite, skip the handling session till you are calm and ready.

One of our habits is to open the snake's enclosure, lift the hide if they are in it, gently stroke them down their lower body then lift them out. We do this every single time so they know this means a lift is coming. Just another routine for them to recognize as non-threatening.

Best of luck with your new snake. Don't worry that it's a mean one. Lots of snakes take time to settle in and handling will come in time. Your scaley friend will be with you for upwards of 20 years so a few months now is such a small investment in a lifetime of companionship. Some don't ever adjust to a lot of handling and after all they are snakes, not puppies so they don't even need handling. That's a gift for us more than a need for them. You'll eventually know what your own snake's limits are, just be watchful of how it reacts and respect it's natural limits.

:welcome:..and your little guy is very pretty!!! If you're lookin for that corn,I highly recommend a reptile show.....pet stores have inflated prices to cover overhead, and on the web, the animals are usually set in price. ......at a reptile show though, dealers are looking to make quick cash, so the animals are priced to go. Plus, you can haggle dealers as well to drop a price lower.Every show I've been to had a plethora of corns, tons of colors and all sizes. There is no doubt in my mind you could get a well started yearling for the price you stated....heck, if you settled for babies, you could get a pair!!!You should go to South Mountain Reptiles' website...they have awesome pics of the color and pattern varieties you could check out, just to get an idea of what you can choose from.

thanks alot for all of your comments everybody. although im not sure of any reptile shows anywhere near where i live. il look into that. i mean any snake that can be handled is perfectly fine. im not too worried about the husbandry or taking care of the snakes because i take proper care of all of them the best i can ive had about maybe 40 or 50 reptiles in my life and maybe 10 out of all of them died the rest were sold off because i was so young and they started getting too big for me to handle (plus my moms scared of anything thats not human)..


i love the color patterns on corn snakes and the way they seem so docile. i would perfer to keep the price of the snake under 40 or 50.00. on lllreptile i seen that they had a pair of ball pythons for 99.00 plus 29.95 for shipping. but then again i really do not think im ready for a pair of bp's that are going to breed seeing as i have no idea of making incubators or anything of that such..