First Snake

Love my two Kings.
Sweet, inquisitive, fun to watch them move around. Both handle well; I've been gentle from the beginning.

I like watching a long serpentine snake move. The short-tails and balls are pretty, but you just don't have the length/width ratio to get that long sinuous line.

My next will be a Corn, and I'd love one of the Pitts (Bull, Gopher,pine) some day, but for now, they look a tad intimidating.

One thing to think about - are you interested in morphs, or localities, or something else? For instance, my eyes glaze over reading the details of what went into some super motley-pastel-bananna-amel-leopard-echi-champagne, but start talking about localities, put it on a map, discuss the geographic area - development, local ecology, etc. ...then, I'm all ears. The information you find yourself gravitating to may influence your choice, so don't be in any hurry.

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Originally Posted by hazzaram

I love the look of carpets but they seem very hit or miss. My brother has one and she is horrible! If he needs to go in her enclosure for any reason, she tags him multiple times.

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Agree, I have a friend who got a jungle carpet python as her first snake... and he is a BEAUTIFUL snake, but relatively unpredictable and cage-aggressive. :P She gets tagged/struck at multiple times almost every time she tries to take him out... which was a no-go for me when I was looking for a first snake experience.

Kind of ironically, she got a corn snake for her sister's first snake. Which now ended up being her snake too. The corn is docile as heck, and just kind of runs around like a loopy thing.

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Originally Posted by distaff

Love my two Kings.
Sweet, inquisitive, fun to watch them move around. Both handle well; I've been gentle from the beginning.

I like watching a long serpentine snake move. The short-tails and balls are pretty, but you just don't have the length/width ratio to get that long sinuous line.

My next will be a Corn, and I'd love one of the Pitts (Bull, Gopher,pine) some day, but for now, they look a tad intimidating.

One thing to think about - are you interested in morphs, or localities, or something else? For instance, my eyes glaze over reading the details of what went into some super motley-pastel-bananna-amel-leopard-echi-champagne, but start talking about localities, put it on a map, discuss the geographic area - development, local ecology, etc. ...then, I'm all ears. The information you find yourself gravitating to may influence your choice, so don't be in any hurry.

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I actually spoke to my mother, it seems she is willing to look at Boa Constrictors, Kings, and corns, and ball pythons. Much excitement 😎

I have a corn and a ball python. I love them both, but there are draw backs to both. I do believe these two are the best for beginners, as i have done a lot of research on line. On the corn snake, they are easy to keep and their temps are not as strict as a bp, but , if you buy from a breeder, make sure you get a baby, not a yearling, thats what i got, and she was never handled and still hates it. They are very good eaters on frozen mice, and they are very active. I got my bp at 4 mos. old and he is so much easier to handle, as i handle him quite a bit, but their humidity can be tricky specially in winter when it gets dry, so i added a fogger, which helps a lot. They can be picky eaters, but i was lucky enough to get a little guy who was already eating frozen rats at the time. Ask the breeder before what he eats. I love both my snakes, but i think number 3 will be another bp, they are just sweet mushes, and i love that. hope this helps

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Originally Posted by distaff

Love my two Kings.
Sweet, inquisitive, fun to watch them move around. Both handle well; I've been gentle from the beginning.

I like watching a long serpentine snake move. The short-tails and balls are pretty, but you just don't have the length/width ratio to get that long sinuous line.

My next will be a Corn, and I'd love one of the Pitts (Bull, Gopher,pine) some day, but for now, they look a tad intimidating.

One thing to think about - are you interested in morphs, or localities, or something else? For instance, my eyes glaze over reading the details of what went into some super motley-pastel-bananna-amel-leopard-echi-champagne, but start talking about localities, put it on a map, discuss the geographic area - development, local ecology, etc. ...then, I'm all ears. The information you find yourself gravitating to may influence your choice, so don't be in any hurry.

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omg, u got snakes? yay!!

:w00t::w00t:

i remember reading a thread about getting your partner to agree to get snakes. sounds like he turned a corner. i'm so happy for u! :)

I have both a Ball Python and a Kingsnake. I love them both, but my King is a lot more fun. Some have commented that Kings are fast-moving, and mine can be, but she's more apt to sit still when handled than the bp is...

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Originally Posted by Ax01

omg, u got snakes? yay!!

:w00t::w00t:

i remember reading a thread about getting your partner to agree to get snakes. sounds like he turned a corner. i'm so happy for u! :)

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He never did.
They just showed up in our kitchen - two little dehydrated hatchlings. One was wrapped up in the sticky stuff of a mouse trap. (For anyone's future reference, it is actually possible to free even a little snake from one of those w/o injuring it...patience.) They have fed twice, and are doing well in proper set-ups.

He won't handle them, but he likes them.

Thanks for asking!

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Originally Posted by scalrtn

I have both a Ball Python and a Kingsnake. I love them both, but my King is a lot more fun. Some have commented that Kings are fast-moving, and mine can be, but she's more apt to sit still when handled than the bp is...

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Really !! Wow

A corn snake!

I would say ball python, but, they are a little harder, just because they can go off feed sometimes, and of course because they need higher humidity. I had a ball python as my first snake, and they are amazing animals, you just have to be committed.

I personally would go with a corn snake though, they are active, and are really good feeders~ Either way, both are AMAZING snakes with their pros and cons, so just do research on both, and pick the best for you and your lifestyle. :snake:

My very first snake is a royal (ball) python. I love him to death and wouldn't trade him for the world. However, things you should consider if you choose one of these guys is as others have said, they are not very forgiving with their husbandry and can be pretty prone to sickness if you're not strict with it and you want to make sure you have a good exotic vet for the just in case (there's a pretty good list that's in a sticky on this forum actually). They can be very picky eaters if they have a mind to (Only wanting rats or only wanting mice, even down to what colour their food is sometimes). Mine is usually pretty slow moving unless he smells food. And also as everyone else said they hide like 80% of the time. Mine is kind of a cuddle bug when he has the mind that he wants to sit still instead of trying to figure out how to hide in the couch but when he does settle down he'll happily watch a movie with me. He even tends to poke his head out to see what I'm doing most of the time when I'm walking by his tank or stick his head out to watch the pictures move on the television. They don't really tend to be bitey snakes either. Only time mine has struck at me was during feeding times and that's because my skin temps are usually at mid to high 80s so he mistakes me for the rat since if I'm not quick enough to get the rat in there from warming it up I'll look warmer than it. If I hadn't fallen in love with royals I probably would have gone for a king or a corn snake though personally, lol.