How Long Did Your Snake Live?

Well here I am with a new poll I'm sure will not be liked by some.

It has to do with how old was your longest lived snake and what was it's living conditions.

Here's an article on just how long they should live.

Life span of common pet snakes

Often we don’t appreciate how long a snake can live when housed in ideal conditions. The pet shops and breeders rarely ever tell us just how much of commitment it really is to care for a snake over the full course of its life. Fact is that snakes (as well as other reptiles) can live long, long lives especially when you compare it to that of other common household pets like cats, dogs, and ferrets.

This is not a full listing by any means it is simply designed to give the new potential snake owner some idea of how long these animals can be part of our lives if properly taken care of. Consider that snakes never stop growing for their entire lives though it does slow down as they get older. For however long it lives and is part of your home you will need to feed that snake.

Corn Snake life span
Corn snakes have a life span of 15 to 20 years while in captivity. Sometimes they can live longer but that is the average length of their lives.

Ball Pythons life span
Ball pythons have a life span of 20 to 30 years. While that is the “average” there are many people who find their beloved pet to get much older. The oldest on record lived to the ripe old age of 48. That’s just shy of half a century!

Boa Constrictor life span
Boas have a life span of 25 to 30 years on average, but like all other snakes it isn’t unheard of for them to live longer.

Burmese Python life span
The Burmese has a potential life span of 25+ years of age, but in captivity the average lifespan is closer to 10 years. The biggest reason for this is that people are simply not prepared to take care of an animal of this size. Given the right environment and conditions a Burmese will be sharing your life for a long time.

Reticulated Python life span
Reticulated pythons are like Burmese in both their life span (25+ years) and in their massive size. Again if Retic’s had the proper housing and care it could easily live to be 25 years old, but most people simply aren’t prepared for this kind of a snake.

Carpet Python life span
Carpet pythons have a life span of 20 to 30 years of age. There are several sub-species of Carpets (Coastal, Jungle, and others) but they all live to be about the same age

Kingsnake life span
The average life span for a kingsnake is 15 to 25 years.

many/most people on here have not had a BP die of old age--take this poll again in 30 years and I think you'll get a more accurate representation... Right now you're just trying to force a correlation between tubs and anything negative.

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Originally Posted by WesleyTF

many/most people on here have not had a BP die of old age--take this poll again in 30 years and I think you'll get a more accurate representation... Right now you're just trying to force a correlation between tubs and anything negative.

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There has to be someone here old enough to have had mature snakes

I can't change the poll, but lets adapt it. The ages now are standing for LIVING snakes. AND the homing method stand for currently used/most used on that particular animal. Make post to explain.

Haven't had one die......:gj:

Haven't had one die in my plastic habitat.

Mine are thriving very well in tupperWEAR

I'm not much of an example, but I've kept snakes for six years in both custom plastic cages and plastic tubs, and no one has died. In fact they're all thriving.:gj:

Never had one die in my care and I use tubs.

both are fine for a snake to live in but tubs are just a lot easier for many reasons. if u like tanks thats fine, but have fun battling husbandry and cleaning. i use tubs cuz husbandry is easy and cleaning is so much easier. i dont think either will effect the lifespan of the snake, i believe the conditions inside of the enclosure will. if an owner doesnt feel like cleaning a big heavy tank every weekend and lets poop and everything sit there then the snake may become sick. and over the years that could effect them.

Most of my smaller snakes died while being kept in an enclosure. So far I have no recorded deaths of my snakes that live in tubs. I got 4 Ball pythons, 2 Bloods pythons, 1 Boa constrictor, and 1 Dumeril's boa being housed in tubs and they are doing fine and eating with proper husbandry.

Drop it with the habitat & tubs crap.

In my 20 years of keeping reptiles, I've had 2 snakes die. One was an albino sand boa that would never eat. Force feeding is what killed him in my opinion. The other one died shortly after receiving the snake from another breeder. I opened the box and the snake was open mouthed breathing. Started Baytril immediatley. Snake died 3 days later. She was sick before it was shipped to me. I never did get a refund. Do you think you could help me put a curse on this breeder?:gj:

Jim Smith

Never had one die......My oldest two are:

15 years 323 days or...
193 months or....
5,802 days or.....
139.260 hours.....or
8,355,605 minutes or....
501,336,356 seconds......

this is the last game i play with this 12 year old........

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Originally Posted by Arsinoe

Here's an article on just how long they should live.

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Did you write this article, a bird keeper, or my mom?

A citation would be nice if it is being held up as the yardstick for the lifespan by which we are expected to measure our snakes against.

My oldest BP female is ten years, is thriving and the gentlest giant you would ever meet.

Bruce

http://www.picpop.com/gallery/albums...ion_whore4.jpg

Another thing to keep in mind... Some people who rescue BPs will get one that are in the double digits of age. By rescue, I mean kept in a horrible "habitat" and still lived. They're then put in a tub and thrive. I know there's a few people on this forum that have BPs that are close to their 20s. I'm not exactly sure if all of them were rescues though.

My oldest ball python is 21 years, she's in retirement right now, she's just a pet. She's a gentle giant and in great health still.

Never had one die so far. I keep them in bins. I can tell you right now most cases of dead bp's don't die from old age, they die from keepers who take bad care of them because of pet store advice, or having no idea how to care for them...and most of those bad keeps have aquariums.:O

I was talking to an older man who works at my petstore, he breeds ball pythons.. he keeps them all on a rack and he told me his oldest one is in it's late twenties..

Just drop it with this bins vs. tank crap. When kept in a bin, heat and humidity are easier to keep stable, therfore better for the snake.

I'm guessing your one of those people who keeps their snake in a 55g fish tank?

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Originally Posted by Fish

I was talking to an older man who works at my petstore, he breeds ball pythons.. he keeps them all on a rack and he told me his oldest one is in it's late twenties..

Just drop it with this bins vs. tank crap. When kept in a bin, heat and humidity are easier to keep stable, therfore better for the snake.

I'm guessing your one of those people who keeps their snake in a 55g fish tank?

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Nope 2 10 gallon tanks put together.... how ever thats supposed to work. :rolleyes:

I think the problem with a poll like this one is that you are trying to design a study to support your conclusion. That is dangerous territory scientifically speaking. One must always attempt to be impartial when designing a poll.

As the poll stands right now, what are you going to gain from the results? All you will get is how old a keepers oldest snake is and what it lives in. That has nothing to do with how long the snake is ultimately going to live. For example, my oldest BP is 4 years old and lives in a tub. How does that give you any information about whether tubs are better than tanks? The problem here is that to really compare a tank to a tub you would need many matched pairs of BP's and then a 30 or 40 year study.

Basically we know that most people here have younger snakes and, unless I'm mistaken, most of them keep their snakes in tubs. Brush up on your statistics paying special attention to factors that can introduce the many types of bias in polls, come back with a well designed poll, and maybe we will see some statistically significant results.

Didn't she answer her own question when she quoted the book that she read? I don't understand the reason for the poll if she read the book. That is unless she wants to use this to further her tub issue.

I don't know!
Jim Smith

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Originally Posted by granitestate

http://www.picpop.com/gallery/albums/userpics/attention/attention_whore4.jpg

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too funny!!!!!

Hey did you know that in the wild BPs spend most of their lives in a tiny rodent borrow? Did you know that in the wild they generally never go searching for water as they get all they need from their prey? Did you know that many females will never leave the den as long as a rodent happens by once in awhile? Did you know that they feel much more secure and thrive much better in this environment?

Tanks turned into habitats are not "bad" BP homes if done correctly but many of us consider our "tupperware" to be better for both us and the snakes in the long run. We also do not comdemn those who use tanks like you condemn those who do not.

The only snake I have ever had die was a tiny captive hatched baby i purchased 7 years ago this month. It was sick when I got it and died less than 2 weeks later. The 2nd snake I purchased at the same time from the same bin of CH babies lived and is still with me.

When one of my pastels contracted a bad RI last year while in a tank, was moved to a tub, TADAAAAAA he got better so much faster! I had been treating him for weeks in the tank but the moment I moved him into my racks he began eating again and all signs of RI were gone shortly after. Most of mine are in racks now while a select few are housed in boaphile cages. Which are as easy to maintain temps and humidity in, if not more, than racks.

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...l/IMGP3244.jpg

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...l/IMGP3243.jpg


This is my oldest snake, the original Sulfur female. I have personally owned her for about 10 years, and got her when she was a 2000 gram adult. I would say she is at least 16 years old, if not older.

Dave

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

Didn't she answer her own question when she quoted the book that she read? I don't understand the reason for the poll if she read the book. That is unless she wants to use this to further her tub issue.

I don't know!
Jim Smith

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I'll bet anything that is all this is. :P Of course now that she's made everyone angry, and its blatantly obvious that she has done so, she will HOPEFULLY let it go!

This is kind of a sneaky poll. :sigh2:

From what I've seen, I'm going to take a leap of faith and say that this is just another way for you to try and validify your side of the argument with the whole tanks vs tubs debate... No one has outright told you tanks are bad, as far as I've read. Most everyone has just stated that their snakes are in tubs because that's what their snakes feel comfortable with. If you don't like tubs, fine. Don't campaign about it, please. At this point, all opinions are well known and everyone should just agree to dissagree -- inluding you, Arsinoe, because you started this whole debate.

If you ask me, the whole thing is way past giving it any more effort... This is the last time I'm posting in any of your 'polls' because they're all started so you can support your own hidden agenda. I'm sorry, but it's just bothersome. :/ If you want to argue something, find a subject that's not going to cause a backlash and take away from the people who are trying to learn something from being on this site.

Thanks.

I hope to be alive to see mine pass. I should be about 70's...:O

I have had 1 pass due to it was a "rescue". This was years ago and she was too far gone. The Vet said her body was over run by infection. I will never forget that sweet sad snake. If I could have found her sooner maybe things could have been different.
The only good news from that story was the other BP she was housed with has made 100%.

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

When one of my pastels contracted a bad RI last year while in a tank, was moved to a tub, TADAAAAAA he got better so much faster! I had been treating him for weeks in the tank but the moment I moved him into my racks he began eating again and all signs of RI were gone shortly after.

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i had the same thing happen with my normal. i will never use a tank again

I got my first ball python approximately ten years ago. I kept him in various tanks until approximately four years ago. He did great for the first five years, but then stopped eating. He fasted for upwards of six to nine months. I decided to put him in a tub / rack system to see if that would entice him to eat. It worked, and he started eating right away. He is not one of my best eaters, but he still eats at least once or twice a month.

I am fairly certain that if I wouldn't have moved him into a tub he would have surely starved to death. I have never had any snakes die, and I have housed all but my first ball in either tubs or plastic cages. They are all healthy and doing great.

Plastic cages / tubs are ideal for snakes, because they are easy to maintain proper temperatures and humidity. They are also much more economical and convenient.

As a side note, I once had a piece of flexwatt malfunction and burn a hole in a tub while a snake was in it. I didn’t notice until I smelled the melting plastic. I took the snake out and put him in a new tub. The snake and I were not harmed.

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Originally Posted by Tochigi_R

This is kind of a sneaky poll. :sigh2:

From what I've seen, I'm going to take a leap of faith and say that this is just another way for you to try and validify your side of the argument with the whole tanks vs tubs debate... No one has outright told you tanks are bad, as far as I've read. Most everyone has just stated that their snakes are in tubs because that's what their snakes feel comfortable with. If you don't like tubs, fine. Don't campaign about it, please. At this point, all opinions are well known and everyone should just agree to dissagree -- inluding you, Arsinoe, because you started this whole debate.

If you ask me, the whole thing is way past giving it any more effort... This is the last time I'm posting in any of your 'polls' because they're all started so you can support your own hidden agenda. I'm sorry, but it's just bothersome. :/ If you want to argue something, find a subject that's not going to cause a backlash and take away from the people who are trying to learn something from being on this site.

Thanks.

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:clap:

Hey guys,

Does anyone know what the oldest ball python (that lived to 48 years old) lived in?

Does it really matter at all?

I had a male normal ball live for 10 years in a tank, much of it in a 29 gal. He was very healthy the whole time until he died about a month ago. He was fed, and the day after he ate he was regurgitating the rat for some reason, and it got stuck in his throat as he was doing it. I wasn't around to see it happen, but I came home and found him with the rat in his throat, not breathing. Other than that he was an awesome snake to have. It was kind of hard losing him after that long, and had it not been for that incident he would have been around much longer.

My family has also had a Kenyan Sand Boa going on 15 years now. They're awesome snakes, especially when it's feeding time!

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Originally Posted by viperbry

I had a male normal ball live for 10 years in a tank, much of it in a 29 gal. He was very healthy the whole time until he died about a month ago. He was fed, and the day after he ate he was regurgitating the rat for some reason, and it got stuck in his throat as he was doing it. I wasn't around to see it happen, but I came home and found him with the rat in his throat, not breathing. Other than that he was an awesome snake to have. It was kind of hard losing him after that long, and had it not been for that incident he would have been around much longer.

My family has also had a Kenyan Sand Boa going on 15 years now. They're awesome snakes, especially when it's feeding time!

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My condolences on your loss. :(:(:(:(

I have not been keeping snakes long but all of mine are kept in "plastic bins" and are healthy. I expect in 20-30 years I'll still be waking up to refresh their water every morning.

I have had one snake die in a tub and she was over 20 years old. My cousin purchased her as a baby import from a pet store and kep her for 19 years then gave her to me because I was just getting into snakes. I had her for 6 years and she died. Her entire life was spent in a tub... Now as for other snakes that have died that would be 12 others and they were in tanks and died due to poor husbandry because no matter what I did I coujld not keep the correct conditions.