Hi from Minnesota!

Hi all!
Just joined to learn more about snakes in general. I currently have a Mexican Black Kingsnake, 2 cats, 12 tarantulas and a Gargoyle Gecko. I'm finding myself reading more and more about snakes and really wanting to read all I can about them. I hope to eventually own a few more as I have more space. :D

Hello, and :welcome: to BP.net...

Welcome to the BP.net

Awww thanks :D Any good snake books out there you'd recommend? I'm open to anything thats accurate, informative and/or a good read.

Hello. Glad to see you could make it. We've been expecting you for some time now.

Jim Smith

welcome. There is tons of great information here, and loads of great people. If you have any questions just ask, someone will have an answer for you.

Welcome to the site, there is quite a wealth of information available here.

As far as books, that's going to be tough because there are a ton of great books, but most are species specific. Anything imp-articular you want to find more information on?

I'm really liking colubrids right now, esp king and milksnakes. I'm really liking some of the smaller species as well like kenyan sand boas, hognoses, garters etc. Pythons are pretty cool but get huge. Hmmm I guess a good book on identifying different species, or a colubrid book, or... I dunno. I'm willing to read/ look into about anything though. :D

First of all WELCOME! There are a number of BP.netters from the land of 10,000 lakes. I've been in this state a few years now and I don't think I want to leave any time soon :D

Couple things i wanted to respond to from your posts:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ***Beth***

Pythons are pretty cool but get huge.D

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Not universally true! Granted, someone who only has worked with colubrids might have a different idea of what "huge" is than I do, but the family pythonidae is composed of species that are smaller than corn snakes as adults all the way up to the huge burmese, reticulated, and african rock python giants you think of when you hear the word "python".

Ball pythons, which much of this forum centers around, are a good deal heavier than most colubrids, but are still extremely manageable in size. It is quite common for a sexually mature ball python to be considerably smaller than even a chihuahua, so on the scale of "pet size", still a small pet.

There are probably way more python species out there than you realize and I'd highly suggest hitting up wikipedia and google for a start on the WIDE variety of species out there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ***Beth***

Awww thanks :D Any good snake books out there you'd recommend? I'm open to anything thats accurate, informative and/or a good read.

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It entirely depends on what you're interested in. My 3 favorite REPTILE books (not limiting myself to snakes here) are as follows:

-The Art of Snake Keeping by Philippe de Vosjoli
-Rhacodactylus: The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care by Philippe de Vosjoli, Allen Repashy, and Frank Fast
-The More Complete Chondro by Greg Maxwell

One thing to note about reptile books: They often contained dated information. There is quite a bit of good reading in them, but there is even MORE information on the internet, which can be equally accurate, more up-to-date, and FREE :D

I'm not a colubrid guy, in fact I'm pretty much specifically a python-only guy (with a side passion for hognose snakes and geckos). Pythons are my focus, and I just can't get enough of them.

I also recommend hitting up the YouTube channel "Snakebytestv". These videos are done by a BHB Enterprises, a snake breeding company owned by Brian Barczyk (did I spell that right?). There's hours of entertainment, and although nowadays he focuses a ton of energy towards his ball python projects, he breeds literally THOUSANDS of colubrids annually.

Thanks for that! I've seen a few snakebytes shows on youtube, really neat stuff! I'll definately have to look into the smaller pythons, you've piqued my interest there! I'm here to read up and learn. I'll probably lurk awhile as I read up and absorb info here. :D I personally think forums tend to be the best way to gain good info because it tends to be more up to date info on how people ACTUALLY keep things. I'll look into those books too. Thanks a bunch!!! :D

Some other books to note are:
- Pythons Of The World, Vol. II: Ball Pythons, by David & Tracy Barker (Vida Preciosa International)

- The Complete Ball Python, by Kevin McCurley, (New England Reptile Distributors)

- The Complete Boa Constrictor, by Vin Russo, ( Cutting Edge Herpetological)

If you want to check out the smallest of the pythons, there is the Antaresia group. These are the Children's Python, Stimson's Python, Spotted Python, and Anthill Python.

There are also some of the "dwarf boas" that stay in the 4-6 foot range...

:welcome:

Welcome from Minnesota!

"The New Encyclopedia of Snakes" by Chris Mattison is one I've been enjoying since Christmas. While the text could have used a better editing job (spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors, while not rampant, are frequent enough to be noticeable), it has a nice balance of pretty pictures and good information.

Welcome to the posse!