Kenyan Sand Boa temperament / activity level?

I'm going to be acquiring my first snake at the end of the month and am currently planning on getting a hognose at a reptile show. That said, I'm also interested in KSB and love their looks / size / and general ease of keeping based on what I've read... I'm considering them as my "backup" choice if I can not get a hog.

I haven't been able to find any information on how active they are though and / or if they are nocturnal, diurnal, etc.

For those that have KSB, do they move around the tank or stay buried in the substrate most of the time? If they do come out, is it at night or during the day? Also, would they take advantage of tank "furniture" i.e. branches, rocks, etc.?

Thank you for your time and help!
Artgecko

Ha! I was just looking these two up because I'm also trying to decide! I know what I've read, but I'm interested in some responses from people with first hand experience, too.

my KSBs are pretty active. i remember when i got them people said "you dont want that, you will never even see it. its like having pet sand."....wrong. they are all over. they do bury most of the time but amost always have a head poking out to look around. they arent shy though. they come out a lot. my male even climbs. as far as temprement, they are so mellow and easy to handle. slow moving most of the time but can be pretty zippy when need be. in my hands they just kind of hang out and sometimes try to burrow between my fingers. its pretty funny. they eat like champs too. never skipped a meal. i would highly reccomend them. especially as a first snake. :snake:

Thank you so much for the info!
Although I have my heart set on a hog, the breeder I might get one from also has KSB and I love the anery color morph. Maybe I need to be planning for my second snake already. :)

Artgecko

Ya, they are cool little snakes. Probably better suited to new owners than hognoses are.

They crack me up.
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Originally Posted by lefty

Ya, they are cool little snakes. Probably better suited to new owners than hognoses are.

They crack me up.
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Ohhh they're so cute!!! I need to do some research on these guys. I DO have a spare tank laying around :)

beautiful snakes! If things don't work out with the hog, I will get a KSB instead. :)

Artgecko

So adorbs! Now I have to talk my husband into one more reptile..
just one more. I promise... ;)

Kenyans are a total gateway snake. I started out with one KSB. Now we have 5 snakes... :D

Regrets? Zero :) But I will say that in my experience the males are a bit more finicky with food. My females are beasts, though -- they don't skip a single meal!

I have a juvie KSB and an adult Hog Nose :D

The sand boa for the most part stays hidden, however she is in a rack system so not able to really see her a lot anyway unless I pull her out. She is my daughter's snake, one she picked out after doing her "research" and that is what she wanted. She is pretty mild mannered and just hangs out. She is pretty cute, eats great. I recently saw a snow sand boa and now I want one for myself! I think she will be a lot more fun once she is older and not so scared everything is going to eat her.

My daughter with her sand boa Precious
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The hog nose is one of my favorite snakes so I am completely bias as a disclaimer. He is extremely quirky and has his own little personality. Usually he is pretty mild mannered but right now he is in shed so when I walk into the snake room he hisses at me. He acts like a little cobra all hooded and bluff striking if I make any noise in the room. However go into his tub and I can reach right in there to pick him up without any issues. He is a bit quirky to feed. However he eats f/t rat pups without to much issue. He also likes to hide in his substrate but he is always popping out to see what is going on.

Pumpkin
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If it's your first snake I would suggest the KSB. They are cute little guys and so easy to take care of. They come in lots of morphs. Hog Nose can be hard to get to eat and can be a bit quirky. Although they are both great snakes :D

Sand boas are awesome tough little snakes. No special humidity requirements although a humidity hide during shedding helps sometimes. They need a hot spot but the temp for it can vary a pretty good bit and they can still thrive...over the years I've had them anywhere from about 85-105 for their hot spot and they always did great (keep in mind this is going back to early 90's era and that was a totally different world back then)...now I shoot for about 90f. Males do have a tendancy to go off of feeding during the winter months sometimes, although most of mine will stay feeding better on rat pinks during this time.

Charlie

Thanks again for the great replies and info!
M&H- Maybe I'll end up like you with one of each... I still really love the hognose and think for what we're looking for (more of an active snake) it would still be the best bet. But every time I look at the KSB I want one more and more. I really love the anerys... We'll see. Maybe I'll end up taking home one of each from the show.

If I do not hear back from the breeder I'm in contact with about the hognose, I may wait and look at both at the show and go with the snake that appeals to me the most.

Artgecko

I have one little guy, a Nuclear KSB. Hes fiesty. Snagged me once good! Eats like a pig on FT pinks. I only ever see his head. He is cute though, watches me with his little orange eyes. I have him in an Exo Terra in my bedroom. Hes most active in the early morning trolling his cage. Will get him a lady one day.

I used to have one. I never saw mine much. Every now and then he would poke his head up and look around but very inactive. I hate to say I really did feel like I owned pet sand. When I took him out though he was very cute. Their faces remind me of muppets lol.

I have 3.... err, 11 of these guys (just had 8 babies yesterday!:D) and I love them. I have a mature normal breeding pair (obviously) and a sub-adult anery female. My male is very laid back, but he is an escape artist! He's gotten out three times now, when I've forgotten to put the lock back in the cage, but I always find him because they're relatively largish, slow moving snakes. Unlike, say that baby kingsnake that escaped through a ventilation hole and we've never seen again. He does go off his feed sometimes, but I heard they'll do that in the breeding season. I've had him since he was a baby. He will eat anything from hoppers to small adults.

My mature female is a little twitchy. She doesn't strike, but she does a full body jerk when I'm trying to pick her up sometimes. She tends to do it more when she's hungry. She's also more picky in her food. She prefers anything with fur, hoppers and smaller. She won't eat anything larger than 3/4 of her body circumference. I got her as a mature adult.

My little anery female I also got as a baby, and she'll eat anything from rat pups to small mice hoppers. She's a champ for trying food that I think might be a little big for her. She's not as calm as my male, but she's not as twitchy as my first female. I have them on aspen, not sand, and I see them on occasion.

And the babies are, well, babies! So far they haven't been twitchy or nippy with me. There were 9, but one came out with a bad spine kink, so I took care of it.

I was taking the adults out to feed yesterday when I saw the female was eating a round pinkish thing. I had a moment of panic wondering what she got into, and then thought it was probably an infertile egg. My sinaloan milk snake recently laid a clutch of slugs, so I wasn't as anxious as I could have been. Anyway, with one snake out of the cage and one snake still in the cage, I was quite shocked and alarmed to see movement in two distinct places in the cage. I looked, and saw a wee tiny head poking out. I may have shrieked and done a happy dance, but I admit nothing :D. Anyway, I sorted through the litter and found the babies! I wasn't expecting babies because the male and female had been together for nearly a year with no results, so I figured they didn't like each other, and I wasn't worried about it. The female didn't look gravid to me. It was only in the last week that I vaguely thought she looked bigger than normal. She wasn't at all like the pictures I've seen of very bloated, gravid KSBs.

Anyway, I'm now in love with theses little babies! Both parents, though normals, were selected for their bright orange color, and the babies are already brighter today than yesterday! I might keep one for myself!;)