What to get next?

I am having an uncontrollable urge to acquire another snake. I currently have two ball pythons but am interested in a species that doesn't get too big yet has girth (6-8 ft max), has good temperament (will be around kids) and is active (at least more active than a BP). I've narrowed my list to the following:

Rainbow boa
Irian Jaya or Jungle carpet Python
Woma Python
Dumerils boa

I'd appreciate any info anyone has on these species and how they fit into my requirements. I'm also open to other species I may not have thought of.


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I vote jungle carpet. Just got one myself, and he's an absolute hoot :gj:

From what research I did before getting him (those more knowledgeable correct me if I'm wrong) a jungle should top out somewhere between 6-7 feet. Stay away from anything jaguar/tiger/diamond, as those are morphs from cross-breeding with coastals and will potentially get much longer.

Haven't had Akurra long enough to really speak of activity comparisons, but he has yet to use either hide, or touch the bottom of his tank voluntarily. He just hangs out in his vines all day in plain view :P

Well out the ones you listed, I have a jungle carpet and dumerils. The dumerils is kind of like a big BP that is more friendly. My little girl is only 2 months old but she is such a sweetie.

Now my jungle is always out, never uses a hide and is always on a perch somewhere. Shes about a year old. When I got her, she was a TERROR!! She would strike at anything. She bit me 3 times, would strike at me, at anyone near me and even struck at the tv. It took work to get her mellowed down. I just sucked it up and let her bite me until she finally got bored of it. She then would do head butts on my hand and would always move fast if you touched her. Took me about 2 weeks of work every other day and now she for the most part is mellow. She still has cranky days where if you go to pick her up off a perch, she will hiss and coil and look at me and maybe do a small lunge or a head butt but she doesn't bite me anymore. She is feisty and full of personality lol.

Seems to me boas are pretty even tempered and laid back all the time. Pythons seem to have good days and bad days. Even my BP has bad days where if you take her out and let her explore and then pet her, she will do drive by hissing. She wont slow down or stop or anything, just hiss as you touch her as she is cruises by lol. And the jungle seems to have good days like yesterday where she was a sweetie and sat around my neck and shoulders and just looked around. Then today, she had a hissy fit at being taken out and held lol.

Hard decision. I love both my dumerils and jungle as well as my other snakes and my beardie. If you find a jungle that is very laid back, then my vote would probably be for the jungle but imo, they take a lot more work than the dumerils who is just a sweetie right out of the box and a complete lap snake lol. My little girl who is 18" sat curled around my fingers for an hour with me while I watched tv lol.

Maybe not the best overall choice but for me i'd go for a woma or it's relative a blackhead python. Second for me the rainbow boa. Don't get me wrong i like dumerils and carpet pythons. Also just to throw it in there if its just a pet maybe a hybrid as a interesting choice. I almost bought a carpball (carpet python x ball python) some time ago.

With the Woma it's a tossup. I've seen some that are really aggressive, some that are bitey when they want to be and I've also seen a few that are really chill. Out of those listed I think your best bet for the better temperament would be the Dumerils.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well out the ones you listed, I have a jungle carpet and dumerils. The dumerils is kind of like a big BP that is more friendly. My little girl is only 2 months old but she is such a sweetie.

Now my jungle is always out, never uses a hide and is always on a perch somewhere. Shes about a year old. When I got her, she was a TERROR!! She would strike at anything. She bit me 3 times, would strike at me, at anyone near me and even struck at the tv. It took work to get her mellowed down. I just sucked it up and let her bite me until she finally got bored of it. She then would do head butts on my hand and would always move fast if you touched her. Took me about 2 weeks of work every other day and now she for the most part is mellow. She still has cranky days where if you go to pick her up off a perch, she will hiss and coil and look at me and maybe do a small lunge or a head butt but she doesn't bite me anymore. She is feisty and full of personality lol.

Seems to me boas are pretty even tempered and laid back all the time. Pythons seem to have good days and bad days. Even my BP has bad days where if you take her out and let her explore and then pet her, she will do drive by hissing. She wont slow down or stop or anything, just hiss as you touch her as she is cruises by lol. And the jungle seems to have good days like yesterday where she was a sweetie and sat around my neck and shoulders and just looked around. Then today, she had a hissy fit at being taken out and held lol.

Hard decision. I love both my dumerils and jungle as well as my other snakes and my beardie. If you find a jungle that is very laid back, then my vote would probably be for the jungle but imo, they take a lot more work than the dumerils who is just a sweetie right out of the box and a complete lap snake lol. My little girl who is 18" sat curled around my fingers for an hour with me while I watched tv lol.

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When you say the dumeril a is like a BP, are you referring to her activity level in the enclosure? I think they are mainly a terrestrial species that like to burrow, right? Do you just have to find her and take her out when you want to see her?

And sounds like the jungle is opposite - it's a a snake you can sit back and watch.

Neither of my BPs have ever hissed or struck, but they do always hide. I just figure out which hide they're in and pull them out, seemingly against their will, but they tolerate it.


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I guess another criteria is environmental requirements. I know the rainbows are sensitive to humidity - they may drop on my list due to the difficulty I may have in trying to maintain it. Are the other snakes on the list fairly robust when it comes to temp/humidity?


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Originally Posted by BPGator

I guess another criteria is environmental requirements. I know the rainbows are sensitive to humidity - they may drop on my list due to the difficulty I may have in trying to maintain it. Are the other snakes on the list fairly robust when it comes to temp/humidity?


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I've never owned either, but I have a friend who owns Dumerils. I want to say he keeps his humidity around 50-55 and has never had any issues.

Now regarding humidity, where do you live? If the humidity isn't too terrible you can always get a misting system, like the Monsoon system, I can't recall if it's made by Zoo Med or Zilla, but that will help you a lot with humidity.

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Originally Posted by BPGator

When you say the dumeril a is like a BP, are you referring to her activity level in the enclosure? I think they are mainly a terrestrial species that like to burrow, right? Do you just have to find her and take her out when you want to see her?

And sounds like the jungle is opposite - it's a a snake you can sit back and watch.

Neither of my BPs have ever hissed or struck, but they do always hide. I just figure out which hide they're in and pull them out, seemingly against their will, but they tolerate it.


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Yeah, pretty much. My dumerils is usually under the aspen stretched out sleeping. At night when she is hungry, she will venture all over but yeah they aren't something that is super active lol. And my jungle is always out, I don't even have hides for her as she doesn't even use them. She prefers to coil up on perches like green tree pythons and when you open the cage, she instantly is wondering whats going on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BPGator

I guess another criteria is environmental requirements. I know the rainbows are sensitive to humidity - they may drop on my list due to the difficulty I may have in trying to maintain it. Are the other snakes on the list fairly robust when it comes to temp/humidity?


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As for dumerils, I keep her around 50ish humidity. They like it cooler so I keep her ambient around 79-80F and give her a hot spot of 87F on flexwatt. The carpet is kept around mid 50s humidity too but I use a CHE for her heat and have that set to 90F for a hot spot with ambient on the cool side around 80. Depends if your carpet likes the floor or not. Mine hates the floor so I use CHEs or RHPs when I get her an AP cage. If yours sits on the floor, you might be able to use flexwatt. Bottom line is neither of them require anything special as far as temps or humidity unlike a BRB.

I'd vote for dumerils. Out of the snakes you listed, I'd say the Dumerils gives you the best chance at a well mannered snake.

*slams fist on table* DUMERILS. DUMERILS.

In my opinion, they meet all your requirements the best, including flexible environment and humidity. They're a cool(colder) species, usually only on the hot side when digesting. Hot side shouldn't be higher than 86~87. They're very calm and probably even less active than ball pythons though. But they get to your size range as adults.

For all the other species, it's relatively more of a crapshoot on the "good temperament and good with kids" part.

Another vote for the dumerils, mine is only about a year and a half now but has never nipped or struck at anyone. He's the only young snake I will hand off to my nieces/nephews to hold. He is fast moving at this size would be my only concern with kids but that's easy enough to manage. Seeing one at a reptile education event is what sparked my interest in them as a species and so far been very happy with him, great eater too.

I've only met my Woma, but he's an absolute sweetheart, and very mellow. In Australia they're considered a great first snake because they generally are very laid-back.

I also love my jungle carpet, who was feisty at first, but has settled down to always on the move. [emoji4]


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Sounds like Dumerils is getting more votes. I was actually leaning that way, too. Does anyone junk there's a bi difference between male and females? I know males tend to be smaller and I don't plan on breeding.


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I keep both Dums and rainbows. Dums are a lot more tolerant of handling and while they don't get overly long, they do get thick and heavy enough to "feel" big. They're also much easier to keep and don't need the high humidity that rainbow boas do. My BRB's are usually "on the go" as well, they are quick to flee. Dums are more likely to find a comfy position and just chill.

For a pet I would get a male. They are usually cheaper to purchase as breeders want females, and they don't get as big. My female eats jumbo rats that weigh 16-24 oz, the male only needs 8 oz feeders. They both eat monthly.

I think carpets are AWESOME! Most jungles and IJs average about 5-6 ft. I prefer the slightly larger coastals and bredli carpet pythons. Another great option is a bull snake. They're large colubrids with really simple care requirements. My female is a pretty girthy 7ft. My male is about 6ft but a little slimmer than my girl. They're both great snakes and pretty easy to care for.

Put a deposit down on this guy this morning. Going to pick him up in a couple weeks. Thanks for all the input!

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...7e6f0bedf2.jpg


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I have a woma and have had a dumeril's boa. I like both. Both are of a reasonable size and if handled can become very tame. I use my woma for presentations with kids all the time. They're good snakes. I would like a chance to own a Bredli carpet python in the future.

Grats on the dumerils. You wont be disappointed. And @Hypancistrus, yeah i'd like to get a Bredli one day as well. Got my next snake narrowed down to either a Pucallpa BC, GTP, ETB or Bredli. Leaning more towards the Pucallpa or Bredli though ;)

Why a couple weeks to pick him up though? You want them wee little. They are so adorable then. My little girl is all of 18" if that and she is so cute lol.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Why a couple weeks to pick him up though? You want them wee little. They are so adorable then. My little girl is all of 18" if that and she is so cute lol.

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He's about 3 months old now. The seller will ship, but I am going to be in her area in a couple weeks, so I just wanted to save on shipping cost. I'm cheap like that lol.



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Some very young dumeril's have trouble getting started with eating and all, so I'd prefer them a little older too.

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Originally Posted by BPGator

He's about 3 months old now. The seller will ship, but I am going to be in her area in a couple weeks, so I just wanted to save on shipping cost. I'm cheap like that lol.



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Oh I gotcha. Makes sense :)

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

Some very young dumeril's have trouble getting started with eating and all, so I'd prefer them a little older too.

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I must be lucky then. Mine is a pig and ate 3 times for me in just under 2 weeks. And she isn't shy about eating lol. I just bonk her body with the F/T hopper mouse since half the time I don't know where her head is and then you see the aspen move and a little tongue flicking out from aspen. Then the head rises like a submarine periscope and I just move the hopper over to her face and she grabs it and starts swallowing, no constricting or anything, just starts swallowing while I'm holding the tail still lol.

Oh and that's not her normal feeding schedule. I generally like to make sure new snakes are eating good and strong so I usually feed them on a higher than normal schedule for a week or two. Then after I make sure they are pooping/peeing good and eating well, I cut them back to their normal schedule.

Womas have the easiest husbandry. Our three are great feeders however 1 has such a strong feeding response she has to be removed with a hook prior to handling even then you can tell she is still looking for an angle to swallow my hand. The other two are easy peasy and my two daughters handle them. None of them are defensive at all. I will also add they are very active and curious. If they see the slightest movement in the room they come investigate.