My First Snake!

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Originally Posted by NewmanLovesSnakes

Speckled king snakes are by far my favorite native snake. I’ve caught two in my back yard and stepped on one this year. I just move them to the patch of woods across the street lol you did a fine job picking a first snake in my opinion.


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Speckled kingsnakes aren’t native where I’m from but it must be so cool to just see them out in the wild!
I’m very happy with my choice as well, although ultimately both the speckled king and the Bairds rat would have made great pets :)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1f00e3b5e.jpeg

Finally managed to figure out how to post pictures, although it ended up sideways, don't know how to fix that :confusd:
But anyway, here she is being adorable in one of the only decent pictures I have of her lol

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Colubrids in general, whether kings or rat snakes, are much easier to feed than BPs...:D Plus they don't need such fussy temperatures & humidity to thrive. Great choice!

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The flexibility with temperature has been so much more convenient than if I had gotten a BP. I can't imagine trying to keep an enclosure at ~80* during New England winters :O
It's way easer to maintain about 70* in there and have her be able to handle both that and the higher 70s* that'll come in the summer.

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Originally Posted by aurum

The flexibility with temperature has been so much more convenient than if I had gotten a BP. I can't imagine trying to keep an enclosure at ~80* during New England winters :O
It's way easier to maintain about 70* in there and have her be able to handle both that and the higher 70s* that'll come in the summer.

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I totally agree. I love that my snakes are fine with the ambient temps. I keep my house at, along with UTH for good digestion. (Some have over-head warmth/lights too.)
I also prefer glass tanks, various reasons, including great visibility. And when it comes to winter, I live in a warmer climate than you (much further south) but even here we get some snow & less often, ice storms that can knock out power. It would be a much bigger challenge to deal with snakes that need those higher temps. to remain healthy in such emergency situations. Besides that, I love that colubrids are generally more outgoing & active...I love to watch my snakes & have them watching me back. :snake:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I totally agree. I love that my snakes are fine with the ambient temps. I keep my house at, along with UTH for good digestion. (Some have over-head warmth/lights too.)
I also prefer glass tanks, various reasons, including great visibility. And when it comes to winter, I live in a warmer climate than you (much further south) but even here we get some snow & less often, ice storms that can knock out power. It would be a much bigger challenge to deal with snakes that need those higher temps. to remain healthy in such emergency situations. Besides that, I love that colubrids are generally more outgoing & active...I love to watch my snakes & have them watching me back. :snake:

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Yeah, even though my snake usually spends most of her time hiding I can still count on seeing her head poked out of her hide for most of that time, and I usually find her exploring her tank at least three or four times a day which I’m not sure I would get with a ball python (although I have heard that they can be pretty active at night)

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Originally Posted by aurum

Speckled kingsnakes aren’t native where I’m from but it must be so cool to just see them out in the wild!
I’m very happy with my choice as well, although ultimately both the speckled king and the Bairds rat would have made great pets :)

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They are the only wild snake I’ve seen in Louisiana since I’ve lived here, I had a lady through one up under my car after just getting it out of the undercarriage of her car when I was stationed at Ft Polk lol that was my first encounter with one. I’m a member of a snake ID page on Facebook and this summer I saw over a dozen ID request through different parts of Louisiana asking to ID speckled king snakes. Before I got my Rosy I was looked up prices and locations to get a speckled king I just could not find one.


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Woke up to a poop in the water bowl, I’m sure it’ll be the first of many :rolleyes:
I am a little concerned with how much she is pooping though. She’s probably pooped 7 times in the two weeks I’ve had her. They all look normal, but I’ve read that hatchlings usually use up most of the pinky and poop pretty infrequently so I don’t know if the amount of waste she’s producing is typical.

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Originally Posted by aurum

Woke up to a poop in the water bowl, I’m sure it’ll be the first of many :rolleyes:
I am a little concerned with how much she is pooping though. She’s probably pooped 7 times in the two weeks I’ve had her. They all look normal, but I’ve read that hatchlings usually use up most of the pinky and poop pretty infrequently so I don’t know if the amount of waste she’s producing is typical.

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Probably normal...colubrids have a faster metabolism than do some other snakes (like BPs). In this regard, they're the total opposite of blood pythons, for example.
If snake-poo was money, they'd be big spenders, not savers...:rofl:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Probably normal...colubrids have a faster metabolism than do some other snakes (like BPs). In this regard, they're the total opposite of blood pythons, for example.
If snake-poo was money, they'd be big spenders, not savers...:rofl:

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LOL yeah she’s definitely a “spender”. She left me another present today, and right after I changed out the paper towel too! It’s good to hear that this doesn’t mean something’s wrong.

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Originally Posted by aurum

LOL yeah she’s definitely a “spender”. She left me another present today, and right after I changed out the paper towel too! It’s good to hear that this doesn’t mean something’s wrong.

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Young snakes eating baby rodents tend to digest them easily, meaning they digest quickly. Not living with your snake but if it really seems excessive defecation, you
might also have her stool checked for parasites. Captive-bred snakes shouldn't have any, but they can get them from unclean prey sources if & when fed live, & if that's
the case, it's easily taken care of & should be, so her growth isn't adversely affected. All may be completely normal, just suggesting another possibility to keep in mind.

I've actually seen a w/c adult snake that was so encumbered with 'worms' that he digested a large adult mouse in roughly one day, because he had so much 'help'. :rolleyes: But hopefully that's not the case here, just sharing where my perspective comes from. It's not likely to be the issue with yours.