Kingsnake, all the way!!

They can get to 5ft + , handle any temps/humidity that you can (room temps of course ) and they are a total joy! I can only speak of my 3 years of keeping my ever friendly, totally awesome, Prince Albert. When he was a little worm, he would shake his tail like a rattlesnake to greet me. But as soon as I would pick him up, he was like, oh, its you, then calm right down. He doesn't do the rattlesnake bit anymore, he outgrew that a long time ago (sigh).

I can hand him to children, with no worries....ever! He is the first snake I grab when kids come over and want to "see" the snakes! Unlike my chilled out BP's who are very content to just be a necklace, for anyone, Albert moves around a good bit and really has personality (I'm pretty sure he like girls best and he loves children for sure). He likes to get all wrapped up girls hair (too cute), and will loop over my ears and gives lots and lots of snake kisses!

In three years he has never tried to bite or even hissed at anyone! 3yr old children and terrified adults love him and he has been kept for the last year in a special $5 walmart special sterilite tub (34" x 17" x 6"), he actually has done better in that (with cut down Pink dollar store trash cans for hides) than he did in the Reptirack with reptile basics hides!!

A Herpstat pro with a Zoo Med heat mat keep his temps good, but half the time, I don't think he requires any additional heat than I keep my house at (74deg). I have kept him in cheap glass tanks and nice reptile specific plastic enclosures with equal success. He resides in aspen bedding and it gets changed every couple of weeks (cause its cheep). A stick on $2 thermometer tells me what his ambient temps are, while the Herpstat maintains his heat mat (always within 1 deg ), which I still check with my digital temp gun once a week or if the house temps change more than a few degrees.

Oh, and he cost me a whopping $50 although you can get them cheaper than that at a Repticon event. So with all that said, he would be my first choice again (100 times over), but that' s just my