Getting a New Snake

[Craiga 01453]

Ultimately it's up to you and what want in a snake. The husbandry is pretty easy with the three I have experience with. If you can get BP husbandry down, you'll be fine with any of these three...

I have a King, a corn and a hognose and had a King in the past. I'll share a bit about my experience with each:

1) King- My adult California Kingsnake, Django, is without a doubt, my favorite snake ever. He's an absolute sweetheart. He handles extremely well and is a snake who is content to be out of his enclosure and chilling with me for longer handling sessions than most snakes. He's curious and alert, but by no means skittish or flighty. He'll explore a bit, whichever room we're in, but usually makes his way back onto my shoulders or lap to just get comfy. He's fairly active and explores and climbs throughout his enclosure.

He's also a garbage disposal. He has never skipped a meal with me and is always happy to get my BPs refusals. He's even eaten my finicky juvenile corn's refusals despite being way too small a meal for a 4 foot, 676 gram adult King. His feeding response is incredible, I have to pay attention with this guy, but man it's impressive.

The only time he is anything less than awesome is when he's in shed, he turns into a jerk. He does NOT like to be handled while in shed. He does give a good tail rattle if I get too close, though, to give me the heads up that he's not in the mood. So at least he warns me in the only way he knows how without tagging me. BUT, I've come to expect it as I've learned my snake's temperament and just leave him alone while he's in shed.

2) Corn- My juvenile corn, Baby Firefly, is a beautiful little girl, but has been a little bit tricky by comparison to any other snake I've had. She's been a finicky eater and is flighty and skittish with handling. I've handled plenty of corns through the years, and most handle better than she does. I certainly love my little pain in the butt corn, but by comparison to Kings, I would vote King all day.

3) Hognose- I just recently took a hognose, who I named Cosmo, into my care after helping a former co-worker out. Long story short: she got the snake off craigslist from somebody who couldn't get him to eat. Then she couldn't get him to eat. So, after about a year of not eating for either owner, my coworker asked if I would be willing to snake-sit and try to get him eating. I agreed and she disappeared after a few months and I haven't heard from her since she was fired months ago (believe me, I tried, as I didn't intend to keep him). Anyway, I got him in March at just 11 grams, TINY!! He now eats like a champ and is up to 28 grams.

Truth be told, I'm glad his former owner didn't want him back. He's in a better home with me, and I've fallen in love with the adorable little guy. He's got personality for days and is super sweet. He handles extremely well and loves to explore his enclosure during the day and see what I'm up to through the glass. He's currently going through his second shed cycle with me, so I've been leaving him alone the last 6 days. I want him to hurry up because I miss the little guy! Hahahaha!

But seriously, I wanted a hognose eventually long before Cosmo came into my care. Since he's been here, I want another!!! They are awesome little animals. Just too cute and such awesome little personalities. The huffing and hissing is just too funny and too cute when they're that small. He used to huff and hiss when I would put his feeder into his enclosure, now he just eats. But he did huff and hiss the other day while deep in blue when I went into his enclosure to change his water dish. But, that's just his way of giving me a heads up. I'll take that over getting tagged any day. Which brings me to the reminder that hognose are rear-fanged and possess a very mild venom which some people do have a reaction to. That being said, they almost never bite. They will huff, hiss, bluff, musk and play dead before biting defensively, and food bites are easy to avoid with tongs.


Anyway, I hope I helped you out a bit. If you haven't handled them all, I would go to an expo (or maybe a reptile specialty shop if there's one near you) if possible and handle different species at different ages and sizes. This might help you decide which animal is right for you.
As you can probably guess, my vote would be a King or a Hognose. It just depends on what you're looking for.
Feel free to ask any more questions if you need more help deciding, and keep us posted.
Good luck!