Choosing a species

[Ditto]

My two cents.

I personally have the following snakes:

0.1 BP
1.1 Corn Snakes
1.0 Carpet Python (50% Irian Jaya and 50% Darwin)
1.0 Venezuelan True Red Tail/Dwarf BCC
0.1 BCI

I love my corn snakes. They are incredibly easy to keep, are generally very cheap, eat like clockwork, and 99% of the time are docile as can be. They also come in virtually any color or pattern you can think of.

The downsides are that they are really tiny as babies and can be nippy (not that they can do any damage - they also tend to grow out of this in days or weeks) and tend to be more active when handled than many pythons or boids. Having said that, Figment, my adult male has been a total spaz since I've had him at 9G (he's now 650G and 5ft). He's crazy active. Harmless, docile, wouldn't hurt a fly, etc. However, not a great snake to show people who are timid, etc. Solana, my now 40G scaleless corn, calm as can be. So, the individual snake matters. In my experience, most corns are somewhere in between.

I've personally had bad experiences with kings, but many others love them. I've also heard mixed things with milksnakes, but again, many others love them too.

I've only had my Carpet Python for a little bit and he got lost in shipment and has been recovering from an RI. He's really chill and inquisitive though. I'll defer to others for more info on them.

BCI is too big, so we will skip that, but they have incredible personalities.

I asked a few top breeders about Dwarf Boas, including Vin Russo (Cutting Edge Herp) and Tommy Carpenter (TC Reptile), and in general, they are both more active, and often, more nippy, then their bigger BCI and BCC cousins. I did luck out and Tommy sold me a Venezuelan BCC holdback he had. Very rare and about the chillest and smallest BCC's out there. Feliz is amazing.

Vin has incredible animals, and if you can meet him at a show, and see an animal before you buy, then I would definitely recommend him. His animals are top notch and he is a stand up guy. When I contacted him and said I wanted BCI personality in a small package, he basically said he didn't want to sell me a dwarf boa and to look for something else. However, he is not necessarily the type of breeder to pick an animal for you if temperament is important to you.

Tommy worked with me and might do the same with you and help you choose an individual animal.

I also do like hognose, but being immune suppressed because of a kidney transplant, and them being slightly venomous, I didn't want to take the risk. They are adorable and very chill.

Bottom line:

I would go corn snake if you want ease of care and choice of color or pattern.

I would go dwarf boa if you want a little more of a challenge and can work with a breeder and get one that fits with you.

Any further questions or points of clarification, feel free to post here, or PM me.

Links:

My review of Don Soderberg and SMR, where I got Solana, my Scaleless Corn Snake:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ntain-Reptiles

My review of TC Reptile, where I got Feliz, my Venezuelan BCC:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...le-Boa-Breeder

Thanks so much for your reply! Very helpful
Taking into account what you've said, I'm actually not sure I'm ready for a more challenging animal like a dwarf boa considering this will only be my second snake. Corns are very intriguing though! I'll definitely take them into consideration. Plus I think having an "easy" snake would boost my reptile keeping self esteem haha

I kind of stalked through your progression thread for Figment a few days ago lol! He's absolutely beautiful, you've really got an amazing collection