BPs are fun, enjoy my boas, and colubrids are cool. I just love snake keeping in general. The more I get, the more I want. I've tried to pace myself with new acquisitions, but I always feel that the hobby isn't intense enough. The big problem is I live in Mass and for most of the year it's just too cold in my house for a rack system, and I'm never going to win the fight with my wife for a snake room. We all know how long AP takes to ship out orders, that and the foot print of T8s limits my ability to acquire more snakes more quickly. Which leads me to....

Asian Rat snakes. They are gorgeous, the mandarin and the Thai Bamboo particularly so. They're small, readily available, breed easily (so they say), and best of all thrive in colder conditions. My research indicates that a daytime low of 70 F, and nighttime drop to 68 F would be fine. That's pretty much the ambient temps in my house, which means I could easily maintain a rack system of Asian rat snakes. I could have as many as I want. I could breed them and have my own "projects". It sounds too good to be true, and it is! Because everyone says Asian rat snakes are flighty-bitey-bastards. That's a serious drawback because I love handling. Now, I expect young animals to be on edge and maybe tag me a few times, but they learn and grow out of it. But keeping a colony of creatures that'll never calm down and always be looking to light me up, that doesn't sound like the way I want to progress in this hobby. Why do I want to get bit every time I spot clean or change water?

So what do people think? Am I mislead about these animals temperaments? Does anyone have personal experience with Asian rats? Any advice? Thanks all!