Pet snakes for beginners and pro alike

First the facts:

1. Snakes eat meat


2. Snakes HAVE to eat meat


3. They are obligated carnivores (just like cats, and ferrets)


4. They can not and will not eat vegetables

Just wanted to clear that up since day after day someone ask me What snake can I get that won't eat meat? No such beast exists. If it does it is NOT a snake.

Ok now that we're on the same page the question is should you feed live, f/t, or prekilled?

Live
Just like it sounds. Take a live rodent of appropriate size, throw it in with the hungry snake and let nature take its course. If you feed live -

1. Never leave the snake and prey unattended. Rodents have been known to kill snakes


2. If the snake hasn't eaten the rat within about 15 minutes it isn't going to. Take it out and put it in the cage you setup for it to live in. You did setup a cage, right?


3. Be careful not to get bit by either the snake, or the rodent


4. There's no need to be cruel to the food. Put it in the cage and let it be. Don't dangle it by the tail or anything else


5. Prepare for the rodent to "scream" and squeal when the snake strikes. It can be bothersome to some people listening to it die

Personally I'm not a fan of live feeding, but that's not to say I won't do it. I just try not to make it a habit.

Pre Killed

This is the method of feeding when the prey is either stunned or killed immediately prior to being thown in with the snake. Why would you feed pre killed?

• Good way to transition from live feeding to frozen/thawed


• Some snakes won't eat without their food being "brained" (I've got a king snake like that)


• You started out with live and can't keep them for some reason

Like I said some snakes like their food "brained". Meaning you split the skull open to let the brains ooze out a little bit. Of course you shouldn't do this to a live animal and it doesn't work so well (in my experience) on a frozen/thawed animal.

Frozen/Thawed


Probably the most popular method of feeding snakes. You can buy dozens of frozen thawed mice, rats, rabbits, etc and store them in the freezer to be fed at a later date to your snake.

1. If you keep them in plastic freezer bags they can keep for a year, sometimes more


2. Don't feed any to your snakes that have freezer burn. Throw them out


3. Thaw them thoroughly before feeding. If not it can cause regurgitation


4. If your snake isn't used to eating frozen thawed you might have to start with pre killed


5. Sometimes a snake won't touch the food until well after you've put it in the cage. Leaving it overnight won't hurt anything as long as you remove within the next 5 to 8 hours if it is still there


6. Bonus tip: Wrap the rodents in freezer paper before you put them in the plastic bags. Especially if there's any chance anyone else will get into your freezer. Not everyone gets it

There are three distinct sides that face off over this issue. One side says yes, one side says no.

Many resources exist for snake owners on the internet. I've been meaning to do this for a while but just haven't ever sat down to do it. Finally I've reached the critical balance; more than enough free time and lack of excuses not to do this. So without further ado...

Reptile Geeks
Reptile Geeks is a little over a year old. It is what is called a niche social networking site. The sole common theme among all members is their love of reptiles. Unlike many other social networking sites the owner/developer Robert plays an active role in the day to day operations. The community itself is vibrant and thriving. Truly a wealth of information available there for the beginning snake keeper.

Our Reptile Geeks profile

Ball-Pythons.net
Ball-Pythons.net features:

• Great forums with great people willing to answer any question you have


• Caresheets for a variety of reptiles


• A Gallery to show off your animals (you must be registered to use it)

The best thing about Ball-Pythons.net is the forums. People who are truly passionate about snakes (and other reptiles) frequent it.

Snake Bytes TV
Snake Bytes Tv is operated by BHB reptiles. One of the largest breeders in the entire world. Brain is a great guy who takes time to answer questions, and interact with the viewers. The shows are very informative, and fun to watch. Check out the latest video (at the time of this writing) where they explain how snake's get their names.

Well there are a few resources that will prove useful when you are doing your snake research.

Pet snakes are a boy thing. I don't mean that in an offensive manner, but I mean simply that the 8 year old boy is more likely to ask to get a snake as a pet than the 8 year old sister. For their part most moms, not all but most, have a natural aversion to snakes.

More often than not mom wins out in the battle of "Can I have a snake?". That's because you don't come well armed to win the war.

So what are the keys to winning a "yes" from your mom (or anyone who matters)?

1) Knowledge of the subject. You should know so much about snakes that your mother thinks you write for National Geographic. Whenever someone says something about snakes she should look at you and ask "Is that right?"

2) Make your desire well known. Be bold, be loud, be proud. Don't beat around the bush about it, tell her you want a snake. Tell her exactly what kind of snake you want and why that is the best kind for you to get.

3) Stop hounding her! Gone are the days of whining and throw tantrums in the isle of the toy store. Let it known what you want and then don't mention it again, at least not directly for a month or two. Trust me with an animal that can live over 20 years two months is nothing to wait.

4) Engage in psychological operations. I said not to mention snakes directly. That doesn't mean you shouldn't mention them at all. Just that you need to be wise about how your do it. Drop hints. Talk about little bits of trivia regarding snake here and there. In school do your reports on snakes, or even out of school spend a few hours one weekend writing a report about them. When your mother asks "why" (and you know she will) tell her because you want to learn about them. She'll see your passion and her defenses will weaken even more.

The other advantage of the psychological operations is it will make her start to see snakes as normal and they will slowly but surely become familiar to her.

Thanks for reading and hope this helps in your effort to convince your family to let you have a pet snake.

Many times people will tell you that you should feed your snake in a separate cage than the one it lives in. Here are several reasons you should not.

The myth of feeding a pet snake in separate tank

If you are weighing the option of getting a snake consider carefully if it will be a large one (over 5 feet in length) or a smaller one. A large snake requires more food, more space, more people to handle, and more lenient landlords.

They cost more in the long run than you could ever hope to spend on most average smaller sized snakes. That's not to say you should never get a large snake but you should be considering it from more than just a "man wouldn't it be cool to have a snake THAT big" mindset. Something I've been guilty of doing myself a few times.

You can read a full article on the benefits of small snakes as a pet on my website.

A snake tank needs four characteristics:

1) Securely and safely hold the snake - If you've ever lost a pet snake and had to find it again (amid panic stricken family members and neighbors) you'll know why this is important

2) Reliably hold a steady temperature - Snakes are ectothermic and can't regulate their own body temperature. They rely on their environment to do that for them. A cage needs to be able to provide this "feature" or it isn't going to work very well.

3) Reliably hold a steady humidity level - Most pet snakes are sub-tropical or tropical in nature and they need higher than average humidity. Especially when they are shedding their skin. A good snake cage will make it easy to keep the humidity where it needs to be.

4) Be the proper size for your snake - A cage that is too large is just as bad as one that is too small for your snake. You wouldn't house a 8 foot Boa Constrictor in a 55 gallon tank any more than you'd house a 3 foot ball python in a 125 gallon tank.

If the tank you have doesn't do all four of those things it is useless.

There are many options for professionally built snake cages available. They do the job admirably, but they also cost a lot of money. I recommend building your own snake cage to save time, and money. Not to mention it will make temperature and humidity control much easier.