Snakes!

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I LOVE snakes, yet I've never owned one.

When I was growing up I wanted to be a zoologist and collected as many pets as I could, which wasn't all that many really. We had blue tongue lizards at one place - they weren't actually captive, they were just in the back garden and I would catch them and keep them for a day or so, hold them, talk to them, etc. One time there were three and I put them all on my shoulders and head, which was a mistake because there was a narky one and I think in the end I had to get Mum to get him off.

In my early teens I had mice, then rats (and a couple other things). I kept breeding records for them. I used to research pets a lot. I was totally fixated on having a snake and designed in my mind different enclosures for different animals.
I really loved corn snakes - I live in Australia and we don't really have them here. I researched many different breeds trying to find the one I liked best.

It really, really frustrated me that my parents wouldn't let me get a snake. I wanted a diamond or carpet python. Also love green tree snakes. I was obsessed with idea for some years so as you might imagine, it kinda hurt.

It really had started when I was 7 or 8 and had a set of books about reptiles. I could read all about different types, look at their pictures and identify them by sight (experts don't recommend this, they say you have to count scales, but .. I don't know. maybe) and look at maps of the regions they lived in. Later I began reading about the different types of head and fangs, as well.

Hope no one minds my rave.

I love all the photos in this thread, they are just so gorgeous.

ColdBlooded, your snakes are so beautiful! I would love to get a retic one day. I tell my husband that when one of the kids goes off to college I am turning that bedroom into a retic room. Heh heh heh. He is fine with that. Is yours mellow tempered? I know they can be a bit fiesty, but I do love a challenge when it comes to snakes.

I have thought of breeding myself. There is a local pet store who told me they would buy up any ball or blood (I keep thinking I ought to try breeding bloods) pythons I wanted to sell them, but the problem is, I do not know that I could sell them after seeing them. I would likely want to just keep them all... But the idea of breeding sounds like a fun challenge as I have yet to try it. What are your thoughts on incubators? I hear so many people swear by them, but I would be tempted to just let the momma snake be momma snake in a properly outfitted hide. If you decide to try, I would love to hear about it.

Yes, snakes are one of my longer lasting interests. I started really getting into them, oh a few years ago...when I took to bringing them home. Heh, but they fascinate me. I think I have had the book the living python, beside my couch for the better part of two years now. I could likely recite that thing... but I do presentations with my snakes as well, so my snake talk comes in handy now and then.

mysassyself... Sorry your parents were snake haters. My mom would not let me have them either. She was more of a furry, four legged critter person, herself, and in encouraging my fondness of cats, she quietly squashed my reptile interest, so it never got to properly take off until I was grown. She also does not like animals in cages/tanks. They make her sad. I think it is easier for parents to tolerate things like cats or dogs than it is reptiles. I would think it would be the other way around as snakes are relatively easy to care for, not so loud or messy... I do not understand.

Your talk of diamonds made me smile. I want one of those. They are so beautiful. Australia has some amazing snakes. Now and then I wish I lived there so I could have easier access to them. What I really want though is a Boelens Python. Someday I will have the money to get one of them.

I get funny about the scale count and whatnot myself. I think a lot of time they are just being nit picky. But the way that they classify things confuses me anyhow, and since they change it all every so often, I do not stress that much myself. I wonder who all of that is done for, is it the benefit of the breeders and hobbyists or the researchers and other assorted experts? I do not know. The Blood Pythons confuse me with that. Apparently there are three distinct types, one of them might not even be technically a blood python, one of them has one large shield over the eye, the other two smaller ones... But then they also go by the color undertone. I prefer to go by outward appearance, myself. I know from looking at a snake if it is an african rock python or an asian rock python or a lesser rock python (if you consider the lesser rock python separate from the african rock python... some do, some do not...). Meh.

Oh I was half tempted to get an african rock python last year... they had a rescue one in a shelter in ohio last year. Were in not for the fact that we have children, that guy would be home with me now, but they are punchy and that guy was especially aggressive. I cannot risk that. Will not happen. But, I have never even seen one of them before, and I have a thing for adopting rescue snakes... I felt so bad for the guy. I do wish we could have accommodated him.

@dossa: yes, wow, that is cool about the rescue snakes. They are not widely sold as pets at all over here so we don't get them in shelters. The licencing is strict and I believe (last time I checked) in australia you have to have kept lizards for a number of years before you are allowed to keep a snake at all.
I suppose that is because of the biodiversity over here - there are so many native species, including snakes and I do support protection of them.

Interesting about the scale count. Glad you agree. I look at colouring and head shape. I mean, normally non-venomous and venomous snakes have completely different head shapes, it just obvious, I'm sure you'd agree.
I can imagine it coming in handy in circumstances where it may be difficult to tell the difference between two venomous species, say. For example here in Australia we have venomous species such as the tiger snake, eastern brown and taipan. Some of these species do vary quite a lot in their possible colourings: tiger snakes are normally striped and have a fairly thick body and head but they reportedly can be all over black, without the stripes, so they could resemble another species, even the red-bellied black snake in certain circumstances. Venomous brown snakes can also vary widely in colour.
Where there's confusion (I think unlikely but possible) then I guess scale count is the scientific methodology.

I also love snakes. I love how they have their own prints, just like we have our own finger prints. We also need more of them to take care of the rodent infestations.

My retic is usually pretty tame. Retics can be just as tame as burms or boas if they're handled from the time they are little. I think that their reputation for being aggressive comes primarily from a few years back when the majority in captivity were wild-caught... WC retics are generelly pretty bitey. Retics are also naturally kind of high-strung, so that might also have contributed to their reputation. If you surprise them, they're likely to strike. They are very hyper-aware of their environment(and they watch you!). As long as you don't startle them(or smell like food!! !), a CB retic can be very nice and handleable.

Like them but pets are too much responsibility for me

I saw a green tree snake yesterday!
For about five seconds, then it disappeared under shelves into the nursery.
Just long enough for me to identify it, it was the fattest one I have ever seen.
I think it was a meter and a half, but the girth was huge, about five cm, two inchs,
that's enormous for a GTS, they're usually very slender. Two cm is average.

We also have a Water dragon living under the shed, the staff call him 'Boris'
for some reason, he wanders all over the nursery and I have watched him or her
eating ants, he's still a baby, but getting bigger every day, he's gone from 20cm,
nose to tail tip, to 30cm, currently.

Also, Mum found a Diamond Python across the road in the bush before X-mas,
it was asleep on the ground in the 'classic' snake pose, like this, but flat on the ground:

I completely forgot to take a photo!

It inspired me to go spotlighting for canetoads in the nursery last night,
caught seven of the poisonous little buggers, which are awaiting a short nap in the fridge before a final relocation to the deep freeze.

Also, exciting news! I have Three different batches of tadpoles going at the moment!
One batch I am 99% certain are Striped Marsh Frogs :


The other two are probably Canies, but I'm going to grow them up and find out anyway, if they are, it's a short march to the refrigerator.

I got five books about snakes out of the Library the other day
and I practically live on the Animal channel and Nat Geo Wild
and I'm trying to go bushwalking every weekend, camera in hand.
Will post anything I find, no luck yet, I did spot an awesome goanna,
but it skadoodled when I pulled the car over.

Any more photos, guys?
I forgot to thank everyone for the great photos so far,
and to tell you all how awesome they are.
I'd to see more!

Found a nice picture of a Ball Python :


and a Blood Python :



Woot!

I love snakes (one of my obsessions). Colubrids in particular. I used to have a nice Cal king, but I had to re-home him when I moved overseas.

Once I'm more settled, I hope to build up a small snake collection. I think the snakes that take well to captivity are arguably the best "pets". They're beautiful, low-maintenace (only certain species, of course) and can be handled as much or as little as you prefer.

I'd like to start with the Lampropeltis genus again and work my way up to larger and / or more challenging Colubrids.

I like snakes, but wouldn't keep one as pet.

I come from a place where the only snakes I ever saw were garter snakes and milk snakes. Then I moved to Florida. I live about a mile from a lake. One time, after a week of heavy rain, I went out to mow the back yard. I was pushing the mower, and came within about three feet of something that looked like the garden hose in the tall grass and weeds, and I thought to myself, "I don't remember putting the hose there." Then it lifted its head up and opened its mouth to sniff for prey. It was a water mocassin! Like, an eight-foot long water mocassin, coiled up. I turned around and ran in the other direction, and didn't stop until I was inside the house. Jeezus, that scared me!

I've had people tell me some pretty horrible stories about encounters with water mocassins, and I didn't want to have one of my own. I'd just as soon let all snakes be, and not have to interact with them at all.

Currently I own 2. I love them.

I love snakes but I cannot get one as one of my roommates is terrified of them, and he and I have an uneasy truce - he gets no tarantula, I get no snake.

If I could get a snake, it would be something around the size of a rat snake or a corn snake (those seem hard to buy though). I don't want anything large enough to threaten other pets. The cats, for example.

Seeing a reticulated python is one of my earliest memories, I've always liked them because of that. But I have no particular opinion on snakes in general.

I feel the need to clarify my vote.

I chose: Like them, but wouldn't keep one as a pet

I like them and am not opposed to keeping one as a pet. However, I have not ever owned one myself at this time although I have helped take care of a friend's on a daily basis. So therefore I did not think I could truthfully choose the answer that says I have owned one and there is no option for "I like them but have not had the opportunity to own one as a pet."