a quick question about snakes?

[IrishLad17]

hey everyone, im a very curious person and ive had a burning question about snakes for quite some time now. im pretty sure im not going to be getting a snake anytime soon but i was just wondering if there is any species of commonly kept snake that can eat something else other than rats/mice, because if i do ever decide to go a bit deeper into the herp/amphibian hobby than the toads i have now i might consider a snake. And i do have a bit of a problem with rats/mice (im slightly phobic ) is there a snake out there for me or has this phobia banished me from the snake hobby forever?

 

[FRAZE01]

You can go with garter or ribbon snakes.There are others that prfer lizards,but that can be quite expensive

 

[Cirith Ungol]

What exactly is it you have a problem with regarding mice?

I get mine frozen and in large quantities. I defrost them in warm water for 2-3 hours (so that they are warm through and through). In order to do that I put them in a freezerbag and put the bag in the water. When I take them out I pour them over into a little feeding box (plastic) and put the box with a singled out snake. I never need to touch the mice.

Edit... no I don't mean freezerbags, silly me. I mean normal see through plastic bags you normally use for the freezer

 

[hermitman64]

Well... There are some (mostly) insectivorous snakes that feed on slugs, earthworms, crickets, etc, but they are pretty common (in the wild, that is), stay fairly small, and have drab colors in comparison to other widely kept snakes.

DeKay's Snake
Garter Snake
Rough Earth Snake

off the top of my head. I'm not a snake person, so I'm sorry I can't be much help.

 

[misfitsfiend]

vine snakes, and other arboreal snakes prefer lizards and small frogs, but its not as cheap to get some parasite free anoles to feed to your snake.

has anyone here ever tried those snake sausages?

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

You can go with garter or ribbon snakes.There are others that prfer lizards,but that can be quite expensive

I agree! Ribbon snakes may SOUND boring, but they're NOT. I had one for awhile, and he was awesome! He would go nuts whenever I opened the cage, checking my hands for food, LOL. I would put some fish in his bowl and he'd swim round and round with them trying to catch them, like a maniac! He also loved worms! Very cheap feeders, also. This is an excellent choice.

You could go with something like a vine snake (Ahaetulla nasuta or prasina) they prefer lizards, and if you have a good supply, why not. Ive heard they are sometimes hard to get eating rodents, but the majority of the time they are WC and loaded with parasites, another thing to think about.

I dont know much about this species, but another idea would be an egg eating snake...the latin name escapes me atm, I think its Dasypeltis sp.

Anyway, good luck

~Crystal

 

[misfitsfiend]

I agree! Ribbon snakes may SOUND boring, but they're NOT. I had one for awhile, and he was awesome! He would go nuts whenever I opened the cage, checking my hands for food, LOL. I would put some fish in his bowl and he'd swim round and round with them trying to catch them, like a maniac! He also loved worms! Very cheap feeders, also. This is an excellent choice.

You could go with something like a vine snake (Ahaetulla nasuta or prasina) they prefer lizards, and if you have a good supply, why not. Ive heard they are sometimes hard to get eating rodents, but the majority of the time they are WC and loaded with parasites, another thing to think about.

I dont know much about this species, but another idea would be an egg eating snake...the latin name escapes me atm, I think its Dasypletis sp.

Anyway, good luck

~Crystal

i dont think egg eaters are currently in the hobbie...but i may be wrong

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

i dont think egg eaters are currently in the hobbie...but i may be wrong

I have seen some for sale...though they definitely dont outnumber corn snakes! Ive seen them about as frequently as vine snakes, so not very often.

 

[Schlyne]

I've never tried the snake sausages, but they do make them. If I were going to try that, I'd get a colubrid of some kind, they don't seem to very picky eaters.

 

[IrishLad17]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I was thinking that a garter/ribbon snake would be a good choice but while reading up about them i heard that a diet of only goldfish and guppies wasnt that healthy, but then i also heard that they could be fed entirely on fish so I was bit confused :wall: Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[RaZeDaHeLL666]

I have 2 garters, and if garter's arent taken off fish they can develope brain damage in as little as a few years. I feed my garters and arizona desert kingsnake's frozen pinkies so I dont have to deal with the poor mice being eaten. I had a pet mouse named BustDown when I was a kid and dont want to see my new pets eat my memory of BustDown. Check out some information about garter's and you'll see. Fish especially goldfish contain something called thiamine and can be fatal to your snake in the long run. Also my garter's wont eat pinkies unless they are scented with yummy fish!

http://www.gartersnake.co.uk/

 

[bugsnstuff]

i can't believe no-one has suggested the Rough Green Snakes, Opheodrys aestivus.
an awesome, emerald green snake. granted they are on the small side but in a planted viv they are amazing.

 

[David_F]

I dont know much about this species, but another idea would be an egg eating snake...the latin name escapes me atm, I think its Dasypletis sp.

Anyway, good luck

~Crystal

Dasypeltis spp. are some awesome snakes. I've been doing a bit of reading about them lately and am hoping to get a pair sometime this year.

i dont think egg eaters are currently in the hobbie...but i may be wrong

Glades Herp had a couple species in stock recently. Now I think they are down to just D. scabra.

 

[Ravnos]

I currently keep D. atra, they are awesome snakes.

Rav

 

[WhyTeDraGon]

what is that, a quail egg? Can you feed them ANY kind of egg?

 

[Ravnos]

Yeah, thats a quail egg, they're far too small to feed normal chicken eggs. Most species need even smaller than that, like finch or budgie eggs - but they're not very picky about the eggs, as long as they are good eggs and not rotten or well past their expiration date.

Rav

 

[misfitsfiend]

thats awsome, where did you get yours?

 

[Ravnos]

Hand picked from Glades. They had several others that looked like they had been beaten with a baseball bat, but I grabbed the largest and healthiest looking one.

Rav