Next reptile... ?

[lizardminion]

I'm totally hooked. I will die of starvation from reptiles if I do not get another. My (only) ball python is doing fine, albeit had a somewhat bad shed last time. (The mistake was solved and he will be will be perfect after his next shed.) The only thing stopping me from my second reptile are parents and my budget. My dad always says no to getting a new pet, simply because he doesn't want any more animals in the house, although he doesn't enforce the rule strictly and my mom has managed to bring home new pets anyway. (Hence why we have two cats an a dog.) My mom is totally cool with reptiles, aside from my ongoing nagging that she hoped would stop after I got my first python. (Lol) Still, she is picky with them. As for now, all the says I can get for my second snake is a piebald ball python. (As if I have an extra $2000 lying around....) And if there is two things she doesn't like about nonvenomous snakes are those that look bland(ugly) and those who are active/swift. Both of which apply to most colubrids. (As with anyone, she also doesn't like aggressive/defensive animals.) However, when getting another snake, I always consider colubrids, of which if any look like eye candy, I might have a go at possibly getting. Maybe I can convince my mom past the activeness of these species by explaining I am responsible enough to deal with them, but it helps if she likes what they look like. To give you a hint of what she thinks looks good in a snake, she loves the way pythons look, something about their pattern, I guess. Most boas don't really fit the bill, or aren't as good looking as pythons, although they are better than what she sees in colubrids. To her, any colubrid I show her (via online pic, of course) looks ugly, and those baby ones like corn snakes seem too small and like something that would freak her (and other family members) out. That said, kingsnakes and corn snakes are out of the question. (I'm not sure about milk snakes though.) If you know of any colubrids that display a marvelous pattern, though, please mention. As far as colors go, she prefers natural colors as well. (As do I.)
(I heard that taiwanese beauties might fit the bill, can anyone confirm this? If so, please, flood this thread with the best photos possible so I can show these for approval to my mom.)
Also, something mainly for me to consider, is the escaping ability of snakes, as any animal loose in the house that's not a cat is unacceptable, and any reptile or invertebrate under my ownership will ruin my hobby completely, that is until I move out. This is also why my mom is a bit iffy about colubrids, and is why I have to consider secure cages in my budget. (In other words, colubrids notable for being better escape artist than others are not acceptable, plus, any that are too expensive for me to still afford after buying a specialty cage will not be considered.)
I also want consider other booid snakes, such as boas and pythons. I am very committed to any reptiles I currently own, or soon will own, and absorb as much knowledge as possible about the species. (I easily learn about herps; I'd get an A++ if there was a herpetology class in school. Without paying attention in class. ) I'd also like to mention that this will probably be the last reptile I'll be getting until I'm 18 and out. Booids I'm considering are Boa c. imperator, another ball python, a blood python, a super dwarf retic, a carpet python, a spotted or children's python. Nothing too big to eat my cats, but something a little bit bigger. Or something small is fine too. I don't really care for morphs that much either, although if it's affordable, I'd go for it. Anything that falls under novice or intermediate care, I can deal with. I don't mind aggressive eaters. (My BP acts like a retic at feeding time.)
I haven't given much thought to lizards, but feel free to throw anything out there. Just no beardies. I prefer handleable species, although I'd probably leave it alone anyway since I develop a habit of routine care and practically forget about it after the daily chores are done. I might handle it occasionally. If it counts, I'm extremely interested in chameleons; what species seems to be the very best in captivity and might be okay with brief, careful, and occasional handling. I'm okay with bugs, since we've dealt with those before when we used to have a leopard gecko. Geckos, skinks, iguanas, lacertids, and agamas, throw out any suggestions. The fact they aren't snakes is a boost of its own.

P.S. Even though my dad has a minor disapproval of reptiles, he still buys food for them, as long as I help around the house. Also, I am not picky at all about reptiles, aside from handability. My mom is the one who dictates what I get, along with my input.

 

[Deftones90]

Carpet pythons are fun snakes. They're all I keep at the moment. They're also something a little different from all the boas and balls.

 

[bchbum11]

+1 to carpets. I only have centralians, but they are one of my favorites in my collection. Woma pythons also fit what you're looking for.

 

[cmack91]

Can I ask what your budget is? My first thought is a false water cobra. If you like earthy colors you will love them. I have no idea how to care for them though. African house snakes are cool too, and bull snakes are always fun. Have you thought about amphibians? Pacmans are cool, the eat anything that will fit in their mouth.

Other things coming to mind:
Timor python
Green tree python
Viper boa (really cool)

 

[Nikki1984]

Can I ask what your budget is? My first thought is a false water cobra. If you like earthy colors you will love them. I have no idea how to care for them though. African house snakes are cool too, and bull snakes are always fun. Have you thought about amphibians? Pacmans are cool, the eat anything that will fit in their mouth.

Other things coming to mind:
Timor python
Green tree python
Viper boa (really cool)

Falsies are great snakes but need a lot of room as adults, are very active and need a pretty secure cage.

Personally I would put the money into a nice set up and get a chameleon. They are fascinating pets! If you do, my biggest advice would be to get a mercury vapor bulb. I used to rehab chameleons and they seemed to respond best to MVBs.

 

[Quazgar]

Crested geckos. Awesome little animals.

 

[cantthinkofone]

wait im sorry i didnt read the whole thing. just asking how close are you to 18? oh and my suggestion of course is going to be Gargs. they are my favorite next to snakes and cresties. you could always get a rubber boa. of all the reptiles i keep i was surprised when i saw a snake i had never heard of. it amazed me so i decided to research. they only get 1 to 2 feet and are sorta cute. and the breeder that sells them is asking around $50. All of the suggestions are for great snakes you just have to choose depending on space, time ,and effort. you dont really want something that gets to big because then the cage pricing shoots like a rocket.
Goodluck

 

[pitbulllady]

I don't see how anyone can consider most Corns to be "bland" or "ugly", seriously. When I think of a brightly-colored snake, "Okeetee Corn" is the first thing that jumps into my mind, as both a herper AND an artist. There are some Colubrids that are just retina-searing bright when it comes to color. When it comes to Corns, if you don't like one color or pattern, you've only got like...oh, a zillion other morphs to choose from.

If your mom likes the shape of a Python and you are looking for something affordable, how about consider an African House Snake? Some of the reds in those can look really nice, plus they have a very Python-like head shape(and teeth), Python-like eyes and very smooth silky skin, and they are also constrictors. They stay fairly small, though, Corn Snake-sized. If you want a fairly heavy-bodied Colubrid, with bright colors, one of the Hypo or Erythristic Water Snake morphs should do it, but if your mom finds Corn Snakes dull and ugly, she won't like those, either. Most of your smaller Pythons also tend to be dull-colored. I'd also recommend a Hogg Island Boa, since they stay fairly short for a BCI, and if you don't like the coloration on one...just wait a few hours. They change color throughout the day to reflect the time of day, and won't look the same at night as they do in the middle of the day! True "Red-Tailed" Boas, the BCC's, also can have some stunning coloration on them, and they have a smoother, softer skin than BCC's, which is soft enough as it is, but they do require a bit more careful husbandry, mostly with regards to humidity. There are also the Rosy Boas, which stay small, and there are some locales and morphs with nice colors, though still more "earthy" colors. Have you shown your mom a picture of a Brazilian Rainbow Boa yet? I DARE her to say THOSE are "bland"! They stay a very manageable size, definitely look like a Boid, have wonderfully soft skin, and are active without being hyper, and aren't terribly expensive or hard to find. I have actually kept these in large plastic sweater boxes with air holes drilled in, since they need fairly high humidity. These, along with White-Lipped Pythons, do very well in that sort of enclosure, which is about as cheap a snake enclosure as you can get. I keep my adult White-Lip in one now, on aspen bedding, and she eats, poops and sheds just fine. That is another snake I'd recommend, but good luck finding one that's not a biter, since most are imports and are treated horribly before they arrive here in the US, since they aren't captured to be sold, but to be carried back to a village and eaten, and they are tightly lashed to poles with vines to keep them until the hunters can return and kill and eat them. Mine has noticeable scars from her ordeal, but somehow she is one of the very few really tame ones I've seen.

pitbulllady

 

[lizardminion]

Back from a sudden, family emergency related road-trip! I do like where this thread is going.
To help cease my boredom outside of the hospital room, I bought two reptile magazines. Containing an article on rainbow boas, she impressed by their unique appearance and beauty, as was I. (I had underestimated this one.) I'm still inquiring on Taiwanese beauties. I have taken African house snakes into consideration as well. I am pretty much leaning towards getting one of the short-tailed python species; tied between the Blood Python, Borneo Short-tailed Python, and Sumatra Short-Tailed Python.
(A little off-topic, but who wants to help sort out the Wikipedia confusion on these species, as they were split from subspecies to species 12 years ago, and Wikipedia fails to accept this)
After reading the Tiger Salamander article and some other amphibian related articles, this has reignited my forgotten love for amphibians. I'm stuck between Waxy Monkey Frogs and Tiger Salamanders on this. Info for breeding Tiger Salamanders, if any information is available, (I remember reading a post of a successful attempt somewhere) would greatly be appreciated.
I'm also still lost in geckos but I'm leaning towards leos, fat-tails, leachies, or cresties.
I have until the November reptile expo to decide and prepare.

I hope you were being sarcastic about the false water cobra. I've still got myself at least 3 years until I'm out of the house and even then, I'm still jumpy on lethal, venomous species. Nothing more venomous than a hognose.

Also, a little off-topic, but am I the only one speculating that the short tailed pythons seem to be closely related to Burmese/Indian Rock Pythons? Their head shapes seem quite similar and something about their patterns seems to resemble one-another as well. They also get quite thick.
I always loved the way Burmese Pythons look. Their snout was a little more square shaped with the heat sensing pits towards the front, and the ray that streamed from the back of their eyes is quite impressive. (A ball python's eye-ray doesn't quite stand up to a Burm's) The blotches with their smooth, but exciting flaring gradient that filled them beats all others. To me, it appears that some short-tailed pythons have some noticeably relating features to the burmese pythons, such as head shape, and if you look closely, their patterns are relatable as well.

 

[cmack91]

False water cobras are far from deadly. They are no more toxic than a hognose.

 

[Hayden]

You're not going to be able to breed tiger sals. It takes years and extremely commited projects, and even then captive breeding is incredibly uncommon.

All the bloods I've ever worked with have been less than handle-able.

Leachies are fun but incredibly expensive.

I would go with a rainbow, cornsnake, another ball python, or some AFTs. If you're looking for frogs, you can't beat a White's.

 

[Perentie]

i second the carpet python if you want a snake my Queensland coastal has never bitten me.
for a lizard i would say a uromastyx is the best, my U.Philbyi has lots of personality and is very handleable
for a frog, a whites would be the best option, long lifespan ( mine was 23+ years old) easy care