Opinions- king vs etc laughing

[skar]

I decided I want a snake (I've had them before); yet I'm contemplating between the two. Hmmm just thought of hognose too ...
Any how I want small size and ease of care coupled with unique/cool look- good eating habits.
So obviously any opinions towards one or the other ?

 

[pavel]

Well for starters, what do you consider "small"? Personally, I am a fan of corn & rat snakes as they are easy to care for, typically have a very nice disposition, & come in a nice array of colors (though unsurprisingly the more spectacular color morphs are harder to find and more expensive). You'll find many strong supports for ball pythons, though personally I think the Children's python is cooler (it's also smaller). Then too, there are some very nicely colored garters out there as well. (Someone resurrected a dead thread not long ago on garters and posted a fantastically colored red one.)

 

[catfishrod69]

corn snakes for some reason i just cant stand..i have a male/female pair of albino checker garters, and they are super easy to care for, and are very easy to hold, and deal with....i keep them at my T room temps, so no special heating, and checker garter are known to be the easiest to tame of garters, even if you pluck one from the wild, you can have it tamed in 3 days....

 

[skar]

Thank you for the replies
I apparently forgot - I was looking into kings, sand boas or hognose .
I like garter snakes yet I like one of these choices better for myself.
Ball pythons are small but I've allready ruled them out.

 

[catfishrod69]

well i have never had any of those, but from what reading i have done on them, i would choose the sand boa...

 

[skar]

cool ok 1 for sand boa and 1 for king, that's all eh ? hmmph
best out of five ? cmon now ...you know you wanna !

 

[pitbulllady]

I'm wondering what you consider a "small" snake. Most Kings in the L. getulla complex can get quite large, especially the Goini and Eastern Chains. I have a male Eastern, a recent wild-caught, who is longer than I am tall, an impressive snake. He eats medium-large rats with no problems. He might be small compared to say, one of my African Rocks, but I don't think most folks would think of him as a "small" snake!

pitbulllady

 

[littleangel7700]

I have a desert king and love her to death! I've had her 8 1/2 years (she was a baby when I got her) and now she's about 4 1/2' long and the diameter of maybe a silver dollar. You can see pics and my whole review of her here: http://www.rightpet.com/ratingofreptile/desert-kingsnake/881 So that's my vote. I've never dealt with sand boas, so no opinions there, but I've worked with a few hognose snakes before, and I've found them to be a bit nippy. That's just IMO though.

 

[johnharper]

arizona mtn kings are beautiful and they favor coral snakes alot hognoses are cool too .



john

 

[skar]

Alright !! Good we have 3 more for king snake (guessing pitbullady is going king ?) !
Just to be clear : smaller than a red tail boa is small to me.
I am not afraid of any snake bites espec from any of these.
looks like I'll be looking for a king maybe a hognose ... I like them hmmph

 

[bchbum11]

Ok, I'll go against the grain here I guess... 1st choice would be to get them all! If that isn't an option, I would go with the hognose. I have 3 California kings, 2 Mexican blacks, and 2 western hognose, and if I absolutely had to pick 1 species to keep it would be the hognose. They are a bit more high strung, but the threat displays are more cute than scary. They kind of look like rattle snakes, flatten their heads like cobras, hiss like puss adders, and once out of the cage are just as calm and well behaved as any kingsnake I've worked with. And really, who could resist a face like this?

 

[LeilaNami]

If you are concerned about eating habits, get a king. They are garbage disposals. Mine is willing to pound down mice at all times. I keep both a California banded king and Kenyan sand boas. I would prefer my king if I had to choose. Kings are nippy as babies but as they grow they tend to only be nippy as a feeding response. Kings are also more active than my sand boas which mostly looks like I have a cage of substrate most of the time.

 

[skar]

Nice, thank you for the opinions !
Yes eating habits are important to me.
Sweet I've got a reptile show this weekend Where there will be Alot of choices and better pricing
I was looking at hogs and they seemed pricey on the net ...I'll see what they run this weekend I guess.
I like both kings and hogs so idk . . . LOling

 

[NikiP]

I know I haven't posted on AB in forever, but this thread caught my eye. I've been toying with getting into snakes & was dead set on a hognose. Anyways, long story short, I decided to skip the "usual" & find a good "uncommon" starter. Everyone I know has a corn, RTB, or ball python.

African house snake/cape house snake. Their slit pupils, oil spill shine, & ease of care really drew me in. Big plus, the non-albinos are dirt cheap. I've got a male 11' hatchling 100% het albino cape house snake coming Thursday for just above price of shipping from a breeder that came highly recommended. Males get around 2-3' & females around 5'.

Just throwing something else out there for consideration

 

[DrJ]

Skar,

Which species of king are you looking at? As with any colubrid, the ease of care and generalized personality traits vary quite a bit between species. If you are concerned about getting a good eater out of a neonate, stay away from graybands. They are the BEST kings I've ever had, but are often finicky to start out. A good question to ask if it is eating F/T rodents. If the answer is yes, you're set and ready to go. Otherwise, run.

From all the snake shows I've been to, I've never seen hognose available. This is for several reasons. 1)Technically, they are venomous. Letting hognose into a show is totally dependent on who's hosting the event and how particular they are. But, that is to say that a hognose would have to "chew" the venom into you. AND, if it did, there are no dangerous side-effects to worry about. 2)They aren't all that popular, so they don't sell particularly well. Many vendors just leave them at home. If you can find out who is vending the show, call the vendors up and ask if they'd bring some for you to look at.

 

[pitbulllady]

Skar,

Which species of king are you looking at? As with any colubrid, the ease of care and generalized personality traits vary quite a bit between species. If you are concerned about getting a good eater out of a neonate, stay away from graybands. They are the BEST kings I've ever had, but are often finicky to start out. A good question to ask if it is eating F/T rodents. If the answer is yes, you're set and ready to go. Otherwise, run.

From all the snake shows I've been to, I've never seen hognose available. This is for several reasons. 1)Technically, they are venomous. Letting hognose into a show is totally dependent on who's hosting the event and how particular they are. But, that is to say that a hognose would have to "chew" the venom into you. AND, if it did, there are no dangerous side-effects to worry about. 2)They aren't all that popular, so they don't sell particularly well. Many vendors just leave them at home. If you can find out who is vending the show, call the vendors up and ask if they'd bring some for you to look at.

I cannot fathom a reptile show with no Western Hogs. Here on the East Coast, they, along with Ball Pythons, Leopard and Crested Geckoes, are a staple of the shows. There are many vendors who routinely sell here that specialize in nothing but Western Hogs, and they are actually very popular snakes, available in several different morphs. They can be very expensive little snakes, depending on morphs. One of my own friends breeds these in NC, and they sell very well.

Still, I do prefer Kings in the Lampropeltis getulla complex. Easterns and Cal Kings usually are not very expensive, are very hardy, and usually very docile snakes. It's rare to get a biter in these, especially the Easterns.

pitbulllady

 

[skar]

I kinda liked (albino) prairie/cali 50/black king but I'll probably stick looking for a mount king.
Yes I knew hogs are considered venomous, People in general are so over dramatic pansies over such notions.
I appreciate the idea to call the vendors I did not even consider this ! !
All good comments, thank you. More ideas thoughts post em !

---------- Post added 11-16-2011 at 07:00 PM ----------

I called they'll have hognosed

 

[DrJ]

Pitbulllady,

They say the culture is extremely different between East Coast and the Midwest. I know all about Hoggies and varying morphs on the internet. But, even a normal is a rare site at a Midwest show.


Skar,

Yes, it is weird. I can understand a ban on venomous reptiles due to liability, but the venom of a Hognose is so weak that it's not considered an important issue. To ban venomous, I think needs to be limited to what is considered medically significant. All others I don't see the liability issue, but who knows.

Glad to hear there will be some hognose for you to look at! Take pictures for us!

 

[skar]

Yay !! I made it through the reptile show without selling the house j/k !
Awesome displays from green snakes to crocs it was cool ! I felt shy with the camera because no one else was taking pics and I didn't want to be "that guy".
I feel a little ripped off but I thought -= I never see hognose and they have alot of different attributes that set them apart (hissing, flattening their heads etc)
I did not see any cape house snakes there and I insist on seeing said pets in person. I also decided one is enough soooo..
So I got a 100% het albino (f) hog and my brother got a cali king
Funny - first thing the lil isht did was bite me ! ha bit me three times in like a hour lol . I think I will enjoy it even tho a 100 bones was dropped hmmph. . . Btw ideas for cool names would be nice all I got is Piglet or Melina both don't fit...

 

[LeilaNami]

Congrats on your hoggie!

If you ever decide to get an African house snake I want to caution you if you ever plan to breed. Most people selling African house snakes have NO IDEA what species they have because Lamprophis is a very messed up complex. My African house snake was recently reclassified to not being an African house snake at all haha.