dude take a hike in your back yard and search for garter snake great for starters nothing fancy trust me.
That's what I'm thinking of doing. How do prices average there or what?
I did find one in the northern branch of the Chicago river once.
Even my mom said it looked like an earthworm.earthworm?
it's pink!
Lol, now that would make an awesome first snake
I was always told a Corn was the best first snake as they tend to be easier to feed but they can bite if not handled often. A friend of mine has one that started biting as he was not handled for several weeks and now they have to throw the food into its vivarium otherwise it strikes at their hand and they have been bitten so many times now they are too scared to handle it, which is a shame. I opted for a Ball Python for my first one as they are very docile and reluctant to bite however they can be very difficult to get to feed as i am finding out. Mine shows no signs of feeling threatened when handled and seems to love being out of his vivarium climbing up my arms and around my shoulders. I have no regrets getting him and love him to bits i just wish i could get him to strike feed. I have taken advice from Ted and will try his method next time i try to feed him so fingers crossed that this will work.
This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They do know they can tame it back down, right? It's not like it's actually capable of injuring anyone.
I have offered to help either by having the snake over with me for a while and i will handle him, ( i have no fear of being bitten by a non-venomous snake) or to go over to their house and tame him again but as he is my boss as well he is a little reluctant on me going over. Workplace gossip and all that trash you know how some people think. Ive told him the snake will not hurt him or his son who is the owner of the snake but he is still worried.The corn is about 4ft long and as i keep telling them he needs to be handled so am now going to persuade them to allow me to look after him for a short while. He can bite me but i wont give up on him.
Good! Of course, what will they do when the snake ends up liking you better than its owner.
(You should also tell them to stop throwing food into the enclosure, which is only making it worse. They are teaching the snake that every time the tank is opened, what comes in is food. This will not help the biting. ) ), and then the stress of multiple moves, it's been many months since my boy got regular handling. He's just shy and twitchy and tends to curl up now, though, no biting. In the next couple of days I'll probably just pull on a second shirt so he can hide in it, and go watch a movie. I once did much the same thing while playing video games for about an hour, it was so cute. 
sidguppy, thanks for sharing all that info. Can you recommend breeders or any more resources?Thamnophis aka Garthersnake
-unlike Corn- or Milksnakes, Rosy-, Sand- or Rubberboa's these are diurnal. so you won't end up with a snake that sleeps or hides all day or just "lays there". Garthers crawl around and hunt at daytime, they mate at daytime and almost all the behaviour there is to be seen happens right there with the lights on.
although giving birth usually happens really early in the morning before dawn
-they are very docile and easily to handle. don't let yourself be kept away by stories that they musk, stink or bite: that only happens when you catch a wild one!
and it's not fair: try holding a wild King- or Milk- or Cornsnake, or even worse, one of the boa's....see what happens! definitely not docile either.
captive-bred Garthers are highly active but also very docile. the head really is too small to do any damage.
-Garthers eat dead prey: thawed unfrozen smelt and the like. this makes for easy feeding: you don't have to get into smelly hairy rodents that can harm your snake when not eaten right away or can cause allergics to you or other people in the house. other prey include live guppies or goldfish in the waterbowl, earthworms and the like. don't forget to treat the dead fish with vitamine B or multivitamines.
-Garthers don't smell IF you keep the cage clean, remove dung and refresh the water. as any animalkeeper should do.
-Easy to breed! just a few months of cool temperatures and they breed. and you don't need an incubator: Gathers get live young that can be raised on earthworms until they're big enough to go for tiny fish and chopped up fish.
-colorful!
Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis "Flame" (linebred red variety)
Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus
Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia
these and more are all available from captive-bred stock
