what is a good snake?

Question

what is a good snake to get for a 12 year old kid?

Answer 1

the best snake for a beginner is a corn snake as they are great pets,non-aggressive and are very low maintenance.corn snakes come in a variety of colours and patterns from dark colour like black and light colours like white and very bright colours like yellows and reds. i have been bugging my parents for a snake fora couple of months now an they have said yes and we looked at lots of types of snake but my parents didn't want to get me one that ate mice like corn snakes and most other snakes.my dad wanted me to get a egg eating snake because they just eat eggs but when we had visited some pet shops we found out that egg eating snakes are very aggresive and that they are very hard to look after. but then they mensioned the corn snake and told me all the info i needed and so here it all is: corn snakes can bite but it hardly hurts you and they can grow to 5 foot long, they eat mice which can be baught frozen or alive,hatchlings need a 10-20 gallon tank and adults need a 20 gallon tank or bigger.you need a water bowl which can't be tipped and which i can take a bath in, you will need a heater mat to go under the tank so the snake can stay warm,you will need some substrate which can be aspen shavings,newspaper or any other reccomended substrate but don't use pine or ceder shavings as they are very harmful to snakes.you will also need some plants or branches for it to climb up and down on, you will need a bulb to give the snake light.to get more info on corn snakes you can go on google and type in : "caring for corn snakes" and you should get some very useful websites up.i reccomend researching on corn snakes and if you don't want the easiest snake to keep you could have a look about milk snakes or king snakes or you could look at ball pythons. i hope my info has helped.

Answer 2

Best snake for a beginner is a ball python. Next on the list is corn snakes. Corns are more feisty and will try to bite you more than a ball python would. But again, realize every snake has the potential to bite, not matter how big or small. Ball pythons are the most relaxed snake.

Answer 3

Cold Hearted Snake....Paula Abdul Spiders & Snakes....Jim Stafford Snake Charmer....Rainbow Tube Snake Boogie....ZZ Top Jawbreaker....Judas Priest Sneaky Snake....Tom T. Hall The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight....REM Rattlesnake Shake....Aerosmith Union Of The Snake....Duran Duran Keep On Lovin You....Reo Speedwagon

Answer 4

I would be very careful when getting a snake. I don't think snakes make good pets especially Boas or pythons. They can kill without meaning to do so. Try garden snakes or king snakes if you must get a snake. They are non venomous and good rat catchers.

Answer 5

Gardener snake or corn snake I owned both when I was 9

Answer 6

a ball python is usually a docile snake and they should only grow to 4-6 feet maximum. If you are starting out, then a corn snake or kingsnake might be cheaper from a pet store and would be easier to care for. Depends upon the level of experience that the child and parents/guardians have with snakes and resources available to the pet owners.

Answer 7

Are you the 12-year-old or the parent?

Snakes do require more work than most people believe, and remember that many of them require live food! They also usually require very specific habitats to be healthy that can be difficult to maintain. Even if you buy a snake for your son/daughter, and tell them that it is their duty to care for it, remember that the care of the snake could quite easily fall to you as the parent, so be prepared to take on that responsibility.

Remember also that they need a lot of room for their size - those 12-gallon aquariums are not nearly large enough for any but the smallest baby snakes.

I don't want to discourage you, because snakes can be fun and great pets, but I want to be sure that all aspects of ownership are considered.

Answer 8

A ball python, corn snake, king snake, rat snake, children's python...something easy to care for with few complex needs. You can ask at a knowlegable pet store what kind of snakes are easy to care for.

Answer 9

There are a lot of great breeds to start out with that are "easier" to care for. But please remember there is no snake that is low maintenance or very easy to care for. They all require very specific habitats conditions, feeding, and environments. Just make sure you do your homework BEFOR you buy your snake.

This website may be helpful: check out their snake ed and snakes for beginners pages

www.serpent-gardens.com

Answer 10

Here are a few links to articles on selecting and caring for a pet snake.

This first link is VERY comprehensive, covering many subjects from choosing a snake, to snake care and health, including veterinary articles.
http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/MNAALAS/Snakes.html

Popular Snake Species to choose as pets
http://www.klsnet.com/sspecies.html

http://www.animalcareassociates.com/snakepet.html

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/information/snakesselection.php

http://www.petreptiles.com/Snake/snake-pet.php3

http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/helpforsnakes/snakesaspets.html

I have had several species of snakes as pets and I found the corn snake/rat snake and the boa constrictor to be the two species with the best temperaments. Of course a lot of what makes a snake easy to work with depends on how the snake is kept, how its handled, and if its well fed. A well fed snake of a species known to have a good basic temperament for keeping as a pet, kept in an adequately large enough cage that is set up to give it a good environment and comfortable air temperature, and handled gently but firmly, not teased etc, can be a very enjoyable pet.

Pet snakes do recognize a good owner or handler that they like. I once kept a Northern water snake, a species usually ill-tempered and not good as a pet at all, for a pet. The snake was a rescued animal and was given to me because the person who had gotten it was going to kill it for biting, and I persuaded that person to let me have it. That snake became a very amicable pet (unusual for that species) iThis was at school and the snake was one of my advanced biology projects that year. It would ride curled up in my shirt pocket and stay curled up contentedly in my pocket during the entire class period while I took notes. I taught it to eat canned cat food off of a toothpick, and it never once bit me. However it would bit anyone else who tried to pick it up!

I later had several other snake species, and the one thing I will caution you that I learned from a difficult experience, is to buy a snake that is guaranteed to eat well. If I ever buy a snake it will be from a breeder or from a shop that guarantees that the snake will eat well. I found out with one of my snakes that Id gotten from a petshop, that wouldn't eat (and if forcefed, would regurgitate) that there are intestinal bacterial problems a snake can get when imported, that don't show up until several months after they are sold. I took the snake to the veterinarian who took care of animals at the local zoo, since there was not a herpetologist (reptile specialist) in the area I lived in at the time. Despite weeks of treatment, the snake died.

Corn snakes are bred in a multitude of color varieties, its amazing all the colors that corn snakes are available in. Corn snakes are not only colorful but have good temperaments too! This species would be a great choice as a pet.

Here is a site with links to color varieties of corn snakes and also information on where and how to acquire a corn snake should you decide thats the species you want to get.
http://www.moreptiles.com/cornsnake%20gallery.htm