Does anyone keep snakes?

[mamazon]

Ds is desperate for one and i am thinking of getting one for Christmas.
he has wanted one for his birthday but i decided not to as i was worried it was a passing phase but he is still desperate and has asked santa for one.

there is a rescue centre near us and they are willing to let us adopt a snake. it will be a sub adult corn snake. i will also get the complete set up from them so that i ensure i get everything we need.

does anyone have any themselves? just wanted to know all the gorey details really. Ds will be encouraged to do most of the dirty work but i will need to know as well to make sure its done properly.

my brotehr keeps them but i can't trust him to be totally honest with me as he really lieks teh idea fo Ds getting one so he seems to tell me eveyrthign through rose tinted glasses.

(just to add, Ds is HFA so when he gets obsessed about something it really is a major obsession so i am not likely to need to rehome the snake any time soon because he has grown out of it.)

I had a hognose a few years back but gave her away as she was laying eggs every winter as she wanted to mate,the guy who runs the local reptile shop near us took her and mated her with his,and every so often I go in there and theres babies for sale .

In my opinion they make good pets as long as

a)they're not too big to handle

b)your serious about it and its not a fad.

make sure thats its happy to be handled,the rescue centre should make sure of this before they let you take it,and keep handling it lots,as if left for a while they do lose theyre 'tameness'

Feeding is easy ,take out he amount out of the freezer let it defrost and then plonk it in,although some snakes prefer to have ther'ye prey moving,in that case you'll need a very long pair of tweezers.

Other than that its just making sure the temperature and humiditys right and its got water and giving the vivarium a clean after the snakes been to the loo(its very much like birds mess)

I'm very envious,I would love another one but have resisted until my Dc grow up abit.

I used to have a West African Ball Python, which was fine until I went on holiday and the stupid cow who said she'd mind it accidentally killed it (boiled down to neglect and we have never spoken again). I had it for about four years and never got bitten or anything, but you have to be careful not to make any sudden movements around them. Put your hand slowly into the tank, don't yank the lid open and stick your arm in abruptly.

They're easy to care for - as howling says, you just have to be careful to keep everything squeaky clean (it was an infection from a dirty vivarium that killed mine). Terrapins can definitely carry salmonella and I would ask the shelter if that's also the case for snakes. If you teach your son that it's very important to wash his hands thoroughly after handling it he'll be fine, though.

Get the shelter to show you how to feed it. You do get the occasional one that just refuses to eat anything but live food (which I think is illegal) but I doubt an animal shelter would try to pass one like this off on you (a pet shop might, though).

The only thing I would worry about is if he's old enough to keep the vivarium completely secure - you'd be stunned by how good snakes are at escaping. I'm not trying to give you the willies or anything - if it's in a commercial vivarium that's always properly secured it'll be fine, but if your son is the slapdash type who might leave the lid ajar then a snake is not for him. Basically don't use a fish tank with a board and a brick on top of it - the snake will get out.

corn snakes make great pets, one really important thing is good husbandry. Snakes can pass on salmonella and it is an absolute MUST to keep them clean and to wash hands after handling them or their vivarium. Make sure you get the biggest vivarium you can afford and provide lots of places for the snake to hide in.

I'm quite envious, used to have a corny but it escaped!

another point - when feeding the snake do it with one of those pincher things, their eye site is shite and it HURTS when they miss

thank you. so far youve not said anything taht scares me.

he has been around my brothers snakesa ll his life so he knows he has to be slow and genlte and he also knows about making sure the vivs are locked (my brother puts locks on the doors of his vivs as he has two small sons)
i will do the same as well. i am not worried by snakes at all but i wouldn't want one in bed with me lol

feeding i don't think will be a problem as long as its the frozen kind....not sure i could handle feeding live (and yeah im sure thats illegal as well)

my brother keeps alcohol spray hanging at the side of his vivs so the kids all have to spray their hands when they put the snakes down. so will adopt that idea as well.

havng done a bit of reading myself and speaking to my brother and the l;ady from teh recue centre it seems that corn snakes are a good starter choice as they don't grow too big and aren't very agressive.

i just want to make sure i dont get any surprises lol

Yeah, it would be horrifying if what they told you was a little corn snake grew into this:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/16/whk116.xml

(This happened just down the road from our house. Hence the cat is an indoor-only cat).

Sounds like Santa is going to be quite the hero on Christmas morning!

Sorry for the failed link. Trying again:

husky killed by python

And apologies once more - there were actually two separate incidents, and I've linked to the dog that escaped but given the title of the one that didn't. A husky was killed in the same place, possibly by the same snake.

ooh wow that is frightening.

Santa is going to make a little boy incredibly happy i feel.

is it odd that i am slightly excited myself? not necessarily at teh thought of getting a snake but the knowledge of how happy it will make DS.

he has been obsessed with dinosaurs since he was tiny and as he has grown older it has now moved into reptiles.

i didn't think i would be able to afford it all tbh but the rescue centre have said i can have everything we need for a donation of £20! its normally a lot more but she said she would be happy to know teh snake will be going to a good home.

yay!

Scary, hey? And that's nothing compared to the monkeys, which are pure evil. One went for me with long yellow fangs bared - I've never run so fast in my life!

Good luck with the snake, sounds like Santa is going to make someone so happy he hyperventilates on Christmas morning.