Snake people, more advice needed - best first book?

[feetheart]

I have taken all your good advice, I have managed to talk DH round, I have a borrowed vivarium arriving on Thursday and am about to create a 'Choose your Snake' voucher for DD's birthday next Tuesday. Now we need an idiots guide to keeping snakes a good book :)

Recommendations please.

[feetheart]

No snaky people?

[seeThereWeAreThen]

We got a book about corn snakes, I can't remember who it waa by, it was one of the books on sale in the shop, to be honest other then a quick flick through, we haven't used it. But we bought our corn snake as a baby from a specialist reptile shop. So we spent a lot of time before hand going in, holding snakes and getting advice from them. They were really helpful lovely people.

[seeThereWeAreThen]

What sort of snake are looking at getting? An adult or baby? If you get a baby you won't need a full size viv yet.

[feetheart]

Hopefully a baby corn snake :)
A snake-minded friend is lending us a small viv until we can find a suitable one on ebay/local for sale site.
We should be spending a fair while in the snake shop as DD has difficulty making decisions so will have plenty of time for learning all we can discussions!!

[AuntJane]

Young snakes tend to be more snappy than adults. Perhaps you could find a three or four year old rescue snake?

Cornsnakes originate from the US so you may not need extra heat if the house is kept warm. Feeding every two weeks should be adequate, but check that there is clean water daily.

Important: speak to your vet BEFORE you need him to see if he knows anything about snakes. Most vets do at most a week on "exotics" as part of their training.