#beginner snake

Hello!

That's not a weird question, that's a great question!

The answer is that the best pet snake for an absolute beginner to reptiles is the one you have researched fully and love the most. While it's true that some snakes are more forgiving in terms of husbandry and may be easier to keep in captivity, with proper preparation most snakes in the hobby can be suitable for a first-time keeper.

Corn snakes are not the first snake species I ever kept, but they were the snake that fit me best, and by coincidence are also one of the easiest to keep. I know other folks for whom boa constrictors were their true best match, or ball pythons, or sand boas, or king snakes. Even more challenging snakes like rainbow boas or old-world rat snakes can be a fine first snake if you are fully prepared.

I guess the questions you should ask yourself are: Why do I want a pet snake? What appeals to me most about having a snake? When I picture myself with a pet snake, what does it look like? How big should my snake be? What should their enclosure look like? How important is interaction with my snake, and how often will we interact? What sorts of activities will my snake and I partake in? Should my snake be more active or more snuggly? What will my snake eat? How much space, time, and money can I reasonably devote to this snake's enclosure and long-term husbandry? How likely is that to change within a snake's lifetime?

There are no wrong answers to these questions. Sit down and really think about it. When you have your answers, write a list of pros and cons for species that match what you're wanting and weigh them against one-another. Price out enclosures and supplies and compare them for an "easier" snake that tolerates your local climate better versus a more challenging species that needs more specific humidity and temperature ranges.

Finally, listen to your heart... but act logically. If your heart-song happens to be playing to the tune of a more challenging species, then follow it! Regardless of the species you choose, be ready to read a ton, find peer-reviewed scientific articles about the snake species you've selected, see if books on their keeping are available and read those, join online communities for that species, learn their husbandry inside and out and backwards, talk to breeders of that species, understand their natural history and their native habitat and be prepared to recreate it in captivity before you bring that snake home.

Corn and rat snakes are often recommended for beginners, but if you don’t want to spend a lot of time cleaning poop, I would suggest not getting a colubrid. Also, I don’t believe in “beginner snakes.” These animals are long-lived, and you should plan on getting a snake you’ll want to keep for its lifetime, usually 20 years minimum.

There’s really nothing about keeping most snakes that requires years of study and practice. For the species common in the hobby, just read up on care, set up the enclosure, monitor it for a week or two and make adjustments until all values are stable and in-range for the species, then insert snake. Keep monitoring temps and humidity and make adjustments as needed. Boom. You’re doing Snake Husbandry™.

So, I will make recommendations based on the criteria you provided, and not on the nebulous “beginner” to “experienced” spectrum. The fact that you want a fairly low-maintenance snake rules out any of the species that are difficult to keep in captivity anyway.

Once set up, a python or a boa requires far less maintenance than a colubrid, in my opinion (excluding giants – those are quite a bit more work). Many species also tend to be docile and easy to handle.

For a hardy, easily-set-up species that don’t get huge, look into rosy boas or Kenyan sand boas. They’re adorable, and placid, and stay on the smallish side. Males reach up to about 2ft in length, while females can get up to 3. These snakes actually happen to be in the “beginner” category of care requirements also. I don’t keep any myself, so no personal experience.

Ball pythons are darlings, usually, and don’t require a lot of fussing either. Mine get fed every 2-3 weeks with one f/t rдt, and if I’m fresh out of spoons, they don’t mind waiting a day or three for their meal. In my experience, they poop once for every 2-3 meals. Pee more often, but that’s much less of a mess to clean up. All of mine will settle down in my hoodie pocket or under my jacket while I work, and go right to sleep. If you decide to get one, look for an adult, as they would be calmer than neonates, and established feeders, so you don’t have to worry about that.

Hello anon, 

Have a look in to house snakes, corn snakes, kenyan sand boas, rosy boas and some of the smaller types of king snake and milk snake may also suit you.  

those will only ever need smaller prey items and are quite small and easy to handle. Some of them may be feisty as babies but you can get round this by getting an adult snake with an established temperament, 

Have a look at this post too

https://rainbowsnakes.tumblr.com/post/163090996169/what-would-you-tell-a-complete-beginner-i-want-to#notes

There are many species that don’t require anything extraordinary to thrive:

Colubrids such as Corn and Cal king snakes, milk snakes, rat snakes (black rats, trans pecos, etc)

Ball pythons

Garter snakes

Rosy boas

Kenyan sand boas

Carpet pythons

any “common pet” snake pretty much

With a teensy bit more effort, these species will do great too:

Boa imperator and b constrictor

Blood and short tail pythons

Rainbow boas

etc.

Basically what I am saying is: figure out what exactly do you like in a snake -- I personally like my snakes hefty, but you may prefer wigglier ones; maybe you like day-active snakes, or you like cuddly snakes that will just sit with you -- just figure out what your heart desires, and then see which ones of the more common pet snakes fit that description.

Anything that’s not considered “advanced” such as white lipped pythons, green tree pythons, emerald tree boas, and any giants (burms, retics, olive pythons), anything that’s well-established in the hobby, you should have a fairly easy time caring for.

To let you in on a secret, I got Lasso because of that “beginner snake” BS, and honestly, while I love her and will provide the best possible care for her as long as she lives -- still, colubrids are just not my thing. She is the sweetest noodle, as is Slinky, but they both won’t ever sit with me, and they both poop way too often for my liking (once and sometimes two and three times between feedings). 

So think through your preferences and what you reasonably can provide care-wise. If you work full-time, or maybe you have a health issue, maybe scrubbing a cage every week isn’t your dream. That’s why I don’t want to outright recommend a snake for you. I don’t know your circumstances, I don’t know what qualities in snakes give you heart eyes, I have no clue even how old you are -- 20 years is a long time, and I want every new snake keeper to have THE snake they wanted.

Thank you! I am glad you enjoy my blog!

I personally don’t believe in the concept of a “beginner snake” because of how long the snakes live. Whatever snake you get, should be a snake that you’ll want to keep for the next 20+ years. Or longer, depending on the species. As long as you pick a species whose welfare requirements you can confidently meet, go ahead and get the snake of your dreams.

Here is a long post I wrote a while back about what snakes a beginner could reasonably take on.

I always recommend doing a “dry run” with an enclosure you set up for the snake BEFORE you bring it home. Set it all up – substrate, hides, water bowl with water in it, the whole deal – plug it in and run it for a week or two. Measure everything – temps, humidity – with a real instrument, like an IR thermometer and a digital hygrometer, not a cheapo plastic thing from the pet store, and make sure it’s all within the optimal range for the snake to thrive. If you can maintain the enclosure within the optimal range indefinitely (a couple weeks should be a good trial run) – insert snake and enjoy.

First things first: I don’t believe in the concept of “beginner snakes” because of how long-lived snakes are. I support the concept of “advanced-level” snakes, because some species require very specific conditions to thrive, and/or very specific care procedures (such as multiple people being present for dealing with 8+ft snakes) – that not everyone, and especially not a beginner, will be able to provide. Examples on Quora. So we can rule those out for you as your first snake.

When acquiring a pet that will be with you for the next 20 or so years, you should consider two things:

1. What you like in a snake, and what kind of snake you’d find rewarding to keep. Don’t get a corn as your training snake if you don’t actually want a corn.

2. What level of care can you reliably provide to your new pet?

This second includes potential moves, illnesses, etc. - the easiest to care for snakes such as corns and black rat snakes can take a wide range of temperatures and even humidity swings, and are fairly easy to bag up and transport. Also fairly easy to have someone take care of while you can’t for any reason.

If the only reason you’re ruling out a ball python is their eating “problems” – there are two things you can do. One, adopt an adult. They tend to be established eaters and in general will tolerate some minor husbandry errors better than hatchlings. Two: whether or not you get an adult, take it to the vet right after the acclimation 10-14 days. Get any parasites and diseases treated, and discuss your setup with the veterinarian.

When I hear people say that BPs “just go off feed sometimes” I cringe. There is always a reason, or the species would have long gone extinct. Husbandry is often the cause. Noise and vibrations from household appliances and foot traffic may be too stressful for some shy individuals. Sickness – Leeloo was off feed for 9 months, because of how sick she was. But you wouldn’t know from just looking at her. After our vet figured out what she had and treated her with antibiotics, she’s become an extremely enthusiastic eater.

The moral of this story is: Ball pythons aren’t just arbitrarily going on hunger strikes. If you keep them healthy and in the right conditions, they will be begging for food, and your challenge will be to keep them from getting overweight. :)

As I said in my yesterday’s post, blood pythons require a fairly narrow temp/humidity range, so you should set up the enclosure such that your snake can be comfortable all year around. Buy some automation gadgets like a ZooMed Hygrotherm thermostat/humidity controller, to ensure that the values stay in-range at all times. Insulate the heck out of the enclosure to keep the temps steady. Make sure you have separate sensors for the hot spot and ambient, because bloods need that level of precision, and not much in a way of gradient.

And aside: I almost never see Porthos sleep anywhere but in his warm hide, even though he has plenty of other options. When the radiant heat panel used to be controlled with a rheostat, he used to spend maybe 10% of the time elsewhere, but after J built a controller for the radiant heat panel that now keeps his ambient temperature within 0.25 degree Fahrenheit of the target 80F, he’s pretty much ALWAYS in the warm hide.

So if you’re willing (and able) to build and maintain a setup that will keep your blood python happy, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get one. The key is to set up the enclosure about a month ahead of time and run it “dry” and take measurements. If it stays within the set ranges, you can get and insert the snake in there. :)

EDIT: Forgot the activity levels. Ball pythons will be active, usually after dusk, and if you provide them head room, they will climb too. Blood pythons are more of a “blob” kind of snake. I love Porthos, but he’s really not entertaining to look at, much more of a “pet rock” than a ball python.