Best way to learn about snakes?
I would check at Millburn (formerly Maplewood) Pet Shop because he always has great advice.
On kind of a related note, here's a report about pet snakes being released into the wild. (Not suggesting that you would do that -- it's just an interesting video.)
http://nyti.ms/1Ca3rnl
j_r said:
I would check at Millburn (formerly Maplewood) Pet Shop because he always has great advice.
On kind of a related note, here's a report about pet snakes being released into the wild. (Not suggesting that you would do that -- it's just an interesting video.)
Not just people releasing them but during Hurricane Andrew in '92, a breeding facility in the Everglade was destroyed(great place for it).
All this reminds me of my friend in HS who came home with a baby Caiman. That didn't end well, LOL. With that said best of luck, I loved reptiles\amphibians as a kid. Great pets.
calliope said:
Snakes and cats are not a good combination.
Yes, in my experience pet snakes can be quite the escape artists. We had multiple clips on each side and put bricks on the corners of the cage, but it didn't stop our snake from escaping. In our case we had a six foot boa and our cats weren't bold enough to mess with him. And luckily at six feet he wasn't yet big enough to consider the cats as a potential meal. But a smaller snake would quickly meet a grisly end if a cat were to be found by a cat if it escaped.
I was just going to post this. The basic thing you need to know is that there is a very high likelihood that they will escape ( even with a child being diligent with the lid) and that, when they do, you will not be able to find them. So, you'll live with the knowledge that the snake (and the replacement snake you get when you try again) will be living somewhere in your home, lurking.
My Rainbow Boa never escaped, and I never had to resort to clips or bricks. Although she probably never wanted to leave her nice humid "live tank". Depending on what type of snake you get I would suggest a terrarium style tank.
It won't get out of that.
My snark answer to the title alone... Pick 'em up and see what happens.
I was once a zoo volunteer, and we'd have four or five people carry out a big Burmese python for the visitors to touch. Only the paid employees were allowed to handle the head, but nobody wanted to get the tail, especially if you knew it had been a few days since the weekly rabbit. Snakes look clean until they're...not.
We had a garter snake for about 12 years. When we adopted it, I really didn't think I'd been feeding live goldfish to a pet snake for that long a period of time!
It did escape - just once - luckily it was in the summertime. The snake made a break for it while I was moving it to a different tank so I could clean out the regular one. His tank normally had a wire mesh cover on it, but I'd moved it to get him out. He blended in with the pattern on the carpet so well that I lost sight for a moment and he made it inside the radiator cover. Couldn't find him. Thought we'd lost him (and would you believe we had friends who wouldn't visit because there was a "loose snake" in the house? This guy was about as thick as a man's thumb and maybe 18" long and non-venomous!)
I put his tank on the floor (on its side) with fresh water in his bowl and a few gold fish swimming in it and found him one morning happily back inside it, the fish were gone and he was sitting in the water bowl. So, yes, they do escape.
Garter snakes are fairly tame, may bite but not hard and can secrete a yucky-smelling fluid when alarmed. A friend of mine had a boa, which was much more interactive, but it had to be fed live mice and rats. Don't think I could do that - I had a hard enough time sacrificing the goldfish.
You're a good mom for sure.
One of my sister's most alarming moments in child-rearing was when her kids came up to her and said, "Mom, we found the snake," which she hadn't known was missing from its cage.
Snakes and cats definitely do not get along ...
If you plan to get a child a snake, I recommend also staying away from corn snakes, which many pet shops recommend, but they tend to be snappy .. ball pythons are nice as a pet snake and very docile for handling ..
I've had many in the past. Be prepared to feed live (crickets, mice, rats) or stunned (in some cases-- ever try grabbing a rat and slamming it against a table to stun it (or within a paper bag)? not pleasant) depending on the individual snake. And don't think a cage lid is EVER secure... had a Burmese go right through it, not to mention a Red Tail Boa smash the side glass of the tank itself while striking at a live rat for dinner.
A long time ago my sons brought a garter snake home from camp. We were told to feed it meal worms, and to keep the worms in a can of oatmeal, because the snake liked to eat live worms. one morning I was awakened by my sons excited shrieking that the snake was a female because she had babies. Sure enough there were now nie baby garter snakes in the enclosure with mom. It was late summer.. The snake family went to live in the woods behind our house.
Meanwhile, the meal worms matured into pantry moths, and laid eggs, and made more worms and moths, and infested our entire kitchen. It was a huge cleanup job. If you get a snake, don't feed it meal worms.
A young boy, living in Brooklyn,was given a small python as a pet. The python eventually escaped its aquarium, and disappeared. They couldn't find it anywhere The kid was sad, but got over it. Several months later, a man in an apartment in the same building, was getting ready to go on a trip. He took down his suitcase, and opened it and found.,,you guessed it.. The python...happy,warm, and snuggled up, well nourished, and a bit bigger, from the various roaches and other insects which inhabit the closets in old Brooklyn apartment buildings. . The original owners of the python weren't about to let on that it came from their apartment. The cops were called. The python was taken to a zoo. The man had to get another suitcase.
If you get a snake,make sure it cant escape.
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Look into corn snakes. Very laid back and good starter snakes. I had one in high school and it was fun.
tjohn said:
I believe that the larger constrictors quite like cats.
Define "larger." We had a six foot boa and it was fed mice. It was maybe large enough to handle a rat, but no way it could have eaten a full sized cat. A kitten, probably.
@meandtheboys If the boy in question is 16, are you going to take over snake duties when he goes to college? Maybe a summer job at PetSmart or a job (or volunteer position) at Turtleback will give him the reptile experience he's looking for? [What a cool mom you are!]
beppolina said:
@meandtheboys If the boy in question is 16, are you going to take over snake duties when he goes to college? Maybe a summer job at PetSmart or a job (or volunteer position) at Turtleback will give him the reptile experience he's looking for? [What a cool mom you are!]
Can you tell I'm avoiding all thoughts about college? You have a point. I guess they're not allowed in dorm rooms? I don't know about these things.
Don't know about cool, but I do like all kinds of critters, so reptiles and amphibians are fine with me. I'd even enjoy a pet rat. That'd be a super combination with cats, wouldn't it? Although it's not unheard of to have different species cohabitate peacefully.
spontaneous said:
tjohn said:
I believe that the larger constrictors quite like cats.
Define "larger." We had a six foot boa and it was fed mice. It was maybe large enough to handle a rat, but no way it could have eaten a full sized cat. A kitten, probably.
Good question. I have never seen any studies on this. I would guess a ten foot-long boa would appreciate the average house cat.
I would just like to comment that pet trade bred snakes should be fed frozen and then thawed mice\rats. It's much safer for your snake. I think you will find the same advice at any small specialty pet store or big box store.
We've had snakes, small lizards, frogs, guinea pigs, rats, dogs and a turtle. I'd go with the rat if I wanted a really good pet, funny, friendly, clean (they wash themselves just like cats do and are usually grooming themselves) - a bittersweet positive is that they only live 2-3 years, so you aren't looking at taking care of something for 20+ years (as with a turtle - btw, you can't buy turtles in NJ and if you have one, you must get an exotic wildlife permit from the Fish & Game dept to keep it). The rat was right up there with the dog as a favorite pet. It liked to sit on my shoulder and play with my earrings, or ride around in my son's pockets.
The lizard (the small chameleons that come home from 3rd grade) was an escape artist - I once spent an exciting hour trying to catch him as he ran up and down the bathroom walls and shower curtains. I'd put his tank into the tub to clean it, thinking it would keep him confined. Ha! Scratch that idea. I like iguanas, but they need a fairly elaborate set-up to keep them in good health.
When I was a teen our household included dogs, cats, a parrot, and various lizards and snakes (along with small creatures to feed them). My brother really wanted a tarantula but my mother is afraid of spiders so she agreed to the snakes instead. I know he had at least one boa but I can't recall what else. The boa got out more than once - including out of the house altogether on one occasion - and the chameleons were definitely escape artists.
prerak77 said:
I would just like to comment that pet trade bred snakes should be fed frozen and then thawed mice\rats. It's much safer for your snake. I think you will find the same advice at any small specialty pet store or big box store.
True, but I've had two that nearly starved themselves to death because they couldn't properly smell and hunt dinner.... would only eat live, even after we tried the whole live scent-rubbing thing on thawed/frozen. Even freshly killed didn't work...one reacted only to motion, and when the rats would cower in a corner (after a minute loose, upon realizing what they were in with and in for) we'd have to force them out. Yes, risky to the snakes (one lost an eye as a result once), which is why dead prey is recommended, but not always an option.
And while a 6-foot boa couldn't eat a cat, it could surely kill one.
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Boy #1 would like a snake, but we don't know much about them. Would Petsmart be the place to go? Is there another pet store that might be better? Website?