Would like to get a corn snake.

zakocsm · 07-20-15, 10:14 PM

So, here's my problem.
When I was about 9~ I got a veiled chameleon. It was a cool pet for about 1 year, then, I decided I wasn't going to take care of it anymore and made my dad take care of it for the rest of its couple of years. I will admit, the only, only reason I did not take care for it for the rest of its life was because I was afraid of the crickets. I hated the crickets, and also it got very aggressive towards me for who knows why. Now, I have two African dwarf frogs and a beautiful female beta in a 5 gallon tank, but they won't let me get anything bigger than that, and I can see why. They don't trust me anymore, and I very much regret doing that when I was nine. I am now 13 and I am a lot more responsible then I was back when I was 9, I am a lot smarter, I know how to do research, and overall I think I can take care of a corn snake or ball python. But, like I said, they don't trust me. How should I approach this? Also, could I have some general information on them, just for verification? Like max size they get, max terrarium size I may need, and things like that.
More background information if you care at all: Another reason for the no trust at all when it comes to pets is because of my sister. When my sister was a bit younger, 11ish, she got 2 African chichlids and a plecostomus in a 10 gal tank. After about 6 months, she completely just gave up in it because she said "she honestly doesn't care about them anymore" because of her annoying "feminine teen" state she went through for like a year. She never cleaned it, and forced my mom and little sister to clean everything for no pay or anything. So, yea. Also, when I was younger, before my chameleon, I had a betta in a three gallon tank. It lived for 4 YEARS, with no heater and filter and I changed its water every week. I loved that betta, and that's why they trust me with my betta and ADF's
THANKS FOR ANY HELP, AND SORRY FOR SUCH A LONG THREAD. VERY SORRY, I LIKE TO BE THUROUGH THOUGH.

Sylphie · 07-21-15, 12:32 AM

Huh, I know what you mean, when I was younger I was having a lot of hamsters.. I was giving up after a month, because they were soo "care needing". After a few years, when I was 16 I bought a betta myself, and it was the first animal (aside of our dogs) that I was really caring for, upgrading his tank, etc.

I get my first snake when I was 18, so basically my parents were like "huh you're adult now". And they knew that I was dreaming about one since when I was 6, so yeah, 12 years of waiting must meant that I REALLY want it xD

As for your question... how long do you have your frogs? If longer than year I will try this way. You know, if you're responsible with your frogs, then you can as well get one snake. In my opinion snakes are easier than frogs, and require less attentiveness.

And corns are great! Really cute, and don't require much. As adults they can get to 6 feet but that's rather not often. They mostly stay at 4-5 feet, and are realy calm (ofc there are some exceptions, but generally they are a bit flightly as hatchlings, and are calming down when growing). As for terrarium for a one adult female (they are usually bigger than males) I'll go with 19x23x15h (inch). You can ofc change that to more "cube" or "oblong", but that's the general dimension. But if you want a max... you know, as adults they really can utilize all the space you get them. I keep mine in 59x13x25h, and I still am sure that if I'll give them more space they will gladly use it. As for the height they are really active, and most of them like to climb, so it's good for them to have some branches. You can either keep them in "celan" tank, like newspapers as substrate, water bowl and some hides, or naturalistic vivarium with live plants etc. It's all up to your taste and what you can afford. Here is mine: http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/elaph...tml#post966401
If you're living in the area where the temps don't drop lower than 68 degree, then you basically don't need any heating. And speaking about feeding... adults need one adult mice once in a 10 days to not get them too fat. They need more when growing so hatchlings usually are eating one pinky every 4-5 days, and my two years old are eating one adult mice once in a week.

So yeah, that's basically it. Ofc that's just my opinion and experience, there are a lot of ways to keep corns (and any other snake).

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 08:38 AM

Yea, corn snakes are pretty nice.
I have had my frogs for about 6-8 months now, and I know that doesn't sound like long, but I guess it is. Also, ADF's are very easy to care for in my experience. I feed them tubifex worms and blood worms, freeze dried.
I am still deciding on Corn snakes or Ball pythons. What are the pro's and cons of each? I don't know really what the cons of each, but I do know a couple pros. Another thing, I haven't mentioned anything about snakes to my parents since about 3 years ago. They have no idea I have been doing research on them for about maybe a month now, and so they will probably assume that I have done no research and that I will never take care of it again. I'm a very good persuader, so I might be able to talk them into it (They didn't even want to let me get a 5 gallon tank, but I promised I would mantain it.) There thing that they came up with a couple of weeks ago is "As soon as we have to clean it's cage or maintain it, it's gone." So, I don't know. It could either go in two directions right now "Maybe, let me do some more research on them, or, No! Are you insane!" Also, my dad had a corn snake or two when he was younger, so he might approve, but it is mostly my mom that is a bit stubborn. I'll see what I can do, though. Thanks for the reply BTW.

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 08:49 AM

Also, another thing I saw was Kingsnakes and Ratsnakes. What is a good begginer snake that I should go for? There are so many types that I heard are ok for begginers, Kingsnakes, Cornsnakes, Ratsnakes, and Ball Pythons. Which one would be good and are there any bad things about any of these that would make me not want to get one?

Sylphie · 07-21-15, 09:35 AM

I would think twice about ball pythons, they really often are having problems with feeding (i.e. only live prey, or can stop feed for months), and are less forgiving of any mistakes in husbandry. They are rather easily stressed too.

As long as corns and rat snakes goes, I have both of them (corns are a rat snakes too, btw), and they are really good. I wrote you about corns, and Rats... there a tons of species, some of them as easy as corn snakes, some reqiure really specific husbandry or are rather agressive. I guess that most of Rat you'll see will be typical US rats, yellow, texas, black. They are all really good for a first snake, you'll don't need nothing special, and are really fault tolerant. But you must know that they are rather bigger than corns, so if you don't want stronger and bigger snake, then I'll go with corns.

And milks... I don't have them, so I can't speak much, but from what I heard they are really good for first timers, they are very similiar to corns in terms of the size and being rather calm and easy to handle. They reqiure slightly different husbandry than corns, but still it's easy to maintain (just different temps etc).

Hope this helps! And if I'm wrong somewhere, then please somebody, correct me

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 10:56 AM

Thanks for the response!
Yea, I did some research last night on ball pythons, and how they can be easily stressed, grow pretty big and thick, and sometimes won't eat for months. That's why I was asking about them. I really like the corn snakes, and I didn't know that they were rat snakes aswell, so that's pretty cool to know. I have heard of milk snakes, and that they are in the same family as the King Snakes. Are there any differences? Or is it just another name? I am really leaning towards the corn snake though, just because of it's availability and price, and also the size. Another thing I have heard is that king snakes are a slight bit simular to the ball pythons because the might not eat sometimes at certain parts of the year.

Sylphie · 07-21-15, 11:02 AM

Huh I can't really speak about milks and kings, they were never in my "interesting species" list.
But as long as not eating at certain parts of the year - adult corn snake males can stop eating in breeding season too, but it's nothing to worry, they start to eat when the "buzzing hormones" are calming down.

And you know, I talked with my snake vet today about our collections, he told me that all his most crazy snakes were milk snakes (ofc we were talking about "snakes similiar to corns", not all the species that exist). But maybe he was just unlucky to get all the mean ones, haha!

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 11:08 AM

Haha, yea. I do like the look of milk/king snakes, but I think I like the looks and personality of corn snakes better. Still can't decide on ball python or corn, but I am leaning towards corn because they are easier to care for and don't get super big. Thanks for the help

I have to talk to my parents, I actually went to the pet store today and found out that my mom actually had a snake once and she let me hold one of the young ball pythons there! I'm on a step in the right direction. Another question though, for my first tank, should I get a terrarium or get like a tub and keep it in there? As a baby I think I will just keep it in a tub, but once it gets bigger should I get a terrarium or a bigger tub?
Thanks for the help BTW

**EL Ziggy** · 07-21-15, 11:19 AM

If you like corns you'll love kings. They're very similar in terms of size and husbandry and they both come in great morphs. The kings are really beasts at feeding time which I love and they may have just a little more attitude when they're younger.

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

If you like corns you'll love kings. They're very similar in terms of size and husbandry and they both come in great morphs. The kings are really beasts at feeding time which I love and they may have just a little more attitude when they're younger.

haha, yea I have seen king snakes eating. It's pretty brutal. I still don't really see too much difference, I will just have to see which one I see and that I like better when I get to Petco, or I might find a nice snake breeder in my area and look into that. Thanks for the advice

Sylphie · 07-21-15, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zakocsm

Another question though, for my first tank, should I get a terrarium or get like a tub and keep it in there? As a baby I think I will just keep it in a tub, but once it gets bigger should I get a terrarium or a bigger tub?
Thanks for the help BTW

It is up to your taste, I personally prefer to have terrariums and be able to watch snake in natural enviroment. But in good tub the snake will be fine too!

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 11:35 AM

Yea, terrariums are pretty cool. What do you reccomend for bedding? Newspaper? Wood Sheddings? Coconut Sheddings?

Sylphie · 07-21-15, 12:25 PM

Again, it's up to what you like. Newspapers are really good for new/ill snakes, you can see if their poop is okay etc.
I personally prefer coco fibre, as it's looking really nice and natural, and my snakes love to burrow in it.

zakocsm · 07-21-15, 12:29 PM

Yea, that's what I was thinking. Paper until they got older, although I might get a mid-age corn from a breeder at repticon in a couple of weeks. So I might just go straight to coconut fiber, but I don't know. I have to wait and see

Lefitte · 07-22-15, 02:01 AM

I also have to put a vote in for a king or a corn. They're so easy to care for. I have a king and my girl has had really no issues. We had a little trouble moving up in size during winter but she would still eat and now she's absolutely insane with lightning fast strikes. I used newspaper for much of her first year then moved to Sani-chips [little tiny aspen chips]. Love them! She's never struck, even when my cat got past me and went right into her face, she just headbutted him. I think corns are a little more active and less shy? I don't own a corn but I seem to always see them out and about at petstores where you can't ever find a king. Due to ball python's tricky feeding, I'd say your better bet is the corn [or king!].

Try explaining to your parents that snakes are one of the easiest pets. So much easier than a fishtank for sure. They poop very little, smell very little, they're silent. They're like a decorative toy that you sometimes have to care for almost haha. Strange way to put it, I know, but apart from daily checks and handling however often and feeding however often/once a week... They're pretty much there for fun. There's not much work that goes into keeping them at all. Although you should consider the fact that every so often you'll want to clean things up really well, replace bedding and all that, but the weekly upkeep is real simple especially with these 'beginner' snakes. I'm used to having extremely needy pets [I have a 5 year old cat who was born with a cleft palate and therefore still fed from a bottle about 6 times a day] so having a snake is really quite refreshing.