Snake Info for newbies

[greybanded]

So you think you want a pet snake?

Well lets talk about it. Here is a few simple questions:

1. Why do I really want a snake?

(a) to impress my friends
(b) keep burglars out
(c) easy to care for
(d) because I think they are neat

2. How much research have I done, about different kinds of snakes & their care?
(a) none
(b) read a little
(c) did a lot of reading, asking questions, visited other snake handlers

3. What do you think of killing little furry critters? Such as mice, rats, and cute bunny rabbits.
(a) no way!
(b) ok with the mice & rats, but the rabbits
(c) no problem everything must eat

4. Do I have any small children, or plan to have any in the next 10 years or so?
(a) sure it will make a great pet for the kid
(b) not for another 5 or 6 years
(c) all kids are bigger than me/I don't plan to have any

5. How many friends do I have that handle snakes?
(a) none
(b) the guy next door
(c) several that's how I know I want one

6. How much room do I have for the snake.
(a) plan to keep in the corner
(b) the whole house/apt
(c) a spare room

7. How much can I afford?
(a) less than $200 year
(b) less than $300 year
(c) I'm rich

True or False
1. I can always breed them and make money.

2. If it gets too large I can sell it or give it to the zoo.

3. Snakes are easy to take care of.



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If your answers were "c" all the way down and said false to all, good for you. If not, you need to give this some thought.
1. If you want to impress your friends take them out for a night on the town. If you feel unsafe at your home either move, or buy a burglar alarm system. You will meet your goal, and save money too. Snakes are great creatures, HOWEVER they are wild animals!

2. Would you buy a car/truck you didn't know anything about? Of course not, you ask around about it. How much is maintenance, any known problems, miles per gal, resale value, etc. Snakes are much the same, there are many different kinds, with different needs.

3. Snakes must eat. They don't eat Purnia Snake Chow, they eat other animals. With any luck your snake will eat pre-killed food. Depending on what you get, do you mind a freezer with a case of dead rats? Some snakes will only eat live food. This must be done with supervision, every time it feeds !!!!! Can you sit there and watch him kill and eat the Easter Bunny.

4. Small children love to get into everything. One "opps" can cost a child his/her life. Safety must be first on your list. There are many small snakes that WITH supervision make good pets for kids, but many should never be around children.

5. How big are you, and what is your experience level? Just as with children an adult can also be injured or killed. As a rule of thumb, 1 experienced person for every 5 feet of snake. If your snake will become large, be sure you have enough friends to help.

6. Baby snakes are just like puppies. Some will stay small others will become very large. Snakes also grow fast. Make sure you the room now, for when it becomes full grown. A snake should NEVER be left to roam the home unsupervised.

7. Well let just see what it will cost. Of course these are rough numbers. Much depends on what kind of snake, and where you live. Also many times you can get used items. Also there much cheaper and better ways to keep your snake warm and happy. This is only to give you an idea of some of the hidden costs.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Reptscue]

I don't think your "quiz" works very well.......
1. I keep my snakes because I think they are "neat" (I admire my animals) and easier to care for than most other animals.
2. I totally believe in research before you buy.
3. Some can say A. there are anole eaters, frog eaters, other snake eaters, minnow, earthworm, egg....etc B. can be a choice because some snakes don't get big enough for large prey so they can choose to have a smaller species of snake.
4. This is the #1 reason why I get some snakes in on rescue. If a parent is responsible then likelyhood of something happening is close to nil.....There should be no reason why a captive, large, snake should hurt a kid.
5. Depending on the size of snakes you get in you don't need someone if they bite and constrict. Oh no I'm getting out my Cornsnake or Ball Python.
6. Again depending on what size of snakes someone wants to get into. A cornsnake doesn't need a whole room.
7. $$$ is an issue that can go very high or low.

[greybanded]

it is just a guide to give people somethings to think about, thats all.

[gemisnake]

Oh, to keep burglars out... I wish. We dont let neighbors know we have snakes because we did that once, let everyone know and see them and educated people about their care etc. then what happens, we are out of town for a weekend and come back to missing snakes, missing cages, missing jewelry and electronics too. But most of our main things that you would think would get taken (tv, computer...) was there. They took my snakies!!! Grrrrr! So I dont think snakes would keep burglars out, more likely bring them in especially if you have high end snakes like our albinos (all taken). Bad memories.

[JuliusSqueezer]

give people something to think about? how much thought did you put into it? So we shouldn't have kids, need to be rich and our snake should have it's own bedroom?

hmm...I'm not rich. I have a kid. and I think it's idiotic to turn a snake loose in a bedroom where it can't be properly set up with heat and humidity without doing massive property damage to your home and/or burn it down or to assume that everyone wanting a pet snake will want something that will get that big anyway. Also, there are many snake owners that don't have to kill anything fuzzy for their pet. King cobras do quite well on a diet of ball pythons. Eastern Hognosed snakes eat toads. Switching them to rodents will kill them. Watersnakes eat fish. garters and greensnakes eat bugs, fish and worms. So...anyway...I'm sure you meant well, but your generalizations are flawed.

[mo1416]

hmmmmI guess I have to give my snakes up since I'm not rich and they don't have there own room.

[leerankin]

i can't see where this quiz is going really
1) the things mentioned is no way to own a reptile,the two top answers show lack of thought into constructive answers and all reptiles need a certain amount of understanding to care for and would not come into the catergory of easy...easy compared to what?

there has to be a certain amount of intrest to consider such animals
2) research should be done always..no exceptions at all

3) for the more squeamish keepers theres pet shops that they can buy frozen rodents from and luckily many of the snakes good for beginners take defrost very easily so things like can you kill a rodent is irrelevant really as many would if their pet snakes life depended on it but not compulsory unless you choose to feed prekills

4) many keepers have young children and cage locks will prevent any accidents with them letting out reptiles

5) i would think confident members of your family rather than friends as you can't guarantee them being there and many of the snakes for newbies pose little danger so can be handled safely by a single person

6) many of the beginner reptiles require small vivariums anyway such as the cornsnakes etc so a full sized room isn't needed for the one snake
7) so you got to be rich to own snakes :s

all the true/false questions aren't needed really as if people answered true to them they should not own them tbh and to the second question consider snakes that get to sizes they can manage
lee

[Heidi]

This quiz came from somewhere off the net. I've seen it before quite a while back. I thought it was kind of silly. I have kids and I'm poor and I do not kill rodents.

[TekWarren]

this is another one of those things where in my eyes someone is trying to apply "rules" or set guidelines for keeping animals...and clearly it can't be done nor do they apply to everyone.