# Please tell me what it's like to have a pet snake... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596 "2009-12-09T15:48:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/21 "2009-12-10T22:48:29Z")
My ball python eats frozen rats. I warm them in hot water, dangle them by the tail in front of him and when he grabs them I offer a little resistance to simulate a struggling victim before I let him have it. You have to be quick, they go for the first thing they see move after they get a whiff of prey. Don’t let that be your hand! ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/22 "2009-12-11T00:21:09Z")
> [@Maiira](#): > > -What’s the cost of a typical vet bill? I know the answer is going to be “pretty durned expensive,” but I want to know because I don’t want to have to give up my pet just because I can’t afford it. I’m figuring I can’t afford it now, since I don’t have a full-time, well-paying job, but I’ll keep this thread, etc., around for future reference. Uh…honestly, neither of my snakes have ever been to the vet. Henry, the albino corn I had years ago who wound up having penile cancer (!!!), was charged the same rate as my cats for exams and whatnot. ($40 for an office visit, to start with–yeah, my small animal vet is pricey. Boo.) > [@](#): > > -What sort of cages work best for corns? More specifically, what size should it be? Can I start a baby snake on a larger habitat right away (anticipating its growth) or would that be too stressful for the snake? What kind of latch or closing mechanism works best to prevent escape? A 15-20gal glass tank specifically designed for reptiles is fine for a corn. Be sure it’s designed for reptiles–they will typically be longer, rather than tall, to give the snakes more ground surface area to travel, and they will have the proper latch. Cleo’s tank has a mesh top on one half the tank, and a glasstop on the other half. The latch is on the glasstop and is a simple clasp. Seymour has dual mesh lids, each covering half the tank, with a pin mechanism to open them. I prefer his tank as I have easy access to both sides of his cage–and, most importantly, the pins _cannot be completely removed_. The cage Cleo was in as a hatchling (a 10 long) had a mesh top with a single pin that had to be completely removed. One, the pin wasn’t always completely replaced by my students (which led to her escape–she liked the Kleenex box nearby, thankfully), and two, it’s too darn easy to lose such a pin. > [@](#): > > -What do you do when you find the snake HAS escaped? Oof. You start looking. Cleo has gotten out at least 4 times–not at all in the past 3 years, thankfully–and it was much harder when she was smaller. Thankfully, twice her escape was due to a student not properly latching her cage after giving her fresh water, and since the cage is on a long counter, she couldn’t get too far. Kleenex box both times. A third time, my cat tore the mesh sitting on top of the cage (_sigh_) and she got out. She actually went all the way down the stairs (!!) and was found–by my transfixed, staring cat–in a large, fake house plant. The fourth and final time (when we bought a new cage), I thought for sure she was gone. She was 4’ long at that point. I Googled how to find a lost snake, and followed directions: I looked along the baseboard, in shoes in the closet, in obvious hiding places, up and down the stairs…and ultimately found her just feet away from her cage in the top drawer of my hubby’s desk. And I gotta tell you, even when you’re looking for a snake, finding one where you don’t expect it makes you jump. > [@](#): > > -How can I tell if my snake is sick? What warning signs should I look for? Conversely, what does a healthy snake look and feel like? Sickly snakes are thin (loose skin, prominent spine), have pale gums, might have cheesy-looking patches on their gums, may have a runny nose (bubbling when they breathe) and/or noisy breathing, and unusual swelling. Retained eyecaps post-shed can results in an infection. Oh, also–sick snakes will vomit. I had a parasite-infected hatchling ball python years ago who was ravenously hungry, but she couldn’t digest. At first, her droppings looked…odd. (They should be similar to a bird’s; white is urine, then brown chunks of, uh, poop.) Then, she vomited a meal four days after eating (there’s a smell seared into my memory). Then, she vomited hours after eating. Since I had just bought her, I returned her to the store–the owner said, “I don’t sell sick snakes”–and got an older snake instead. Unfortunately, the little thing died not long after. ☹ > [@](#): > > -What did you use for a heat source, and what are the pros and cons of this method? Stay away from heat rocks–they are insufficient in heating an entire cage, and may results in burning your snake. Cleo and Seymour both have heating pads that affix to the bottom of their cage (on the outside). Cleo, a burrower, will go deep under the substrate and directly against the glass that touches the heat pad when she’s cool. Seymour requires higher temps, so he also has a heat lamp. > [@](#): > > -When cleaning the cage, where should I put the snake in the meantime? Or can the cage be cleaned with the snake still inside? Are there any sorts of materials I absolutely should not use in the cage? I scoop out their poop much like a litterbox most of the time, and they can stay in the cage for that. For the deeper cleaning, I put them in the “lunch box” (a plastic Critter Keeper) or similar container while I dump out their cage. All the old substrate is tossed, and the glass is cleaned with hot water that has a bit of bleach in it. > [@](#): > > -Any other miscellaneous advice would be much appreciated. Seriously, ANYTHING. Get some Critter Keepers–they’re handy for keeping feeder animals in, and inexpensive. Corn snakes tend to be very eager eaters, so it’s in your best interest to feed them outside their normal cage. Snakes aren’t too bright, but they are smart enough to learn very basic patterns–and if reaching into the cage means food, then you might get nipped by an over-excited corn while cleaning out the water dish. If you do feed in a separate cage, ALWAYS handle the snake FIRST. You do _not_ want your hands smelling of prey when you remove the snake. Cleo is so keen now, I need to keep the mice _far_ away–if she smells them, she gets in FEED ME! mode. So–place snake in feeder cage, place rodent in feeder cage, let Wild Kingdom commence. If you feed your snake more than one mouse, as is typical with an adult corn, waiting until s/he has finished swallowing the first before placing the second in. You’ll know they’re done when the lump is halfway down their body and they start darting around, looking for more of a meal. Do NOT disturb a snake during its kill/swallowing process. A stressed snake will abandon a meal, and then poor mousey died for nothing. A Amusingly, you may learn corns resort to mimickry when threatened. Cleo will rattle her tail like a Big Bad Rattlesnake if she is disturbed mid-swallow. Snakes are very vulnerable while swallowing such large meals. If really stressed, they’ll vomit up their food (ew) and flee. If I remember more, I’ll be back later. 🙂 Snakes are AWESOME. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/23 "2009-12-11T04:13:39Z")
Is this the right thread to mention that a snake once crawled up my shirt? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/24 "2009-12-11T05:37:55Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > I have a ball python named Dante, and would recommend them for beginning snake owners/handlers. They are quite docile most of the time, and when frightened, will curl in a ball rather than strike out or attempt to flee. > > I have attempted to feed Dante dead/frozen mice, and he ain’t havin’ any - he’ll only eat live mice. Given that ball pythons have a tendency to be picky eaters in captivity (in my opinion, the only possible drawback to them), I’ve decided to stick to that. I do recognize the validity of your points regarding possible harm to the snake, though. Ball pythons IME are very nice, as snakes go, considering that they’re all pretty dumb and lacking real affection. I tried to feed dead mice to mine, but it wouldn’t take it. Maybe there was a pee or poo smell on the dead mouse, and that made it unattractive. I’ve only used live mice, and they last about 5 seconds. The couple times they lasted a few minutes, I just let them out on the golf course, as the snake didn’t seem interested. I would feed it out of the normal living environment, and I would set a pattern of tapping on the glass for a bit before reaching in, to set a signal that lets it know it’s not being attacked. A couple weeks ago I reached in without washing my hands (“What have I been touching that’s meaty? Nothing”), and faster than I could almost see, I felt like someone had stabbed me in the finger with a pin. I let it bleed, to push out whatever might have been put in, and of course it’s not venomous, and I’ve not had any further problems. Lesson: let the snake know what’s going on, and don’t smell anything remotely like food. They’re kinda blind and pretty dumb. They are interesting though, and you can handle them idly while watching tv, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/25 "2009-12-11T05:41:40Z")
> [@baileygrrrl](#): > > My question is, how tolerant are snakes of being handled? I just know that I’ll want to pick the thing up as often as possible. I love snakes. My daughter will want to be very hands on as well. I don’t have hard data on this answer, but when my snake wouldn’t eat, I looked up “snake won’t eat” through Google, and one of the suggestions was that it had been handled too much recently and was agitated. I left mine alone for another couple weeks, and maybe the handling was the trick, who really knows? I think it comes down to experimentation. If the snake won’t eat, try handling it less, or not for a couple days before throwing in a mouse. From what I’ve read, they can be pretty idiosyncratic. Some people claim their snakes won’t even eat rats or mice of certain colors. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/26 "2009-12-11T15:29:31Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Is this the right thread to mention that a snake once crawled up my shirt? I don’t know if it’s the right thread or not; if it _is_, I’ll go ahead and mention my own “random snake encounter”: we lived in the country; had 30 acres, but most of the surrounding area was uninhabited, and I went hiking fairly often (for exercise). One day, on one of my hikes (I was wearing hiking boots, thank goodness!), I _stepped_ on a freakin’ rattle snake! :eek: Apparently, it had been laying out in the “road” (more like a dirt-bike track) getting some sun and dozing. I didn’t realize I had stepped on it until I felt something incredibly _muscular_ _move_ under my foot, and heard that unmistakable rattle! If my boots hadn’t been ankle-high, I probably would have gotten nailed on the ankle! I’ll tell you this about the experience, though: I was out for exercise, and that was a _very_ aerobic experience, as it instantly raised my heart rate to about 150bpm! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/27 "2009-12-11T16:12:29Z")
I never kept one as a pet, but I did care for a number of them in the animal lab where I worked as an undergrad. I’m not even sure the word “pet” applies to them. IME, although they will become used to being handled, they never become an animal with which the owner can interact as with a dog, cat, parakeet, etc. Other than when they are hungry or moving about to regulate body temperature, they don’t do much. One of the guys I worked with there (who did actually keep reptiles as pets) noted that a rubber snake is about 95% as good a pet as a live snake. Unless your son already has a deep and long-standing interest in snakes and their habits, I’d say you should say no to a pet snake. Once the novelty wears off, it he has no scientific interest in them, you’re left with an unwanted animal. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/28 "2009-12-11T16:26:01Z")
Hahaha…Steve albino (snake). I get it 😛 ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/29 "2009-12-11T16:57:58Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’m not even sure the word “pet” applies to them. IME, although they will become used to being handled, they never become an animal with which the owner can interact as with a dog, cat, parakeet, etc. Exactly! No matter how much you love a snake, it will never love you back! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/30 "2009-12-11T18:00:07Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I don’t know if it’s the right thread or not; if it _is_, I’ll go ahead and mention my own “random snake encounter”: we lived in the country; had 30 acres, but most of the surrounding area was uninhabited, and I went hiking fairly often (for exercise). One day, on one of my hikes (I was wearing hiking boots, thank goodness!), I _stepped_ on a freakin’ rattle snake! :eek: > > Apparently, it had been laying out in the “road” (more like a dirt-bike track) getting some sun and dozing. I didn’t realize I had stepped on it until I felt something incredibly _muscular_ _move_ under my foot, and heard that unmistakable rattle! > > If my boots hadn’t been ankle-high, I probably would have gotten nailed on the ankle! > > I’ll tell you this about the experience, though: I was out for exercise, and that was a _very_ aerobic experience, as it instantly raised my heart rate to about 150bpm! 😃 :eek: I was just handling a corn snake at a nature center. One end was sticking out of my sleeve and the other was holding on to the chair leg. It took a while to get her untagled. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/31 "2009-12-11T18:20:59Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Many thanks for these responses. It doesn’t seem too difficult - I just wanted to make sure I can handle it in case my son starts to lose interest in looking after a pet. A friend has offered us his 15 year old corn snake, and I haven’t exactly said ‘No’. The hardest thing is going to be convincing my wife, who would end up being the default person assisting the wean in fulfilling his responsibility whenever I’m out of town. I’m not sure if she’d be willing to thaw a mouse and warm it for a snake to eat. We’ll see. > > Thank you for helping out, all of you. That’s fairly old for a corn snake. If you did get it, it may not be around for much longer… Various info sites that I’ve seen list their longevity as 12 - 15 on average, with some living up to 20. When I feed sassy, I thaw the frozen mouse in hot water, and then take him out of his cage and let him hang around me. I never feed him in the cage, because then he’ll associate a hand coming in with food - not a good association! I also use chopsticks to hold the thawed mouse - my thumb apparently looks like a mouse to a hungry snake! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/32 "2009-12-11T20:18:59Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > When I feed sassy, I thaw the frozen mouse in hot water, and then take him out of his cage and let him hang around me. I never feed him in the cage, because then he’ll associate a hand coming in with food - not a good association! I also use chopsticks to hold the thawed mouse - my thumb apparently looks like a mouse to a hungry snake! Good point about not wanting the snake to associate “human hand=food”; we usually empty the mice out of the bag they come in, into the snake cage; however, we are careful _not_ to dump it directly on top of the snake, as it may scratch/hurt the snake. Plus, at least one of our snakes seems to enjoy _hunting_ the mouse. Spot (the ball python) will crawl up on his branch, scent the prey, track the prey, and basically bide time until he feels it’s time to strike. Then-bam! Strike, asphyxiate, nomming ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596/33 "2009-12-11T20:43:31Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Good point about not wanting the snake to associate “human hand=food”; we usually empty the mice out of the bag they come in, into the snake cage; however, we are careful _not_ to dump it directly on top of the snake, as it may scratch/hurt the snake. Plus, at least one of our snakes seems to enjoy _hunting_ the mouse. Spot (the ball python) will crawl up on his branch, scent the prey, track the prey, and basically bide time until he feels it’s time to strike. Then-bam! Strike, asphyxiate, nomming ensues. This is what I do for Dante - one mouse at a time released into the cage, then watch the circle of life play out. He likes stalking them, and in any event, like I said, won’t eat dead mice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-tell-me-what-its-like-to-have-a-pet-snake/520596.md?page=1)