Snakes

[Trip06]

Anybody out here in web land own a snake, Im sure some of you do but im to lazy to read through the treads. Any ways my dad and uncles got a 160 acres of land in upper wisconsin here and going up there since I was a kid Ive always liked catching shit. Most I see are small grass snakes and gardeners. My Plan is to catch a really big ass one and just throw it in a tank lol. Im aimn for a Pine snake as they are bigger and fuckn cool and non poisoness.

[stinkyattic]

Check your local laws concerning collection of wildlife. Most states require a permit to keep wild animals as pets. What do you plan to feed your wild-caught snake? Do you think it will even take food? You may find that it is too scared to eat. Garter snakes do seem to adapt okay to captivity. They like earthworms and crickets. You've got to understand the needs of an animal before keeping it as a pet.
Have you looked into a baby snake from a pet store that was raised in captivity? These make better pets because they are used to human contact and will be perfectly content to be handled and fed by a human.

[Trip06]

Ive had several pet snakes before so im Im not worried about the law reguarding this situation. I plan on putting it in a nice 100 gallon tank with some foilage and vegatation. AND I KNOW all about the animals needs as I didnt say I didnt. I plan on feeding it mice and gerbals from the pet store. If it dosnt eat Ill just releace it where I found it. Usally we would just kill pesty critters like these because they litterly get into everything up there and damage stuff but Im lookn to nabbn one.

[fiddyonefiddy]

usually guys like you find the wrong snake and get bitten by a copper head or water moccosin ,so be carefull.
ive been to the sweetwater round up and those people are crazy as hell.those snakes,we callem bull snakes, eat rodents and are very usefull and i grew up learning to leave them alone because they kept the rats from chewing up saddles and tack.
and just because its not posinous dosent mean a bite wont make you deathly sick,think about what they put in their mouths, although the worst non poisinous bites come from a human , we have nasty mouths full of bacteria. ususally they will die within a week cause wild dont do captivitypet snakes and wild are two totally different worlds,but hey you can try.

[Trip06]

Na man is cool, I use a net and a y stick. I only would grab innocent ones like grass, gardners or copper bellies.

[carinia]

I have a lil ring neck that was found early last march in a walk in cooler after a flood. :)

Hes (or she i guess!) is my boy! I love my bocephus, fiesty as that lil thing is.

[Trip06]

"guys like me" dont have to worry about watermacosins because I live in wisconsin as I stated, and there are no water macosins this far north.

[Immolation]

I'm Cool with it as long as you know how to take care of them.I have to Colombian Boas.

[painretreat]

They scare me! Can't hear um comin usually, almost stepped on a few. Live in Mojave Green land and have seen bad bites from people playing with them or best yet-getn stoned and betting each other who is fastest, the snake or u and guess who ends up in ER? Guess it is O.K. to keep, so long as you know what you are doing. But don't they kill just about everything in that state--lots of hunters, I think! and they even kill each other, by accident. What about the Snappn turtles, got one of those too!

[Trip06]

I just bought a Royal Python from Petco Last week. Snake and its stuff was about $230.00 . Its a really beautiful snake. Its pretty gentle and hasnt bit me yet. I fed it for the first time last night, one of those frozen mice, It snatched that shit right up. I love how its goona last 30+years with good care. Deffiently going to get another one, maybe a burmeese or ritic.

[Trip06]

Actully No I would never get a retic or a burmeese Thats way to much to handle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WillWork4Weed]

I have a bunch of gopher/pine/bull snakes since I was a kid ive probably kept around 10. I have 4 right now, not including my other snakes. You already keep a python so I wont bore you with any care taking but, I have noticed the pine and bull snakes from the north like it cooler, dont make their hot spot too hot. I keep most my northern guys at 80 degrees hot end and 70-75 cool end they seem to like this setup and thrive well.

If you catch a wild pine its going to be used to going into brumation around winter time every year. Keeping them awake after years of sleeping through the winter can be detremetal to some-others dont care, depends on the snake. When the temps cool down outside dont be suprised if your new snake stops eating and sits at the cooler end of the tank for about 3 or 4 months. Google "brumating snakes" and you can recreate winter if you want-its not too hard, this is how breeders get their snakes to mate that are from North America.

Once you take a snake out of the wild and keep it for awhile dont ever realease it back into the field. This is how new diseases are introduced into the wild killing local populations and sometimes wiping them off the map.

Good luck put some pics up if you find a pine, I hear they are a real PITA to find in the wild.

[WhoreMonger]

I've got a sub-adult corn snake, a little over a year old at this point. IMO, snakes are the perfect pet. You don't hear em, you don't smell em (unless, of course, they shit on you. That stink has got to be one of the single worst smells on this planet), and they'd pretty much rather be left alone.

Corns in particular are pretty easy to care for.

[headshake]

i've had several snakes over the years. currently we have a redtail boa, a sub-adult corn snake (creamsicle) and a retic. not to mention many other non-scaled animals. snakes are awesome. they just get a bad rap for people being stupid.

-shake

[seattlesmoke247]

i use to catch snakes when i was a little kid, i had a baby gardener named jake the snake.. when my dad came to visit, i crushed his head with a rock carrying his cage to show him.. I'll always remember that I was so excited to show my dad what I caught I didn't pay any attention to the rock I had in the tank.. Good times.

[bobthenuker]

...on a plane?

[Trip06]

OMG LMAO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAH OMG................

willworkforweed< yeah im thinking about gettn a bullsnake(hypo still water x red bullsnake) to be exact, I want something with alot of spunk and size. I was debating on getting a RTB because I want a Medium-Large snake but I dont know bullsnakes arent as heavy bodied so Idk plus I already have a passive snake. Any insight?

Others I got my sights on down the road are maybe a dumerils, green tree, or spotted python.

[headshake]

OMG LMAO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAH OMG................

willworkforweed< yeah im thinking about gettn a bullsnake(hypo still water x red bullsnake) to be exact, I want something with alot of spunk and size. I was debating on getting a RTB because I want a Medium-Large snake but I dont know bullsnakes arent as heavy bodied so Idk plus I already have a passive snake. Any insight?

Others I got my sights on down the road are maybe a dumerils, green tree, or spotted python.

do you want something you can take out and handle or something that just stays in the tank and eats? how big do you want the snake to get? what are you gonna feed it? how often? what size tank are you gonna keep it in?

-shake

[Trip06]

I asked my self those questions before I came on here, Basicly im going to get all of them I listed eventully. But right now its a question of what I want first. Most likely the bull. Seeing as how bullsnakes mostly arent picky eaters, opening up a variety of feeding options. And deal well with colder temps, When Its big I can feed it rabbits I catch in my back yard,Free food.

[headshake]

you want to be careful feeding your snake wild caught prey items. they often carry parasites which can harm your reptile. i don't think i've come across too many picky snakes when it comes to eating. also be careful with the cold temps. just because the snake does well in cold temps doesn't mean it likes it. snakes need the sunlight (light bulb) to warm there bodies for movement and food digestion.

-shake

[Trip06]

Im no noob. I know of a guy been feeding wild caught prey for years never had a problume. Not to say there isnt one...but. I already own a snake and have done countless research online about different snakes. I was meerly expressing my excitement for my indecision of choise regaurding my next one. Dose that clear it up?

[headshake]

some people drink piss because they think it will make them live longer. are you gonna do it? just because you own a snake doesn't mean you aren't a noob! i own 3. does that mean i'm 3 times the snake keeper you are? obviously not. about the food thing, if you care about your snake you won't do it. animals you get from the pet stores are fed specific amounts of protein etc because all of those nutrients will be passed on during digestion. you're best bet would be to get rats and breed them. feeding snakes can get expensive. what kind of snake do you have if you don't mind me asking? and i'm glad your excited. you should be. i'm just trying to give you good advice.

-shake

[WiTeWaSh]

I own a corn snake. Shes about 3 or 4 years old I duno. I havnt even named her yet lol... Any ideas??

promise i take good care of her.. shes in a 30 gallon tank about 4 foot long and two inches thick if not two shes close.

I love her... :D

[iamgrowerman]

It's usually never a good idea to try to convince someone you know what you're doing by telling them you know what you're doing. Generally people who know what they're doing don't feel the need to say so.

I'm not saying you are a noob, I'm just offering some advice.


I've owned various reptiles and snakes over the years and I'm definitely not an expert yet.

If you're looking for a larger more active snake there's a lot of options. Bull snakes are definitely... uh... "active". If by active you mean "likely to bite you and/or anything nearby". Your pythons and boas are a lot more likely to be content to lay about and nap. Many of them are ambush predators rather than hunters.

If you want something really big and likely to try to kill you - literally - get an anaconda. Nasty bastards, those.


You might check into getting a hog-nosed snake. They're pretty harmless, and I liked having one.


Oh, and feeding wild-caught prey is definitely not a good idea. I've done it, but I froze them for several days to kill germs and parasites, then thawed and warmed them. That's more difficult with wild-caught snakes since they're much less likely to be willing to eat frozen/thawed prey. I'm not saying that freezing them makes them safe, but it makes them safer.