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.