Weird Pets
This is Bruce, by far my largest "exotic" pet. Bruce is a Ball Python, most likely captive reared but not captive bred, which is what happens when you buy from a pet store, though I didn't buy him. Bruce had an injury to his side that made him unsellable, so I adopted him for free. His side has since healed fine, though it is still quite noticeable where he cut himself on one of his many bids for freedom. He's approaching 4 feet long now and was barely 18 inches when I got him almost 5 years ago.
I'll admit I would not recommend the Ball Python as a beginner snake. He's finicky, can be quite fearful, and is very nocturnal. If I wasn't checking to see if he wanted to eat every week, I'd only see him about once a month. He refuses to eat most years from late October to February, which I worry about every year, but he always seems fine. For ease of care I much prefer my skinnier but longer corn snakes, Char and Red. Neither of them has ever refused a meal, or seriously tried to bite me and succeeded.
However, neither Red or Char are very hefty, nor will they sit still for any length of time. You can't beat a Ball Python for bulk, though I find the shyness can be an issue, and they are no where near as "domesticated" as corn snakes. Balls just don't have the number of captive bred generations behind them selecting for ease of feeding and temperament that corn snakes boast.
Bottom line if you want to get a pet snake and have no idea what you're doing, skip the garter snakes completely, avoid anything in the larger constrictors, and get a corn snake. Yes, they cost more. Mostly because they didn't go through all that stress of being caught and stuffed in containers then shipped and sold. At least corns were almost all captive born and bred, and don't stress out anywhere near as much over shipping and such. And they come in dozens of colors to boot.
This is Bruce, by far my largest "exotic" pet. Bruce is a Ball Python, most likely captive reared but not captive bred, which is what happens when you buy from a pet store, though I didn't buy him. Bruce had an injury to his side that made him unsellable, so I adopted him for free. His side has since healed fine, though it is still quite noticeable where he cut himself on one of his many bids for freedom. He's approaching 4 feet long now and was barely 18 inches when I got him almost 5 years ago.
I'll admit I would not recommend the Ball Python as a beginner snake. He's finicky, can be quite fearful, and is very nocturnal. If I wasn't checking to see if he wanted to eat every week, I'd only see him about once a month. He refuses to eat most years from late October to February, which I worry about every year, but he always seems fine. For ease of care I much prefer my skinnier but longer corn snakes, Char and Red. Neither of them has ever refused a meal, or seriously tried to bite me and succeeded.
However, neither Red or Char are very hefty, nor will they sit still for any length of time. You can't beat a Ball Python for bulk, though I find the shyness can be an issue, and they are no where near as "domesticated" as corn snakes. Balls just don't have the number of captive bred generations behind them selecting for ease of feeding and temperament that corn snakes boast.
Bottom line if you want to get a pet snake and have no idea what you're doing, skip the garter snakes completely, avoid anything in the larger constrictors, and get a corn snake. Yes, they cost more. Mostly because they didn't go through all that stress of being caught and stuffed in containers then shipped and sold. At least corns were almost all captive born and bred, and don't stress out anywhere near as much over shipping and such. And they come in dozens of colors to boot.
No comments:
Post a Comment