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If you have decided Frog Toad Supplies get a snake for a pet and you're now wondering which type E2macpets snake to purchase, then this article is for you! Below, I have listed four of Pet Reptile Supplies best snakes to keep as pets, based on my 25 years of snake-keeping experience.

Ask ten different snake keepers what the best types of pet snakes are, and you'll get ten different lists. That's because everyone has their Pet Reptile Supplies opinions and experiences. Regardless, I am willing to be the four snakes listed below come up on most of those lists!

My Criteria for Best Snakes as Pets

What makes a good pet snake? What kind of criteria should you consider before purchasing a snake to keep as a pet? Here is a list of criteria that I feel are most important when choosing a pet snake:

1. Average adult size
2. Feeding habits
3. Temperament / behavior
4. Health in captivity / hardiness

Four of the Best Snakes to Keep as Pets

Based on the pet snake criteria I have outlined above, here are the four types of snakes I recommend as pets -- especially for the novice snake-keeper.

Pet Snake #1 - The Corn Snake

This corn snake appears on a lot of "best pet snake" lists besides my own, and with good reason. Corn snakes Ball Python Supplies and exceed the four criteria I've outlined above: (A) they rarely grow to over six feet long, averaging just over five feet; (B) they have good temperaments and can easily be tamed; (C) they will generally accept frozen / thawed mice or rats on a consistent basis; and (D) they will generally live long, Tortoise Supplies lives if their basic needs are met.

On top of all this, corn snakes come in a wide variety of color "morphs" with names such as snow, pewter, blood red, candy cane and creamsicle ... just to name a few.

It's hard to go wrong by choosing the corn snake as your type of pet snake! I put the corn snake on the top of my list of pet snakes -- especially for the first-time keeper.

Pet Snake #2 - The Gopher Snake

I have an albino San Diego gopher snake (one of several gopher snake species), and I refer to him as my "ambassador" to the snake world. He is my ambassador because he has the best temperament of all my pet snakes. So he is the snake I get out whenever a curious -- but somewhat intimidated -- houseguest wants to learn about snakes. I tell them, "Wait right here. I've got just the snake for you to meet."

I've shared this story because it's indicative of gopher snake behavior. When you raise them by hand, they become extremely tame and are very predictable when outside of their enclosures.

Gopher snakes reach an average adult length of just over six feet (though some species can grow a foot or so longer than that). Gopher snakes are the longest snakes on my list, but they are still a manageable size, and they do well in the 4' x 2' cages that you can find everywhere.

Also, in the six+ years that I've had him, my gopher snake has only turned down a handful of meals ... out of hundreds of meals! Usually, it would be because he was going into shed. So that satisfies another of our pet snake criteria -- feeding behavior.

In addition to the San Diego gopher snake that I keep as a pet, there are Sonoran gopher snakes and Great Basin gopher snakes. While they don't come in as wide a variety of colors as corn snakes and kingsnakes, the gopher snakes are still beautiful to behold.

Pet Snake #3 - The Kingsnake

There are actually a wide variety of kingsnake species and sub-species, and many of them make good pets for the reasons outlined above. The California kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) is one of the most common types of pet snakes in general, and one of the most popular kingsnakes among keepers. Other kingsnakes commonly kept as pets include the grey-banded kingsnake, the Florida kingsnake, and the mountain kingsnake varieties.

The kingsnake species mentioned above (and several others) meet the four criteria I've outlined for good snakes to keep as pets. Depending on the species, adult kingsnakes will average between four and six feet in length. They can be tamed easily, they eat well, and they do well in captivity.

Also, because of the wide variety of species and sub-species, you can get a pet kingsnake with many different colors. Some are speckled, some are striped, some are banded -- but all are interesting in their own way. The kingsnake is truly a great type of pet snake for any level of snake-keeper.

Here's an interesting fact about kingsnakes that many people don't know. Kingsnakes are immune to rattlesnake venom. In fact, rattlesnakes are on the menu of many kingsnake species. There's a reason they call it a "king" snake -- it eats other snakes, including venomous ones!

Pet Snake #4 - The Ball Python

I've put the ball python last on my list of best types of snakes to keep as pets for one reason only. They can be a bit more finicky with their eating.

For example, I currently keep four ball pythons that are the same age and kept in the exact same types of conditions (cages, heat, etc.). Nevertheless, they all have their own eating habits. Two of them will eat frozen / thawed rats on a fairly consistent basis. One will sometimes eat frozen / thawed, and sometimes not. The last one has only eaten frozen / thawed rats once -- all the other times I've had to offer fresh rats. E2macpets that means regular trips to the pet store!

As long as you accept this characteristic about ball pythons, and you're okay with it, then I would still recommend them as a pet snake. They are very docile and reluctant to bite (I've never even had one strike at me). They rarely get longer than five and a half feet. And they do well in captivity if you take care of their basic needs. In fact, they can live for 25 years or more in captivity. So be sure you're in it for the long haul if you choose a ball python as your type of pet snake.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this tutorial as much as I enjoyed creating it, and I hope it helps you choose the type of pet snake that's right for you!

* You may republish this article online if you keep the author's bio below with the hyperlinks left intact. Copyright 2007, Brandon Cornett.

Learn More About Snakes
Brandon Cornett is the publisher of Reptile Knowledge, a website with information on all kinds of reptiles including pet snakes, venomous snakes, giant snakes and more. Learn more by visiting http://www.reptileknowledge.com

// posted by chameleonsbsevbe @ 8:13 AM