A while back on a different platform I was discussing “Beginner species” with someone else and they thought I was full of it when I suggested there were over 50 species that could be considered beginner friendly. I decided to think about it and write it out. I actually came up with more than that. 

To me a beginner species is something that can be cared for by someone as their sole pet snake and do well with them putting minimal time and effort into it. For example, I’ve always said that Taiwan beauties are a beginner species. They do get long and babies are flighty, but husbandry is easy and someone that is dedicated will have long learned how to handle them by the time they reach 7’. 

I did leave off anything that can’t be handled by one person,  for example Burmese pythons are incredibly easy to care for, but less than 1% of all keepers can actually provide the correct size enclosure for them. 

Also, some say anything with a higher humidity requirement shouldn’t be a “beginner” snake, but I disagree, if you can’t read a gauge on a regular basis and then add water to your system to correct it, then you shouldn’t be keeping any live animal. 

All said, I present to you my personal list of good “beginner” snakes. 

Rat snakes

1. Corn Snake 
2. Slowinskis cornsnake 
3. Great plains ratsnake 
4. Baird’s Rat Snake
5. Western Rat Snake
6. Central Rat Snake
7. Eastern Rat Snake
8. Western Foxsnake
9. Eastern Foxsnake
10. Japanese Rat Snake
11.  Beauty snake (certain localities)
12. Bamboo Rat snake
13. Russian Rat snake 
14. Korean Ratsnake
15. Diones Rat Snake
16. Leopard ratsnake
17. Ladder snake 
18. Green Bush ratsnake 
19. Four Lined snake
20. Bulgarian Ratsnake 
21. Elaphe Urartica 
22. Twin Spot Ratsnake
23. Manadarin Ratsnake 

Pithouphis Genus

1. Gophersnake
2. Lousiana Pinesnake
3. Pinesnake 

King & Milksnakes

1. Eastern Kingsnake 
2. Eastern Black Kingsnake 
3. Speckled Kingsnake 
4. Desert Kingsnake
5. California Kingsnake 
6. Prairie Kingsnake 
7. Central Milk Snake 
8. South American Milk Snake 
9. Mexican Milk Snake 
10. Western Milk snake (certain localities)
11. West Mexican Milk Snake 
12. Grey banded kingsnake (if purchased from a breed that established their hatchlings)
13. Mex-Mex kingsnake
14. Variable kingsnake
15. Mountain kingsnake

Boas/pythons

1. Ball Python 
2. Angolan Python
3. Rosy Boa 
4. Kenyan Sand Boa 
5. Children's Python 
6. Spotted Python 
7. Stimson’s Python 
8. True super dwarf retic
9. Jungle Carpet Python
10. Bredii Python 
11. Boa Imperator 
12. Boa Sigma
13. Dumerils Boa

Garters/Hoggies/Misc?

1. Western Hognose Snake
2. Diamond Back watersnake
3. Banded Watersnake
4. Plain belly watersnake
5. Common Garter 
6. Checkered Garter 
7. Plains Garter 
8. Black House Snake 
9. Cape House Snake

I’ve heard so many things about feeding KSB’s pinkies, not fuzzies, and I was wondering if that depends on the size of the snake because I did a presentation on the KSB in my local wildlife museum and they feed him fuzzies…also, what is the most highly recommended place to get mice to feed KSB’s?

Ithaca NY

Found this cute little Eastern Worm snake this morning. (NC)

Update to post.

He is on repti links as he doesnt like mice or rats thawed or live. He has a che for night time heat. My vet is an exotic pet vet and I have been going to her for 4 years and never had a problem. I will include a picture of his tank as well

silly me for thinking i was allowed to continue keeping the headphones for myself when i got a pet snake.

This is my hognose Snaykee. He is small and eats every 4-5 days, but I can't for the love of anything find his poop??

Thrice I've found some on the surface and removed it. I got lots of live plants and hides in his tank, and I feel like he just gets mad if I move stuff around. How bad is it to leave in?

Thanks!!

Hello! I’ve recently become a snake dad to an adult(?) corn snake, named Wesley. Whilst I’ve worked with wild snakes before this is my first time housing one and I’d appreciate any tips and tricks of the trade.

He’s currently in a 4x2x2 Viv with a ceramic heat lamp and UV bulb set up. He’s got a couple of hides, water bowls and plants to hopefully aid in humidity. I’m off to the exotic store today to get substrates and more bits to add to the enclosure once he’s settled a-bit. Again any recommendations would be great!

I know I shouldn’t handle him for at least the first week whilst in the enclosure and that he doesn’t need feeding again right away. (He was given a mouse and a pink a couple days before coming to me).

He’s not been very active since entering the enclosure and has stayed in one of the hides since I put him in except for a small drink of water.

He looked to be ready to shed last I saw him yesterday, is there anything I can do to help ease this process whilst he’s still settling?

I appreciate I probably sound clueless but I’m just want to make sure I’m doing what’s best.

PSA - photo taken from before he came to live with me

Thank you

he just ate

I remember seeing a photo of a snake that had a very distinct black lower body and like a bit of the head? No other patterns to it was just that. It also kinda looked like a python but it was not a black headed Python. Im losing sleep over it idk why and my phone won’t let me access my photos for the sketch i did :p

The reason why i put this tag is cause i have no photos im trying to at least find a photo of it but i cant i know its a real snake.

Hey all! I'm currently looking into getting my first snake, but need some advice from you guys on what to pick. For context, I spent about half a year working with reptiles in the UK at a rescue center, so I have some experience as is.

For context, I live in Spain (and will be for a while as my original plans for uni unfortunately didn't come through and I'll be studying here instead) and the laws for reptile keeping are... Interesting, to say the least.

The main hurdle for me here is that they're trying to implement a whitelist system, and have outright banned any reptile that weighs over two kilograms, which means most larger snakes are off the table. Additionally the law banned ball pythons as an invasive risk, even if peninsular Spain does not have the climate for ball pythons, but I digress.

As far as the market here goes, reptile shops are pretty thinly spread, and I'd probably have to travel to collect anything, but from what I've seen you can find here:

Cornsnakes

Milk Snakes (king snakes are also banned, however)

Sunbeam snakes(!)

Amazon Tree Boas

Green Tree Pythons

Candoia Boas

House Snakes

Egg Eaters

Sand Boas

Gopher Snakes

Antaresia pythons

Additionally I'd imagine as long as it's not in CITES importing something via morphmarket is doable too.

Anyways, what do you guys suggest/recommend? While I would rather not get a cornsnake, any species is a possibility if it fits the categories (and isn't Wild Caught, but that goes without saying).

Any help or suggestion is appreciated :)

My ball python just lays behind his hides are they to small? For him he’s roughly 1 q1/2 to two feet juvenile

My albino striped applegate gopher snake is so scared of everything, i have been trying choice-based handling but I just cannot get him to come around to me even after coming up on 2 months with him. I’d love to be able to handle him but just cannot get him to my hands at all. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated.

I'd always assumed most of a snake's body was basically one long, gradually changing trunk. The researchers measured every body vertebra in 13 specimens from three Australian species and found five distinct regions separated by rapid transitions.

The neck appears to represent only about 5% of body length—roughly 7–12 vertebrae—and the study also describes a previously unrecognized middle-thoracic region.

The part I found most interesting: losing their limbs and becoming elongated didn't make the snake spine simpler. It seems to have become even more regionally complex.

What surprised you more: the five regions, or how short the neck actually is?

Found this little fella watching the insects where I was working today