The Best Small Snake Pet? My Choice Might Surprise You!

[findi]

Hi, Frank Indiviglio here. I’m a herpetologist, zoologist, and book author, recently retired from a career spent at several zoos, aquariums, and museums, including over 20 years with the Bronx Zoo.
The first wild snake I encountered as a child, on a dead-end street in the Bronx, measured a mere 10 inches long. However, it excited me as much as did the huge anacondas and pythons I visited regularly at the Bronx and Staten Island Zoos, and the American Museum of Natural History. That particular Northern Brown or DeKay’s Snake (Storeria dekayi dekayi) escaped, but you can bet I searched nonstop until I found another! Happily, this adaptable little serpent continues to hang on in the most unlikely habitats…each year I receive several in need of rehab, collected in busy Manhattan neighborhoods. This overlooked snake has much to offer reptile enthusiasts. It can be comfortably-housed in a 10 gallon tank, does not eat rodents, and it’s the young are produced alive, eliminating the hassle of egg-incubation. Brown Snakes are ideal candidates for naturalistic terrariums stocked with live plants, and when kept so they will exhibit a wider range of natural behaviors than can be expected from large snakes – it’s just far easier to provide them with all that they need. As a career herpetologist, I’ve gone on to care for and observe in the wild the same huge snakes that entranced me so long ago…yet I still maintain Brown Snakes, and watch them in my yard at every opportunity. Read the rest of this article here Best Small Snake Pet? Suprise! The Brown Snake | That Reptile Blog
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My Bio, with photos of animals I’ve been lucky enough to work with: That Pet Place welcomes Zoologist/Herpetologist Frank Indiviglio to That Reptile Blog | That Reptile Blog

Best Regards, Frank

 

[RavensGryf]

I've never kept snakes personally, but that's good info for snake enthusiasts! The species sounds like a good first snake for a pet.

It seems that the popularity of the species or breeds of our 'pet' animals are largely determined by how widespread and readily available they are on the market, not necessarily what good pet qualities they may or may not have.

 

[Kalidasa]

I've never had a brown snake, but my snake of choice as a kid was the Garter snake, which are pretty common around here. They were always very docile to the point of being affectionate. I would let them go late summer after fattening them up all season

 

[Betrisher]

Yes, I had a quiet smile at the reference to 'Brown Snake' too!

Once, I rescued a dear little 10" long snake from a cat. It was slightly injured, so I was reluctant to let it go again and asked my son to hold it for me on the short drive home. On arrival, I checked in my Snake book to find out what the species and its characteristics were.

Oops!

Turns out, we had a Pale-lipped Snake which is quite venomous and can deliver a painful and sick-making bite, even to an adult. I took it from my son and put it immediately in a fish tank with five phone books on top of it to keep the lid on! The local wetland was very glad to have it to release into the wild, but I learned a very important lesson that day: don't be too cavalier with things you pick up in a paddock! :22_yikes:

 

[findi]

In Australia we have the King Brown and Eastern Brown snakes. They are both highly venomous, aggressive and large. I had a friend who kept these reptiles and they were always under lock and key. He wanted to get a inland taipan but was never successful. He was a bit obsessed with reptiles but mainly snakes.

Hi...thanks for your interest; your friend will not likely listen, but venomous snakes should never be kept in private collections; impossible to properly prepare for bite treatment at home...I've responded to many during my decades with the Bronx Zoo - very bad idea!

 

[SilverSage]

I like snakes but have always lived with people who hate them, so I have never owned them. During my years as a camp counselor I handled many garter snakes, ribbon snakes, and bull snakes as well as encountered and dealt with my share of rattle snakes. Thanks for the info, I hope (but doubt) people do more research when getting pet snakes than most do when getting birds!!

 

[findi]

I like snakes but have always lived with people who hate them, so I have never owned them. During my years as a camp counselor I handled many garter snakes, ribbon snakes, and bull snakes as well as encountered and dealt with my share of rattle snakes. Thanks for the info, I hope (but doubt) people do more research when getting pet snakes than most do when getting birds!!

Thanks...well-founded doubts!

 

[MikeyTN]

Delfin,

Yea, where your at it would be a bad thing to pick those up as you guys have too many venomous snakes and spiders.

 

[MikeyTN]

I have a HUGE fear of snakes so that's one thing I don't wanna see around....although my yard is a oasis for wild life as my brother in law says we have more different kinds of wild song birds in our back yard then they do out on the farm. But my wolfs keeps the serpents and such out of my yard as Copperhead, Cotton Mouth, and two kinds of Rattle Snake is common here where I'm at. I actually do need to be more careful working in my yard cause you just never know when you'll encounter one.