• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Hello from Missouri!

Amanda47

Amanda47

New member
How'd I get here:

I've been wanting a pet, but with my allergies, cats/dogs are out. I'd been looking into small pets (ex. birds, ferrets, rabbits, rats) and finally decided on gerbils. I never considered reptiles because the whole environment thing seemed daunting to me in the past. But I was still in research mode when I saw something about snakes as pets and not long after, I knew I was getting a corn snake.

I don't have one yet, mainly because I'm neurotic and obsessive, haha. I'm going to get the stuff for the enclosure over the next week and set it up to be sure I can maintain the proper temperature for a while.

My biggest concern with having a pet snake is all the special shipping. I'll be ordering the snake over the internet (most likely from BHB Reptiles), and will have to order the frozen mice too. Live snakes, frozen animals... It's stressing me out! How can I spend a month doing all this research, just to receive something like that in the mail without touching it and obsessing over it and eventually approving it?! LOL

So, setting up the cage and I'll just pick a mouse company and get some little mouses, see how it goes. If it doesn't go well, the baby-snake viv is out and we're having pinkie stew for Thanksgiving. But I'm sure once I get over the ordering-mice-online hump, things will be fine.



And that brings me to today. I've been doing lots of research on corn snakes, and will be doing lots more thanks to this great site and others.

As for the snake, I'm really leaning toward getting a baby, and I want the reddest one I can get. Just a regular "bloodred" doesn't seem all that common and actually, I kind of like the ones with a pattern on them, so maybe a Fire Something-or-other. I'm wanting to get the snake itself in the next two months or so, and hoping it's not too cold to ship at that time. It should be enough time to find all the info I want.



Anyway, thanks for reading!

-Amanda :)


PS- What a great forum this is! It's active and goes way back, that's hard to find sometimes. Glad I found it!
 
I felt the same about the whole shipping thing. Not being able to actually see and handle the snake before purchase bothered me. So, I've decided to get one at the upcoming Repticon show in my area. I feel much more confident with that idea. So, you may want to see if there are going to be any shows in your area anytime soon, and think about getting your snake there. I believe there are typically frozen mouse sellers at shows as well, but don't quote me on that.
 
Hello and welcome! While it's always a bit stressful and there is always at least a tiny bit of risk in shipping animals, if you are getting one from a reputable seller, it is minimal and almost routine. Definitely a good option! I do second a reptile expo if there are any nearby though, for both a snake or food. At our local expos anyway, they have a very good variety to choose from, from good breeders at very good prices. The main problem with ordering online feeders is shipping, unless you happen to live right by a supplier. They are most cost effective if you need a lot of feeders, if not they can be more pricey than pet stores, who are generally overpriced, once shipping is factored in. Shows are usually good for feeders for that reason. But if you can't find feeders at a show, I just put in my first order with Layne Labs and was very happy with the whole thing and definitely recommend them.
 
Welcome to the group.
I have found buying frozen mice by mail no real problem, but it does take a large order to make it worth while. I have gotten most of my snakes in person, a few at a pet store or most of them from shows. There was one color I wanted and could not find at the shows, honey. The only snakes I have gotten by mail were a pair of honeys from South Mountain Reptiles. I was very nervous but SMR does a lot of business by mail and it went very smooth, no problems at all.
 
I'd never considered a reptile expo. I didn't think there were any in my area, and I didn't know what went on there. Now that I've checked, there's an expo on Nov 11 less than 50 miles from me. That's lucky timing!

What goes on at these shows? Can I just go to buy some frozen mice? Do they sell animals? Or is it just people looking at reptiles? I don't want to walk in like it's a big travelling pet store and look like a dummy, lol.

I'll admit, I haven't touched a snake since I was eight years old. I kind of want to hold one if I go...


And thanks for the links, cornsnakeforsale_com. I've read all the articles on your site and found them to be really helpful -- glad they're out there!
 
Yes, most expos do have venders that sell animals. There are also usually a group or two at them just displaying various animals for educational purposes. There are usually supply venders at them as well and various feeder venders. I've only bought frozen mice at an expo once, as the biggest one around here has not had a frozen rodent vender the last two times. They did have a live supplier there the last time but that wasn't much use to us personally. We get almost all of our tanks and UTHs at the expos as well since they are usually quite a bit cheaper there. We are lucky that where at least one of our expos is, there are several more reptile oriented pet stores that vend there and compete with each other. We also get LLL Reptile there and they are at almost all decent sized expos around the country and might be at the one near you. They have fairly decent animals and supplies. I've bought several snakes from them. They are a reseller, so they don't produce most of their animals themselves. Not always a bad thing, just something to be aware of. They are more like a pet store in that respect.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum!! I'm new here myself and new to snake ownership. I am going to my first Repticon expo next month. I am holding off buying another corn until then. I was told by a friend that when buying frozen pinkies (which I am using now) to try and make sure that they are individually packaged to prevent freezer burn. This is instead of purchasing a big frozen ice cube of pinkies. You will probably pay a bit more for packaging this way but it sounds like a good idea to prevent freezer burn.

Anyway, I hope all works out well for you and you find a great snake!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top