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Questions about African House Snakes

hypnoctopus

hypnoctopus

Olivia Barron
Staff member
I've been thinking about getting one or two African house snakes, but I was hoping to get some information from people who have owned them.

Is their care similar to corn snakes? As in, will they be happy in a 20 gallon long tank with aspen bedding? Do they have very different temperature requirements since they're from Africa?

I've heard that they have fast metabolisms, so do you feed them more frequently?

Can they be housed together, or is that a no-no, like most snakes?

What (if any) are the inherent dangers of getting a wild caught specimen?

Feel free to add any other information! I'm sure I'm forgetting things I wanted to ask.

Thanks!
 
We keep a few African House Snakes and I would HIGHLY recommend them! I love them because they are different...so are a lot of other species too, but I mean from your commonly kept, corns, milks, kings, boas of many sorts and bp's, I suppose being in the US or anywhere other than Alberta you might add hognose to that list (we can't keep them here).

We keep ours in the same racks as we keep our corns, they are all on the same thermostat and have never had any problems whatsoever, although that said I'm sure that they would be able to handle a much higher temp than that. A 20 gallon long would definitely be suitable, our females are around the same size as our adult corns, males are MUCH smaller, our breeder male is smaller than our 2 year old corns by a long shot.

I feed mine on the same schedule as my corns as well, house snakes are ravenous feeders and honestly I wouldn't feed my adults more frequently than I do my corns, our biggest female is close to 600 grams and not terribly long but quite chunky.

Because they are such ravenous creatures I would definitely never house them together unless for breeding and even then I'm very careful that they are well fed.

Wild caught, I would think run the same risks as anything, captive bred specimens are very readily available though as they are VERY prolific breeders (1 female can lay 6 clutches a year in captivity from a single breeding, 8-12 eggs per clutch typically), so there really should be no need to support pulling them from the wild. Although I suppose, having talked to people who are from Africa you will hear that the wild specimens are much larger than cb ones, I would think, from what I have been personally told about the wild ones that a 20 long would not suffice.

Biggest thing I find to remember about them is that they are FAST! And never firmly restrain them, they will bite, so where you would typically hold a cranky snake at the neck, you will want to handle them quite freely and they will settle down much better, I've personally found, in my own experience that trying to make them do it your way is a quick way to make enemies.

In summary, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone who is comfortable handling snakes and has a little bit of experience ;)
 
Excellent info, thanks! I remembered one other thing I was going to ask - are they able to be sexed like corn snakes via probing or popping?
 
Either method does work, obviously popping should be done as babies, but I do know guys who will probe babies (I'm not all for probing babies but to each their own I suppose).
Personally I pop them as babies, and I have good success doing it that way. It is a bit more delicate than corns as they are TEENSY as babies and super squirmy but it can be done just as easily :)
 
Well, I think 5 Star got your questions pretty well covered! I will just say that I'd also recommend them for temperament as well. I have the two I just got but I'd also had a little male Brown House snake for a few months, I'd picked him up at an expo from LLL, they are the only place that ever has them locally and never have more than two at a time. He was tiny, I'm thinking very close to newly hatched and he never really ate well and eventually died, I believe from some kind of failure to thrive thing. But he had a great little attitude and the new ones have been great so far too, though I haven't handled them much so far.

One more important thing to know about them if you plan on breeding, it is very important to know the snakes you are getting's subspecies, some of them can be difficult to tell apart and often they have issues with cross breeding, either won't do it at all or will have various defects within a few generations. That's probably the biggest difference between them and more commonly kept snakes like corns and kings, who very easily intergrade between subspecies and even other species.
 
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