• 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.

Tubs and snakes and pets, oh my...

I love my snakes, all of them. I DO think of them as pets, or else I wouldn't have them, however, I don't get them out to hold them or interact with them as much as I used to.

When I only had 1 snake I got him out about 2-3 times a week. Once I got 4 snakes (I bought numbers 2-4 at the same time), I stopped handling my first one as frequently and never handled my new arrivals very much. However, just because I stopped interacting with them as much as before, I didn't stop caring for them.

Now that I have started breeding and now have 19 snakes to care for, I definitely feel that some are getting put on the back burner. My first snake, the one I used to hold 2-3 times a week, has been held a total of 3 times in the past 3 months and those times were only because I needed to get him out to clean his cage. However, I don't feel like he has missed out on anything. He seems as happy as he ever did, if snakes can be happy.

I do know that they don't need to be held. They aren't like dogs and cats that like company, which is the main reason I love snakes so much. The selling point with my first snake (even though I did end up doing a lot with him when I first got him) was that I didn't HAVE to do anything with him if I didn't want to, other than feed, water, and clean up after him. (I've had instances in the past, specifically with animals that demand a lot of time and energy (ie. a lovebird and cats) that I didn't do well with, because I just didn't have the desire to care for them as I should have...I'm lazy :) so a snake fit right in as a great animal for me.)

My attitude has changed with the amount of snakes I have, but I'm still enjoying the hobby. When I stop enjoying it, I'll get rid of some of my snakes. But not all of them, some are considered family.

Oh and a note about naming snakes versus IDing them, well, I thought that after a certain number of snakes I would stop naming them too, and maybe I will, but so far all of my adults have names and I'm sure my babies will get names when I decide which one's I'm going to keep. But...they also all have IDs as well, even my first snake. I have "Tesla Coil" (ID: A), "Desi" (ID: B), "Nitro" (ID: C), "Banshee" (ID: 1), "Luci" (ID: 3), "Glycerine" (ID: 4), and one hatchling I've nicknamed "Lucky" (ID: C4-04M3), though I have yet to determine if I will keep him or not.

Another thing...
When I only had 4 snakes and I was in the process of getting more, I started having nightmares where I would realize that I forgot about some of my snakes and they had died of dehydration by the time I remembered them or I just had way too many so that I would forget who I had fed and they would die of starvation (this one's a little far fetched I know since they can go a long time without food), or I would get lazy and not put cage lids on well and they would all escape. Now that I have 19 snakes those dreams have totally stopped, because I know it's not that much different having this many as it is having just 4. I have more records to keep up with, but it's really not much more demanding. So in a way, I'm glad I have this many...I don't have those bad dreams anymore. :rolleyes: Thank God!
 
Last edited:
Oh Amanda, I know just what you mean about those "neglect nightmares"! They start for me every time I get a new one and don't stop until the quarantine period's over. Once the new guys settle into the same feeding/cleaning regimes as the rest, I realise that one more Corn isn't suddenly going to cause me some sort of care overload and the dreams stop again. Glad it's not just me...

And although I don't have the same close contact with my current 16 as I had with my original 3, I still care for them all as much and get just as upset when they seem off-colour.
 
Corns as pets

I have 4 snakes: a 3' f. Creamsicle Corn, Celeste, a 2.5' m. Okeetee Corn, Elliot (Celeste's "Snakey husband" lol), a 4' f. Columbian Boa, Drago, and a 2' f. Bismarck's Ringed Python, Cleopatra. I don't get to hold them as much as I'd like to (Not with a husband, a baby, a cat, fish, real estate school, and firefighting. (I must be crazy! :crazy02: ) ). They have big European-style vivs they live in. If we hibernate them they'll most likely be in American-style racks.

It's very sad too when they die. We've had 3 corns: a 1' yearling m. Snow Corn, Blizzard, and two 3 or 4 month old Ghost Corns, Boo and Boo II, who died because they refused food. A 5' m. Dumrel's Boa, Tribal, bled out 2 years after get bit by a rat fed to him by the pet shop owner (as he grew the scar stretched open and ruptured). I've also had a baby m. Savannah Water Monitor, Monty, die because he got bit by a Black Widow Spider (how THAT got in his viv I do not know). I cried over every one of them, but its nature, I suppose. :shrugs:

I treat them all like loved pets, because they are. Celeste won't even offer to bite, she and Elliot were hand raised and eat freeze/thaw mice right out of our hand. We want to breed them (the Corns at least) some day soon. But when we do they won't stop being pets.

~Corn Snakes rule~
 
I've got two snakes, a ball and a corn, and I'm getting another ball soon. I was thinking about breeding the balls eventually, and I was wondering about the same thing. But since I know that breeding isnt going to be my job in the future (I'm dead set on being a vet) I decided that I'd lavish all my love on my main 3, and just try to sell off the babies. Or something. I don't know. At least I have a few years to figure it out. ;)

I have no idea what I would do if I did become a big breeder, though. Because then, I'd have to get rid of the ones that I don't need, and stuff. I'd have to just keep the ones that make good designer morphs and stuff... :/

Hm.... About the racks, I don't think I'd have any problem keeping snakes in racks. When they're small, they get small tubs. When they're bigger, they get bigger tubs. I don't think it makes a difference whether its tubs or vivs as long as they're adequately sized for the snakes. I mean, you could get a humongous tupperware thingie and it would probably be better than a same sized viv. Since most tubs are slightly opaque, the snake would feel more secure, IMHO. Also, it would be lighter to more around and stuff around the house. :rolleyes: But for now, I've got vivs, and it will probably be that way until I (maybe) start breeding.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top