# new to herps , curious?



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

hey guys , im new to herps , lol actually very new, ive only owned a bearded dragon for 2 weeks ( a buddies) , I REALLY like rainbow boas, they are very sweet, i was wondering what sized tank i would need to keep one happy for life in? would like 56x20x25 work out for life? if not what suze would he need?


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## Carnivoro (Oct 12, 2003)

depend of the size of the snake.
If your snake is 5' you need a cage, tank, ect of 10' of perimeter.


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Well considering rain boas grow to 3.5-7 feet. Your tank might and might not house it for life. The tanks for sankes as I have read should be the length of your snake and 4 times the width of your snake. So pretty much if your snake stays under 5 feet, which I assume it will because not all snakes grow to the maximum length. So you should be ok. Wait untill CrockKeeper gets on to tell you what he thinks. He will be able to tell you a acurate answer.







Also, from my calculations you have a 125 gallon tank. Maybe you shouldn't look into sankes. You could do some pretty sweet ass things with that baby. Just a thought.


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Another one!Heres one site to help you!

If I kept going I could find many more but these are good enought I think. Also you can house it in the cage you stated for life.


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## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

thanks for the link pudd, do u know if this is recommended as a beinner snake,? also , how hard is it to maintain humidity? i love the look of the snake , but i was hoping for something more mellow when handled, and possibly more of a easy snake,? but then again i dont just want the regular run of the mill ball python


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## Carnivoro (Oct 12, 2003)

ok, i keep mine in a 48" x 18" x 16" is perfect and she loved.
the substrate is repti-bark.Never use Cedar...
the temperature of the cage is 75f and 85f in the basking spot.
the cage have 2 heat pads, 1 under the basking spot, 1 in the background, Never use Hot rocks...
i keep the humidity in 75% / 80%, i have real plants for the humidity.
i feed mine with frozen rats every 10 days. Not live food...never.

ok, in this cage i keep mine and she loved and is very healthy.
Hope that help you a little. And good luck with this Beautiful creature...
if you have a problem let me know.
Thanks, Carnivoro


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## Guest (May 26, 2004)

micus said:


> thanks for the link pudd, do u know if this is recommended as a beinner snake,? also , how hard is it to maintain humidity? i love the look of the snake , but i was hoping for something more mellow when handled, and possibly more of a easy snake,? but then again i dont just want the regular run of the mill ball python


 Have you considered snakes of the _Pituophis _genus, such as gopher snakes, pine snakes, and bull snakes?
They are certainly more active than most snakes. They're mellow if handled regularly. They're big, with some growing over 6 feet. And they don't seem to be affected by low humidity.


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## Down (Feb 27, 2004)

micus said:


> thanks for the link pudd, do u know if this is recommended as a beinner snake,? also , how hard is it to maintain humidity? i love the look of the snake , but i was hoping for something more mellow when handled, and possibly more of a easy snake,? but then again i dont just want the regular run of the mill ball python


 Have you considered trying a corn snake? They're very mellow and come in a mind boggling assortment of colors and designs.
They're regarded as being an excellent beginner snake.

J


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## Carnivoro (Oct 12, 2003)

Or a Garter snake, they are very easy to care. exellent for beginner.
The great thing is the diets consist of feeder fish.


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Well honestly. This may be a kill joy, but there arn't many snakes that are beginner snakes. Ok also, I really hope you have studied you snake and everything they need to survive. Check out I thread I made here it is...

Read this 

Please read this. I think it will help alot.


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## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

thanks for the link again, hmm , well , i kinda got my heat set on a boa, but , do u think a hog nose snake would be cool , my local pet store just got one in , and i think its an awesome snake,? do these make good starter outer snakes? also , this kindof sounds dumb , but i can catch wild garter snakes very easily around were i live, u think i should do this?


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## Guest (May 27, 2004)

micus said:


> do u think a hog nose snake would be cool , my local pet store just got one in , and i think its an awesome snake,? do these make good starter outer snakes? also , this kindof sounds dumb , but i can catch wild garter snakes very easily around were i live, u think i should do this?


 Only if the hognose is eating mice regularly. In the wild, hognose snakes eat toads. If it's wild caught, you're going to have difficulty feeding it. Eventually, it will need to be converted to mice, unless you're very skilled at hunting toads year-round. I would say that a wild-caught hognose snake is not a good beginner's snake because of this.

As a kid I kept many wild-caught garter snakes. These days I avoid wild-caught snakes because they carry a host of internal and external parasites. If you don't kill off all the external parasites, the poor snake will be trapped in a cage full of exponentially reproducing mites.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

A great array of answers and thoughts.

Personally I think that Bullsnake may be very much on target by suggesting snakes of the genus Pituophis. The Boas are nice snakes and if your heart is set upon a boa, look into Boa constrictor species, not Epicrates species as a first snake, although they are beautifull snakes they can be a bit more intimidating.
When you ask about hognose, firts you need to be more specific, is it an eastern, western, southern, etc.. then you need to know what it is feeding on, and if they claim rodents, have them feed it for you there at the store...


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## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

its a western hognose, the guy at the store said it had mild venom , that was an irritant to the skin, im not sure if that was bull or not, also, the guy said it had a horrible temper and tried to bite everything in its cage, so i dunno, maybe not the snake i was looking for,  this is what i was looking at


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## KingJeff (Jul 22, 2003)

Puddjuice said:


> Well honestly. This may be a kill joy, but there arn't many snakes that are beginner snakes. Ok also, I really hope you have studied you snake and everything they need to survive. Check out I thread I made here it is...
> 
> Read this
> 
> Please read this. I think it will help alot.:nod:


 what thread is it?


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## rbp75 (May 2, 2004)

> thanks for the link pudd, do u know if this is recommended as a beinner snake,? also , how hard is it to maintain humidity? i love the look of the snake , but i was hoping for something more mellow when handled, and possibly more of a easy snake,? but then again i dont just want the regular run of the mill ball python


I wouldnt consider it as easy to care for than a ball python. as far as keeping himidity I keep mine in there own room with a himidifier and that keeps the himidity good. or misting the cage 1-3 times a day should keep the humidity good enough.
as far as ball python go I wouldnt consider them regular run of the mill snakes, they are awsome snakes that can take handling better than any snake imo, and are better than other snakes for beginners who are going to make mistakes on there careing. and if you have the money you can always get a morph that way you dont have to worry about having a run of the mill snake.


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## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

yah man ive been lookin into ball pythons, there are some pretty rad colours and designs they come with , very cool.


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