The Top 5 BEST Beginner Snakes! - Reptilenesia
the snakes temperament its adult size
its feeding habits the price of the
snake and its availability coming in at
number 5 on the list would be garter
snakes these are awesome
curious little snakes they are active
during the daytime, they're technically
crepuscular which means they're most
active at dawn and dusk but they are so
much fun to just watch exploring their
entire enclosure they only get around 2
to 3 feet long so they stay a pretty the decent size they don't get overly large
and any means by any means and you can
comfortably house a single adult in just
a 20-gallon long enclosure or 20 gallon
long tank and you can keep a group
together in say a 40 or even a 75 gallon
tank with almost every other species of
snake it's best to house them
individually but garter snakes are
pretty social so if you're looking for a the snake that you can keep multiples of in
the same habitat a garter snake would be
perfect this is one species that seems
to do best with a heat source coming
from above in the form of light like a
basking light as opposed to a heat mat
from underneath these are natural
baskets so they prefer to come out and
bask under the Sun which is why they
prefer that light but that causes this
species to be more easily viewable
snake they're not just gonna hide in a
cave all day they will be out and
basking throughout the day another nice thing about garter snakes is they have
huge appetites and they can eat a
variety of different food items if you
don't like feeding mice to snakes a
garter snake might be a good option for
you because they eat other things like
worms and fish although it's good to mix
in mice here and there just for a
variety of different nutrients to be
added to their diet if you feed them
things like fish and worms it's a good idea to use calcium or a multivitamin
powder on their food items to make sure
they're getting all the vitamins that
they need they can also be fed a pure
rodent diet just fine but if you're
feeding mostly a fish diet
oh the rodent route you do have to make
sure you are careful what species of
fish you feed this snake because there
are many feeders fish out there that
contain an enzyme called thymine ace and
that can cause neurological issues in
garter snakes I'm not gonna cover it in
today's if you want to learn more
about thymine ice watch this video right
here one drawback to the garter snake is
its handleability they as adults if you
work with them are excellent and they
don't mind being handled at all as you
can see here but as babies, they're very
squirmy and if you get a new adult that
has not been socialized since it was a
baby, they are even more squirmy and it
takes a while to calm them down now with
regular handling sessions like 15
minutes twice a day you can get them to
calm down over a couple of weeks or so
but be prepared to get must on by the
garter snake until it calms down and
learns that you are not something to be
afraid of they the defense mechanism is
two must use so your hands are going to
be quite smelly after their training
sessions
finally with garter snakes the nice
thing is they do not cost that much like
compared to some other species of snakes
out there garter snakes are around like
twenty dollars for wild type colorations
and upwards of like $50 for albinos like
this girl here however they are hard to
find it is actually easier to find the
albino this is an albino checkered
garter snake and they're easier to find
them the normal wild-type coloration the
captive-bred that is most wild type
garter snakes that you see available for
sale our field-collected which means
they are wild-caught they are collected
from the field because of that they're
usually cheaper however you don't want a
wild cut garter snake because they're
gonna be really squirmy since they don't
know who you are or what people are be
you believe taking wild specimens from a
wild population and it's never a good
idea to do that and see wild cat snakes
often have parasites or other health
issues that you have to take care of so
if you want to garter snake I highly
recommend that you get a captive bred
individual it might be a little bit more
expensive to get one that's captive-breed
and you may have to go for like and I'll
buy now because some normal type
colorations are really hard to find
captive-bred but it'll be worth that
extra
because then you won't have to bring it
to like a vet or treat it for parasites
or some other crazy bills that you may
incur for getting a wild cat individual.
number four on our list of best beginner
snakes is the Mexican black king snake
these are awesome snakes they look
beautiful unfortunate mine is in sheds
so it's more like a Mexican gray king
snake for filming today but that's okay
there's still a beautiful snake they're
almost like you're a doesn't in the
right light you see like the whole
rainbow of colors in their scales
Mexican black king snakes also stay
around three to four feet long so they
don't get very big and from our
experience they are the most docile
species of king snake out there king
snakes have big appetites and they do -
they're great at eating they're very
rarely a picky species of snake but
usually with king snakes that also means
that they are a little mouthy when it
comes to handling - but from what we've
found the Mexican black king snake is
very docile especially if you handle it
while it's young and they're just an
overall very calm species of snake now
of course this does vary based on the
individual but from what we've found
Mexican black kingsnakes are excellent
at handling because of their small adult
size at only 3 to 4 feet you can
comfortably house an adult in a 40
gallon tank or similar size tub
enclosure the downside to Mexican black
king snakes would be their price and
availability because of how awesome
these snakes are they're in high high
demand and there's not a ton of breeders
of them out there so you know what the
whole supply-demand scenario the ones
that you do find are very expensive the
cheapest I found for Mexican black king
snakes the last year of 2018
was $200 very rarely you can maybe find
a couple individuals for sale from a
breeder for like a hundred and fifty but
those are snatched up really quickly so
you can expect to pay between 200 to 250
for a single Mexican black king snake
which is funny because we have some
reptile breeder friends we were talking
to not too long ago and they were saying
how just like 20 years ago
Mexican black kingsnakes sold for $30
each which is ridiculous compared to
today's prices but that's simply because
there were so many
and back then and not as high of a
demand so they could only sell for $30
but with the increased popularity in the
species especially in the last like year
we've found their prices have
skyrocketed since not many people breed
them anymore give them a couple years
though and their price point will start
to go back down again as more people
start breeding them again.
number three
on our list is the ball python this is
the most popular pet snake in America
the last time I checked anyway there's
some other species catching up close to
it though but they're very popular for
good reason
ball pythons have very gentle
dispositions making them very easy to
handle even for younger reptile
enthusiast these are an excellent snake
to just hand off to a kid and it's they
don't move very quickly which makes them
very easy to hold they're also very easy
to find go to any reptile expo and about
50% of the snakes the vendors will have
for sale will be ball pythons because
there's so many of them available their
price point is pretty low so they're
affordable as well and they stay pretty
small they only get about 4 to 5 feet
long depending on their gender and how
good of eaters they are on top of all
that they come in a huge variety of
color morphs in 2018 there were over
5,000 different morphs recorded for the
ball python and that's because there's
not only color mutations when it comes
to the snake but also pattern mutations
and then you can combine them and get
like countless possibilities when I
count list there's like 5,000 but still
there's a lot of different mutations of
ball pythons available so whether you
want a yellow one or a white one or in a
black one you can usually find it for
sale some warts are more expensive than
others but for the variety of colors you
can get it's really not too bad
keep in mind though that ball pythons
are nocturnal you can tell because their
pupils are vertical slits that's a sign
that a snake is awake at night and
because of that they are pretty
sedentary during the day during the day
you'll most often find them curled up in
their favorite hide and at night is when
they come out what morph is that one
this is a lemon blast male lemon blast
ball python the
we have the snake is because someone who
lives close to us couldn't get him to
eat and that is the big drawback to the
species of snake not saying all of them
are picky ears but if you're a ball
python comes from a breeder who fed it
only live or fed it only mice it can be
really hard to transition them to frozen
thawed rodents or two rats once they
become of the right size to handle right
and even a baby ball python is able to
handle rat pups or straight from the egg
so a lot of breeders will feed them rat
pups so that they're already used to
eating rats and that'll be their diet
their entire life just bigger and older
rats as they age then they don't have to
transition from mice as babies to rats
as an adult because this species can be
a picky eater and if you start with a
ball python you don't wanna have for
your first make be a picky eater that
you have to work with to get it to start
eating it's because of these feeding
habits that we put the ball python at
number three when it was close to being.
number two on the list we just heard so
many stories from people who have owned
a ball python saying that theirs didn't
wanna eat or would only eat live and
it's just kind of a hassle and it's
stressful if that is your very first
snake number two on our list is the milk
snake these are an excellent snake great
starter snakes from many reasons they
only get between 2 and 5 feet long
depending on the species so you do have
to do your research to make sure you're
getting the species that will get to the
size that you want to accommodate as an
adult smaller species include the
Nelsons milk snake which are cute little
milk snakes and larger species include
like this one which is the Mexican milk
snake this is our Mexican milk snake
she's about 4 ish feet long and she's
about 14 years old so she will not be
getting much larger and she is as you
can see very great at handling they
can't be a little Wiggly as babies and a
little bit musky as babies but they come
down really quickly we found as long as
you regularly handle them so that makes
them great
as far as temperament goes milk snakes
are also great eaters they are
technically a species of king snake milk
snakes are king snakes so that just kind
of tells you they're gonna be good
eaters still eat Liability frozen thawed
they like really any size they don't
care
this one was being fed live rats before
we go out here she was kind of a rescue
situation and she has some scars along
her back from those live mice or live
rats and when we got her we realized
she's kind of overweight so we switched
her to mice and we wanted to offer her
frozen thawed instead of live and we
were kind of wondering is she gonna take
it and she took it instantly she didn't
care and the other milk snakes I own
have also taken frozen thawed with no
problem whatsoever milk snakes are a
little bit harder to find then ball
pythons at both pet stores and the
reptile Expos and because of that their
price point is a little bit higher you
can expect to pay between $75 to a
hundred and fifty dollars for kind of
your basic milk snakes like without any
of the really fancy morphs albinos are
of course a little bit more expensive
but still are within that 75 to 150
dollar range at least as babies so
they're not too badly priced because of
their slightly higher price point though
we put them in second place because
first place goes to the corn snake these
are the best starter snake in our
opinion they come in all sorts of color
mutations just like ball pythons do and
they are very readily available on the
market they're easy to find at both pet
stores reptile stores and reptile Expos
which we of course recommend buying one
from a breeder instead of themselves
just so you can get to know the breeder
and the individual snake and its
genetics but since they're so easy to
find they're also very inexpensive
they're very affordable snakes the basic
corn snake gives only like twenty
dollars from a breeder and then they're
more to go upwards of save around 100 to
150 for most morphs and there's of
course some more expensive ones too but
for the most part they're really
inexpensive snakes they also only get 4
to 6 feet long depending on their sex
again just like with other snakes
females typically get bigger than males
this is a male he is a blood-red
mutation which means he has no pattern
as an adult on his dorsal side and his
belly is also a nice white color we
would not recommend a blood-red mutation
corn snake though because from what
we've been told from for some
professionals in the field is that this
particular mutation
has the weakest immune system so they're
more likely to get sick so I would go
with something like an a melanistic or
an oaky tea or really just a normal
wild-type corn snake is really pretty in
of itself as you can see they're really
easygoing snakes I mean the elements
have been - but these it as a whole are
very calm snakes again as babies just
like with most cooler Birds or most baby
snakes in general they can be a little
bit tail buzzy or a little defensive and
they might be kind of Wiggly but with
regular handling they calm down like
right away they're very curious snakes
and they explore their habitats more
than like ball pythons - which are a
little bit more sedentary and corn
snakes unlike some other species are
fantastic eaters for the most part of
course there are always exceptions of
some snakes no matter how good of eaters
they typically are some are gonna be
picky but I've never run across a corn
snake that didn't want to eat honestly
I've heard of a couple but all the ones
I've owned have eaten live in previous
homes and frozen thawed at our homes
they eat without hesitation there's no
special tricks involved like with
scenting they just eat right then and
there
since corn snakes pass all five of our
grading categories they have great
temperaments they don't get overly large
compared to some other species they have
great eating habits and they are very
easy to find and inexpensive those are
all five four categories .
this is the number one snake we would recommend for
a beginner snake owner however we love
all five of the snake species we
recommended in today's top five beginner
list
they are great snakes some just have
some quirks but they're also unique in
their own ways they're all amazing
snakes to consider for your first snake
of course don't forget to do your
research on the species that you want to
purchase for your first snake get the
entire habitat ready and have it set up
for several days so you can make sure
that the humidity and temperature levels
are correct for that species before you
take it home and introduce it into its
new enclosure I hope you enjoyed our
very first top 5 video we've never done
one of these before but since we got a
lot of requests for it we've had to do
it if you enjoyed it let us know maybe
we'll do a top 5 intermediate snakes
that we would recommend
and a future episode thanks again for
watching today's video
and we'll see you next time okay just
have like a runny nose which is causing
everything a lot to blow your nose
yes what's that one um I haven't written
I don't know I could texture I'll text
her quick I can't find it we could guess
the spider it's like a spider blast
right that thumbs has here any pastels
I'm not too familiar with but I know
like the basic ball plate that morphs
but I don't know that fancy one
he's got spider in him obviously he's
got that reduced but what else does he
have looks like a lemon blast sprayer to
me she responded already that's quick
he's a London blast yes have you called
it totally off the top my head awesome
thank you
