I met a strange person today......

I was in my local pet shop buying goldfish this afternoon and a chap came in wanting to buy "crickets" for his....snake !!! My ears popped....I said to him....crickets for a snake, I don't think so....what sort of snake. He said he wasn't sure, his mate had given it to him, it was about 4 inches long, had a white head and orange stripes. He was "sure" it wasn't dangerous and thought it should be fed !!! I said do you have a licence for it.....oh yeah he says, I have a licence !! Mmmmm me thinks, he's only had it 2 days, doesn't know what it is, thinks it eats crickets and it takes a month to get a licence.....somethings not right here !!! BUT....the pet shop SOLD HIM CRICKETS !!!!

Very strange....you guys got any idea what a West Ozzie snake...about 4 ins long, white head and orange stripes could be ????????

 

erm, none?

 

Sounds like a little corn snake to me!! I don't know much about them though... The only one I've seen before was tiny and white head with orange down its body. (They're illegal)

 

Oh, I'm quite sure that whatever this fellow was doing was .... illegal....he didn't seem to have a clue about snakes or anything else. He didn't have the snake with him. I asked if perhaps it was a legless lizard, but he said no....definately a snake !!! I didn't ask the shop owners any other questions as I figured it was really none of my business....but it sure seemed strange.

 

crickets? what a dummy i met a few people that dont know snakes .... but they all new they eat rats .... hmm in few years time it will be onto giant woodies

 

there are some snakes that eat insects.. none that i know of that fit that description, and certainly none that i know of in aus that fit that description and even more certainly none that you would be allowed to keep on the WA licence which only has a handful of locals on it. but i would go with possibly a corn snake with a dumb owner.. never seen one with a white head.. then again havn't had much to do with them, apart from look at the odd picture and a bit of reading.

 

Ill go Simoselaps bertholdi. Turn up in gardens a fair bit and people want to keep them because theyre pretty.

 

good call, but do they eat insects? great looking little snakes. no wonder people want to keep them!

 

Yep, from what I've just seen and read about them and the way the guy was describing it.....I think you're spot on. I'll never know what happens, but I hope everything turns out ok for the snake. I learn things every day.

 

Sounds odd,
Some nice looking small snakes are out around this time of season.

Pick one you think it might be.
There is also a black Naped snake that looks like the Black-striped snake but without the black stripe, all feed on small skinks.

 

there are death adders that are orange and white, it could also be a baby night tiger ...

very suspicious that he didnt know what to feed it ...

 

This kind of thing infuriates me... poor snake, stupid dude.

 

sounds pretty dodgey to me

 

Hang around herps & you will meet more than one strange person !!!!

 

If it is a banded sand snake good chance they will eat the crickets as they do feed on trap door spiders similar size to small/medium crickets...so before everyone wants to give the poor dude crap...learn more about your reptiles and get it out of your head not all snakes need to be feed on mice/rats

 

If it is a banded sand snake good chance they will eat the crickets as they do feed on trap door spiders similar size to small/medium crickets...so before everyone wants to give the poor dude crap...learn more about your reptiles and get it out of your head not all snakes need to be feed on mice/rats

 

I think its more about it being illegal for 'the poor dude' to keep the snake...

 

Hey megzz so the term dummy and strange person is in reference to it being illegal sorry my mistake

 

Considering he said he didn't even know what type of snake it was, I consider the term 'dummy' to be completely justified

 

Charlie I take your point....but you didn't see this guy, I did. He really didn't have a clue, but I guess to his credit he did go to a pet shop to try and find out the right thing to do. I was just shocked that's all, and worried about the snake. I don't profess to be an expert myself, but this guy didn't seem to know a thing about snakes, he said he heard snakes can go as long as a week without feeding, and he'd only had it 2 days and wanted to feed it. I told him my Stimmie hadn't eaten since April !
Anyway, I hope the snake will be ok. Just wanted to ask you guys about it that's all.