Dad after advice for 12yo daughter

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nathan82

New Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2022
Messages
4
Reaction score
2
Location
Yarrawonga
Hi there my daughter really wants to get a snake. We have just bought a very nice enclosure and trying to decide what snake to get. she has limited experience so after something nice and friendly and hardy. What should we look for and where. Thanks yarrawonga Vic.
 
Welcome.
Guys with more knowledge will be along soon to answer your questions.
 
Hey, Welcome!
Any Antaresia are considered 'beginner' snakes, so that includes Children, Stimson and Spotted pythons. They're favoured because of their more docile nature, their relatively small size and their less complex husbandry needs.

However this is only relative to other snakes, I would say in general reptile keeping can be difficult and quite complex, there are lots of factors that go into meeting their basic needs and often it's not very intuitive as reptiles are difficult to read in comparison to a dog or a cat. As a result, responsibly keeping a snake often involves a tonne of continuous reading and research, especially at the start. Additionally even 'docile' species can be defensive/aggressive, theres no guarantee that if you get an Antaresia it won't bite your daughter, under the right circumstances all snakes bite and sometimes you'll just get a snake with a particularly feisty personality who will need to work with a lot more in order to be able to handle it easily.

This isn't to scare you off getting a snake, rather just to give you a heads up about some of the considerations that are useful to think about before making a commitment and choosing what type of reptile you'd like, snakes live 20yrs+ and because of their sometimes complicated nature, your daughter will likely need your help quite a bit, at least in the first year or so. If you're cool with this, then I think Antaresias are a great place to start!

What type of enclosure do you have and what are its dimensions? this could also greatly impact what type of snake would be suitable. Additionally, If you are planning on getting a snake from when its a hatchling, you usually start with very small plastic enclosures/tubs and then work your way up to the full sized enclosure.

As far as where to buy, some specialised brick and mortar pet stores carry snakes but you're more likely going to find them online. Either through online pet stores or websites like this, here you can find snakes for sale under the Marketplace tab, or websites like the reptile classifieds where you're usually buying from breeders or previous owners. Before you buy, make sure you look into the licensing requirements for your state, if you don't do this properly your snake will be considered to be illegally owned which is a whole can of worms you don't want to have to worry about

Good luck!
 
Hey, Welcome!
Any Antaresia are considered 'beginner' snakes, so that includes Children, Stimson and Spotted pythons. They're favoured because of their more docile nature, their relatively small size and their less complex husbandry needs.

However this is only relative to other snakes, I would say in general reptile keeping can be difficult and quite complex, there are lots of factors that go into meeting their basic needs and often it's not very intuitive as reptiles are difficult to read in comparison to a dog or a cat. As a result, responsibly keeping a snake often involves a tonne of continuous reading and research, especially at the start. Additionally even 'docile' species can be defensive/aggressive, theres no guarantee that if you get an Antaresia it won't bite your daughter, under the right circumstances all snakes bite and sometimes you'll just get a snake with a particularly feisty personality who will need to work with a lot more in order to be able to handle it easily.

This isn't to scare you off getting a snake, rather just to give you a heads up about some of the considerations that are useful to think about before making a commitment and choosing what type of reptile you'd like, snakes live 20yrs+ and because of their sometimes complicated nature, your daughter will likely need your help quite a bit, at least in the first year or so. If you're cool with this, then I think Antaresias are a great place to start!

What type of enclosure do you have and what are its dimensions? this could also greatly impact what type of snake would be suitable. Additionally, If you are planning on getting a snake from when its a hatchling, you usually start with very small plastic enclosures/tubs and then work your way up to the full sized enclosure.

As far as where to buy, some specialised brick and mortar pet stores carry snakes but you're more likely going to find them online. Either through online pet stores or websites like this, here you can find snakes for sale under the Marketplace tab, or websites like the reptile classifieds where you're usually buying from breeders or previous owners. Before you buy, make sure you look into the licensing requirements for your state, if you don't do this properly your snake will be considered to be illegally owned which is a whole can of worms you don't want to have to worry about

Good luck!
Hi there thanks for your reply. We just bought a 120cmL 60cm W 60cm H made from the white board. With glass doors. It’s hot a temp timer and a ceramic and Fluo light. Maybe with a smaller snake we can put another box in this. we are doing our research and want to have things ready for the day we get a snake. Are male or female recommended for beginner. Thanks for your time.
 
Those dimensions sound perfect for any of those snakes I listed. In terms of heat sources heat mats are the most popular, especially for terrestrial snakes like Antaresias' - you'll see a lot of posts on here of people talking about their issues with ceramic heat emitters so i'd stay away from that. The sex of the snake is usually irrelevant unless you plan on breeding them, Its not going to effect their temperament or size to any significant degree and usually there is no visible difference between the two.

They sell small plastic containers too keep your snake in when they're small because too much can stress them out, most of them look something like this:
- https://www.petcircle.com.au/produc...lEvgtpjpFDYgT9efk1waAnzfEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Or a full kit that looks like this:
- https://www.petstock.com.au/products/reptile-one-your-first-hatchling-kit

Alternatively if you get an adult snake you can skip all of that and put them into your nice big enclosure straight away.
 
I have my 6 month old stimi in a $8 9 litre sistema tub with holes in it using a $15 soldering iron with a heat mat couple of hides one at each end and a water bowl (small or humidity will be high). All you need then is some plastic garden mesh to climb on. I even brought a Kmart side table to house it all in. Fits perfectly without a lid making it easy access your snake. Cheap setup. One below is the next size up which I used for my woma. Again cheap and will last for over a year if buying a stimi hatchling. Along with a thermostat this is all you need for a hatchling snake.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 0
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Hi there my daughter really wants to get a snake. We have just bought a very nice enclosure and trying to decide what snake to get. she has limited experience so after something nice and friendly and hardy. What should we look for and where. Thanks yarrawonga Vic.
Hey, have you decided what snake to have?
 
Hi! My daughter also wanted a snake at 12! We ended up getting a Stimson Python and he is a wonderful addition to the family. We got him as a juvenile and the fact he was so small made it easier for us to get used to handling him. Now, naturally, he’s my pet at Miss-now-16 is far too busy to do much with him 🤦🏼‍♀️
 
Hi! My daughter also wanted a snake at 12! We ended up getting a Stimson Python and he is a wonderful addition to the family. We got him as a juvenile and the fact he was so small made it easier for us to get used to handling him. Now, naturally, he’s my pet at Miss-now-16 is far too busy to do much with him 🤦🏼‍♀️
Ah, any pet we buy for kids is always ours, aren't they? 😅
 
Fantastic! Good luck with your search. What snake has been decided?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top