Preparation for your first snake

[Fuscus]

Just wondering what people did to prepare for their first snake and what would they have done different.

It wasn't until I dropped into a local store that I knew that you could legally keep snakes. Once I knew that I asked lots of questions and lurked on this site ( and other sites ) for months. I also brought "CARE OF AUSTRALIAN REPTILES IN CAPTIVITY" by John Weigel and read it a number of times. I then built and setup a double cage with two enclosures 180 x 50 x 50 cm and had that running for a couple of weeks to ensure that there was a stable temperature and a stable temperature gradiant. Then came the licence. Finally the purchase of two yearling water pythons.

What would I have done different?
Well, first I would have joined the SA Herp Group (SAHG) and attended a couple of meetings first. I was lucky there, the pythons actually came from that group (more later). Secondly I should not have got such large animals first off, rather I should have gone for some hatchlings. And they were snappy for a month or so. Fortunatly I seem to have an empathy with animals and was able to calm them down . A couple of bites in the first couple of weeks might have been very discouraging.

It turned out that SAHG had got the pythons from a breeder in NT for a prize for a junior member ( SAHG give away a snake and setup once a year - junior members only ). However the NT WP are considered snappy and they decided to sell the snakes and get a coastal instead. Along comes me, who buys the snakes and joins. First meeting and I get introduced as the guy who brought the WPs and everyone laughs. But I'm still happy with the snakes ( see pic)

Anyhow, enough about me, what did you guys do to prepare for their first snake and what would you have done different?

 

[Guest]

Well in preparation for my first snake there was alot of parent nagging, but after that was done i went to peoples places and saw how they had things set up. then i was given some good advice from jonno, and he lent me some books to read. told me he wouldn't help me set up till i read the books. so i read them. My first snake was a adult male maculosa which i bought from jonno. it was fairly agressive though he soon settled down.

the thing i could of done different is instead of running out and buying the first avail snake i could of researched what i wanted and gotton something with a better temperment.

just my story.

 

[serpenttongue]

well Fuscus, I caught my first snakes when i was about eight. They were red bellies and swamp snakes. Took them home and kept them in tanks but knew nothing about them so i ended up letting them go. I caught my first diamond when i was thirteen and kept that for several weeks in a large avairy in my yard. My parents finally forced me to let it go and my father drove back to where i caught it at night and i let it go, crying my eyes out. It was the right thing to do because i still didnt know much about them. Over the next few years i continued coming home with diamonds, Water dragons, blueys, beardeds, red bellys, small eyed snakes, Lacies, the occasional turtle and finally decided to keep them and do it right. I was successful at breeding diamonds and got 22 babies from my first clutch. Most of these were released as i knew no other keepers and didnt know they were worth any money. At this time there was no licenses being issued so i herps illegally until the '97 amnesty. Then i came across Weigels " Care of...." book and read it over and over. At this time i heard about herp societies in Sydney and Wollongong and started attending.
I now have nearly 30 snakes and several species of lizards and i owe most of it to other herpers i met at herp society meetings.

 

[jimmy_the_kid]

well to start off i nagged my parents for 11 years then when mum said i could get one as a birthday prezzie i was so excited i started looking at snakes ova the net and if i saw one i liked i reshearched it a bit when i found the coastals i researchd and thought that would be a good first snake at a reasonable price i got incontact with a buyer and started building my cage i got the snake a few weeks later and lived happyly eva after

things i could done different um probley finesh the cage before i got the snake but it was only a few days before it was ready to put monty into it and a click clack container till then worked well

 

[Ricko]

well i first saw snakes in a pet shop 11yrs ago and i liked them but thought they were a display only, then i started work at a pet shop which had reptiles. i worked there for a month got my license and enclosure set up made a few very good herp friends and then after a month of reading books such as weigals, and a few other ones i decided it was time. my first snake i got was a male bhp it was a great snake except it didnt feed for the first 3months. it started feeding then after having him for 10months i sold him and bought more.

the thing i would change would be buying the bhp only because it was $900 on my first snake and 4-5ft long i would have got a hatchy diamond or coastal and maybe some childrens. but i recommend reading a fair few books to start off with.

 

[dobermanmick]

I had always been interested in reptiles and always wanted to get a python but once i got married my wife put it on the backburner .
Then when i went to the pet expo and saw the Bhp I came home thinking of getting them again .... i came home from work the next day and said i was getting a snake and thats that !
My first snake was a Md and he is great then i got my coastals and newest additions my Darwins .

If dont know if i would have done anything different as i spent about 2 months asking Q's and reading before i got them . Now i cant wait until i get some little snake heads poking out of eggs

 

[Already_Gone]

My bf said i could get one for my birthday and one for chrissie. So i waited for about 8 or 9 months for a hatchie to come up that I wanted. I dont believe in screwing a breeder around tellin them that I will buy off them but go elsewhere when another snake comes up. So I waited. I spent months researching, reading and talkin to keepers/breeders. And then I waited some more.

Craig contacted me in feb asking if i was still interested in the diamond saying that it should be right to go in 3-4 wks. He let me go up there and pick one out. As soon as I got back I set up all the stuff for them, and it seemed like forever. Within the space of 3 days I got my first snakeys. Charlotte (bredli) on fri and Angel (Diamond) on Mon.

I would have got more than 2 to start with!!! Seriously, I cant tell you what I would have done different!!! I probably would have got one, 2 or 10 earlier if it wasnt for our living situation.

 

[dobermanmick]

I would have done it sooner !

 

[Guest]

Yeah i'm sure we would all get as many as we could, though a few different factors stop all of us. I for one have this lack of money situation.

 

[swampie]

The fist snake i kept was a coastal carpet ,i caught it when i was about 12 or 13 when i was camping up near Maleny Qld,when i got it home i built an enclosure for it out of an old window frame and some ply ,i used a party globe for warmth.The python was kept for 5 or 6 years with no probs it always fed well and handled well and grew to around 9ft(when i caught it,it was around 4ft) its name was Snakee .In the end i took it back to where i found it and released it back into the wild.I hope it servived cos that snake was the begining of my addiction to keeping pythons,i now keep over 40 pyths in my collection (all legaly aquired) and theres still more to come.To this day i still use the oiginal enclosre to house snakes.

MISS YA SNAKEE

 

[Guest]

how long ago was that?

 

[ozherpconservation]

I bought my first snake from a pet shop when I was 9 years old. I think I was hassling my mum and dad to get me one for a few years before that. Anyway, I lived in England at the time and the snake was a Checkered Garter Snake (probably a wild caught import from Canada), Judy and Daavid, you should be familiar with them! It was a great first snake, very easy to keep. I don't think I really would of done anything differently, I was too young, and my dad set it all up for me, and I just learnt from there, and started reading books and stuff. After that, when I was 12 I bought an Iguana, then I went on to king snakes and boa's and now I'm here playing with venomous snakes every day! :?

Well, there's my pointless story!

Daniel

 

[Guest]

U think australian snakes are better oz herps?

 

[swampie]

Yeh ,and nice water Fuscus love the yellow belly,is it a NT form ?

 

[swampie]

About 15 years ago Lib.

 

[Guest]

when did licencing come in anyways? and were they strict on the licencing?

 

[Fuscus]

She is a NT swampie.

ANy more stories, anyone?

 

[ozherpconservation]

U think australian snakes are better oz herps?

Yeah man, Aussie snakes rule!!!!!!

 

[Tommo]

ive loved reptiles since i was about 6 when i handled a large oempelli python at the territory wildlife park. i then spent the next 8 years learning about them in the hope my parents would come around. i kept lizards before i kept snakes like bluetongues and beardies. when i was 14 i got my first snake,a darwin carpet python adn i recently got a hatchling waterpython and im hopefully getting a olivepython soon

 

[Already_Gone]

My olive is all warm in her egg and she is coming to live with me in feb... its soon!!!