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Poll

Which to Choose

  • Beard Dragon

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ball Python

    Votes: 4 20.0%

  • Corn Snake

    Votes: 13 65.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 3 15.0%
  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .
kel37211

kel37211

I has Cheezeburger????!!!
Today is my bday, was gunna go to petsmart and look at some animals, which do you think are some good ones, I was thinking

Beared Dragon
(leave comments on which you pick)
Ball Python
(leave comments on which you pick)
Corn Snake :D
(leave comments on which you pick)
Other
(leave comments on which you pick)
 
CORN SNAKE.........hands down.

the beardies are great pets, but they require a lot of upkeep, lots of feedings, lots of cleanings, lots of equipment.

ball pythons are generally dead-headed and easy to handle, but can sometimes be finicky eaters, and require more attention be paid to humidity.

corn snakes, usually, are voracious and eager eaters, they dont require vast heating and lighting equipment, not to mention you can get them in just about any color you can think up. a truly PERFECT beginners reptile.

and just a suggestion, I KNOW you wanna get something today, but your best bet is to buy from the breeders who frequent this forum. this is for several reasons:

(a) quality is assured... the breeders on here care about each individual snake they have, they make sure each snake is eating properly and is healthy before they sell it, and most of the time at a store like that, the "caregivers" are usually alot more interested in other things besides the well being of the animal, they just want to make that sale.

(b) in case you ever decide to breed, you'll know your snakes hets right off the bat. with a pet store snake, you'll have to guess and do breeding trials.

(c) you'll be helping out a fellow board member!

(d) MUCH greater selection

(e) cheaper prices (esp. if you find someone local, and dont have to pay shipping)

(f) I could go on for days......
 
Cornsnakes, easily.

But Petsmart is really not the place to go if you want a healthy, properly sexed, feeding, parasite-free hatchling. Not only that, but chances are if you go to petsmart you will only be able to choose between normals, amels, anerys or snows. If you go through a breeder you can opt for a butter, hypo, lavender, bloodred, caramel, opal, charcoal, blizzard.........a MUCH nicer variety!
 
Have you done any research on any of the reptiles you are wanting?

All of these animals are a big responsibility. As bearded dragons go, for young ones you need a constant supply of crickets. Will your parents want to deal with that all the time?

Next the snakes will need mice. Is your mother prepared to keep frozen Mice in her freezer or go out and buy you a live mouse due to your ball python refuses to eat frozen? Are then ready to work with your ball python for it to eventually eat frozen thawed? It could take months of converting the animal.
 
don't buy from a petstore. Particularly petsmart. Go and get one from a breeder either here or at a show. Then get a older cornsnake. Something around a year or more will be much calmer and easy to care for compaired to a hatchling.
 
I can't choose as I have all 3. Currently i own 8 corns, 2 ball pythons, 1 bearded dragon, 3 leopard geckos, 2 leopard geckos hatchlings 5 days old, 1 leopard tortoise and 1 chile rose tarantula. I would go with a corn for your first reptile. Beardies require an expensive set up and are expensive to feed, as they eat a lot, my baby beardie eats twice a day.I now own 2 balls that i cannot get to feed as of yet, they can be quite difficult to get to feed, but a corn will take F/T easily. I would purchase from someone on the forum as you will have more choice of morphs and it is so much better to buy from a breeder.
 
since you have two corn snakes already, I say go for something different. But do your research! This new snake will need his own home too. Some good beginner snakes are:

Chliderens or spotted pythons (4 or 5 feet)
Rosy or sand boas (they get 3 or 4 feet)
King snakes, they get a little bigger than corns and can be a little flightier as babies but still make great pets if you're up to it.
Milk snakes are also quite pretty, and come in a variety of colours (check out the albino milks, they're AMAZING. I love the black milks, Though they can get quite large)

And I agree with staying away from pet stores, you don't know what you're getting or how healthy it is, and you have much less choice for a much higher price.

You could always look for your local reptile rescue and see what they have available too, though not every city has one and sometimes all they have is large snakes. Mine local rescue has a pretty albino cali king right now (light purple, cornflower rings and red eyes) and I'd LOVE to take it if I had room, so sometimes they do have treasures.
 
I vote against a bearded dragon. They require a very specialized set-up, and you will need to buy a new UVB light at least every six months, as well as TONS of insects for a baby. You will have to provide at the minimum a 40 breeder tank, with 4 feet by 2 feet being better, for an adult. You need to provide a temp range with a 110F basking spot for a baby as well as a cool side of 80F or so. And you need accurate thermometers to monitor it. The photoperiod is very specific, too, 14 hours of light, 10 hours of darkness. So you need a multiple outlet day/night timer to make sure the lighting is handled when you are not around to do it. The substrate must be exactly as recommended, or the dragon will get a bowel impaction, and die. Plus, you can't just go off and leave it for a week when you go on vacation. It will need fresh food daily.

Then there is the health care. If you don't do at least a yearly check up, the dragon will go untreated for parasitic worms and coccidia. That's going to run you $130 or so for the visit, tests, and treatment, because he will have one or both, every time. If you don't have perfect husbandry and health care, your dragon may not live very long, because nearly every dragon carries adenovirus, an incurable disease which blooms when the dragon's immune system is down, and is virtually untreatable.

Have you considered a nice California Kingsnake?
 
Nanci said:
I vote against a bearded dragon. They require a very specialized set-up, and you will need to buy a new UVB light at least every six months, as well as TONS of insects for a baby. You will have to provide at the minimum a 40 breeder tank, with 4 feet by 2 feet being better, for an adult. You need to provide a temp range with a 110F basking spot for a baby as well as a cool side of 80F or so. And you need accurate thermometers to monitor it. The photoperiod is very specific, too, 14 hours of light, 10 hours of darkness. So you need a multiple outlet day/night timer to make sure the lighting is handled when you are not around to do it. The substrate must be exactly as recommended, or the dragon will get a bowel impaction, and die. Plus, you can't just go off and leave it for a week when you go on vacation. It will need fresh food daily.

Then there is the health care. If you don't do at least a yearly check up, the dragon will go untreated for parasitic worms and coccidia. That's going to run you $130 or so for the visit, tests, and treatment, because he will have one or both, every time. If you don't have perfect husbandry and health care, your dragon may not live very long, because nearly every dragon carries adenovirus, an incurable disease which blooms when the dragon's immune system is down, and is virtually untreatable.

Have you considered a nice California Kingsnake?
Click to expand...

jeez Nanci, I didn't even know they needed so much care. as soon as I learned they needed daily feedings I realized I didn't want to take care of one, and never really learned anything else about them XD
 
And I didn't even go into the dietary requirements of an adult! It's not just chop up romaine lettuce and you're good, there is a very specific list of things you must offer daily, things you can offer sometimes, and things that are infrequent treats. Plus the calcium supplement and the vitamin supplement. And what if you get one that is a stubborn feeder that doesn't cooperate with the optimal diet??? In the Phillip Purser book there is a paragraph called "What About Bob?" Bob was fed grasshoppers. He loved them. Soon he would only eat grasshoppers. Then it was winter and the grasshoppers were all gone. Bob starved to death rather than accept ANY other food!
 
If I ever feel the need to get something that dependent and complicated, I'll just have a kid. But I may have to dress the kid up as a lizard now and then just to satisfy need for cute things.
:rofl:
 
Huh, I thought the question was which animal to LOOK at, so I said cornsnake, though you could LOOK at all of them. Before I bought my cornsnake I went to a couple of petstores to get some experience holding snakes and see if I could tell the difference between a healthy snake and a not so healthy snake. But that isn't such a good idea if I were to buy each time I went to look!
 
I didn't vote, but there are many, many North American colubrids (and some from elsewhere) that are as easy to care for as corns. Kingsnakes, milksnakes, garters, African house snakes (generally), ratsnake varieties (e.g., black, gray, yellow and ESPECIALLY bairdi), trans-pecos rats... the list goes on and on.
 
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