Top 3 Pet Snakes for Beginners

Lets put it out there, snakes are the best! Imagine having a colourful and interesting pet that will enjoy attention when it’s provided but doesn’t need it to thrive. A pet that only needs feeding once a week or once a fortnight depending on the age and species. A pet that poops as much as it has been fed and is really easy to care for. On top of all this, a pet that lives in a wooden box in and won’t be messing up your home (unless you let them roam). If you hadn’t guessed, that pet is a snake! Pet snakes used to be quite obscure and niche but they are getting more and more popular. There are many species available now so it can be difficult to know which is best for a beginner. Here are our top 3.

Corn Snakes (Pantherophis guttatus)

Corn snakes are the most popular small pet snake for beginners. They are beloved in the reptile community for being very easy to care for and handle. As long as they are handled when young they don’t ever really show any aggression. Corn snakes are one of the most forgiving species we sell and the one we recommend most for young keepers. They will normally reach a maximum of 4-6ft in length but they remain very slim compared to pythons and boas so they don’t seem nearly as big.

Royal Pythons (Python regius)

Royal pythons are the most popular species of python we sell. They have the heavier body of a larger snake but remain a lot smaller than you might expect. Again they have a maximum length of 4-6ft but they spend a lot of their time balled up in hiding spots. When they aren’t sure if they are safe rather than show aggression they ball up and hide their head within their body. For this reason, they are often referred to as ball pythons. They are really easy to keep but can be a bit fussy with food so they aren’t quite as easy to care for as corn snakes.

Western Hognose Snakes (Heterodon nasicus)

I was originally going to put a boa in the third position so we had an example of each of the main groups of snakes but they are normally pretty big and tend to be a bit more difficult to keep and handle than other snakes. Instead, I’ve chosen the most adorable snake that we sell!

The western hognose is a little snake from America that has very similar care to a corn snake. They max out at 1-3ft with males being smaller than females. They have plenty of personality and are known to flatten out and hiss when threatened or moody which is hilarious to people who keep them as they very very very rarely back this up. If you came across one of these snakes in the wild their intimidation might work but we’re wise to their antics. We know you’re not a scary snake but it’s still cute that you try so hard.

Do you agree with our list or is there another snake that you would have preferred? If you have any questions about these species please contact us at sales@reptilecentre.com or call us on 01604753823.