There are many criteria to consider here, space, experience, age, family, money, locality etc. As a rule, for an American or European beginner we would recommend a potential snake owner read as much about snakes in general as possible, and visit as many shops, breeders and friends with snakes as possible. Contact your local herp society, as well as offering advice they may be able to direct you to a good source of cheap, quality hatchlings. Read Melissa Kaplans herp page on the Web and as many of the other Web pages as you can. Then if you still want a snake, check out the price of a suitably sized and secure home for your prospective purchase along with heating, lighting and hide boxes, not forgetting a water bowl big enough for the snake to soak in. Once all these options have been weighed up, buy the housing and accessories, clean and disinfect (using the type of sterilisation fluid used for baby feeding bottles diluted as recommended) everything and turn on the lights and heating for at least 24 hours before you introduce your snake to the tank.

Different snakes require different set-ups, so this must be regarded as a guide rather than a definitive set of rules. Where possible get a tank that opens from the front, glass sliding doors are the normal method. Consider the maximum size your snake will achieve, consider 1 square foot of floor space for every foot in length of snake to be desirable, if you're short of floor space, consider a taller tank with 2 floor levels. Most snakes will need some supplementary heat in their tanks, this is usually achieved in 2 ways, an underfloor heat pad left on permanently and either a ceramic heater (suitably screened and thermostat regulated) or incandescant lights, again suitably screened. Snakes are reptiles and need to be able to regulate their body temperature from their surroundings, to help them accomplish this you will need to set up a warm side and a cooler side to the tank. This can be achieved by placing the underfloor heat pad under one end of the tank with either the ceramic heater or the light bulb above it. This give the snake a choice of heat zones to thermoregulate itself. Thermometers should be placed at either end of the tank approx. 1 inch above the floor level to monitor the temperature. Any lights in the tank should be on a timer switch to give a day/night cycle roughly equivalent to nature.

It is very important that your snake should have hides at either end of their tank where they can feel secure, cork bark is attractive but can very expensive and difficult to clean. For smaller snakes an old tissue box is fine and can be thrown away when soiled. Avoid anything with sharp edges.

The floor covering or substrate is very important, for young, small snakes, kitchen towel is about the best there is. Apart from being cheap, absorbant and easily changed, any parasite infestation will show against it. Many people stay with plain paper all the time, unprinted newspaper comes in large rolls,is cheap and is sterile. There are many kinds of substrate sold commercially and each has it's adherants, avoid cedar wood chippings, the fumes are toxic to snakes, take advice for what is best for your snake either from the person you bought it from or ask on Slither.

There are many opinions about what are and what aren't good snakes to keep, but most folk would recommend you to start with either a Corn Snake or a King Snake. Both come in beautiful colours, and are readily and easily bred making them relatively inexpensive, docile and, by and large, they tend to be good feeders, a *major* plus point. There are other snakes that you may consider other than Kings or Corns, but I would suggest you took informed advice from folks on the list before going ahead. Check the links at the bottom of this sheet for pictures of Corns and Kings and their colour variations.

When you go to buy the snake, try and buy from a breeder rather than a shop, and ask to see either or both of the parents, this will give you a good idea of the final size. Ask to see the snake feeding, most breeders will be happy to do this, some will even insist on it, that way both of you know that the snake is taking food. A local breeder is an invaluable resource, most will be happy to give advice, many will sell you food cheaper than you could buy it from shops. If for some reason you have a problem with the snake, many will do their best to help you, it's in their best interests to, you'll be wanting more once the bug gets hold of you! As previously mentioned, herp societies will usually have members with animals for sale, at very competitive prices. See Melissa Kaplans page for a list of US and European societies.

Handling a snake is a soothing and satisfying experience, some snakes take to being handled more readily than others, a captive bred snake will take less taming down than a wild caught which may never tame properly. Breeds like Corn snakes and King snakes are, by and large, docile snakes that can be handled easily. Other breeds vary, as do individual snakes, so advice on other snakes cannot be given on a general FAQ sheet as this.

All snakes have teeth and will bite if they feel threatened and have no means of escape. Very few snakes will give no warning of when they feel stressed or threatened, and experience in seeing these signs cannot be imparted easily. Learn to read your snakes body language, if it feels relaxed, it probably is, if it feels tense, with an "S" shaped kink in the upper body, it may be getting ready to strike. Hissing, tail rattling and crapping on the handler also tend to be tell tale signs that it is not happy.

Regardless of what you may have been told, feeding live rodents to your snake is NOT a good idea, in some countries and States it is also illegal. Wherever possible, buy frozen mice or rats and your snake will eat these, suitably de-frosted. DO NOT feed your snake with mice or rats that you catch in traps etc. these may have eaten pesticides prior to being caught and this will harm your snake. Breeding your own rodents is an option that some owners take up, in my opinion this is more bother than it is worth unless you have a good number of snakes in which case it can save money at the expense of inconvenience and smell.

Offer your snake food items that are about the same diameter as the widest section of it's belly, frozen rodents come in various sizes from new born mice for baby snakes up to jumbo rats for large Boas and Pythons. Defrost the food item slowly, (microwaving is not recommended) being sure the food is de-frosted all the way through first and if possible bring it up to body temperature with a hair drier immediately before offering it to the snake. Wherever possible feed your snake in a seperate container to it's living quarters, use something like a cardboard box with a close fitting lid or similar. Put the food in the box then put the snake in the box with the food, replace the lid and wait. If the snake won't take the food in this manner, it may be necessary to take the food in BBQ tongs or similar and wave it under the snakes nose generally attempting to imitate a live rodent. If you're in luck, the snake will strike at the food and proceed to eat it, if not, get on the phone to the breeder you bought the snake off and ask how they fed it.

Snakes will sometimes go on hunger strike, this is a fact of life, and affects some breeds and individuals more than others. The reasons for this are manifold, here are a few.

Snakes won't eat before going into a skin shed, this applies to nearly all snakes, you will soon recognise the signs of going into a shed, eyes clouding over are one of them.

Some snakes get a fixation on one type of food, e.g. they'll eat mice, but won't eat rats, gerbils etc. There are ways around this but take too much explaining on a general advice sheet, ask on Slither.

Many snakes have a tendancy to fast over the winter months, particularly those from cooler parts of the world, as long as your snake is healthy and a good size prior to the fast, this shouldn't be a problem.

Some snakes are awkward buggers and go on hunger strike to upset, annoy and worry their owners out of pure spite.

Many people seem to be interested in what are referred to as the Giant Snakes. In terms of weight, the Green Anaconda, sometimes referred to as a water Boa is the largest snake in the world. These massive creatures, mainly natives of the Amazon region of South America are the subject of many anecdotal tales relating to size, weight etc. Despite tales of 60+ foot monsters, the longest reliably sized Anacondas appear to have been in the 30-33 foot range. These snakes are very heavily bodied and part of their diet in the wild include Caimen, a type of crocodile, which will give some indication of their size and strength. Despite their availability, these snakes are not recommended as pets.

In terms of length, the Reticulated Python from South East Asia probably holds the title of largest snake in the world. Not as heavily bodied as the Anaconda, this snake is reputed to reach 36+ foot in length, though there are no reliable reports (that I am aware of) of a current captive specimen in that range. In the wild these snakes would be capable of taking pigs, goats and deer. Despite their size, a number are kept by more experienced keepers, who report that with time and patience the characteristic vicious nature of these creatures mellows out slightly. Absolutely not recommended for beginners.

Any constricting snake that grows over 8 foot long must be considered dangerous and should NOT be handled alone. Within this category come the following:- Common (Red Tail) Boas, Burmese Pythons (and the Indian and Sri Lankran sub-species), African Rock Pythons, Amethystine Pythons, Reticulated Pythons and Green Anacondas.

A number of these are easily available and a few people have been killed (mainly by Burmese Pythons) in recent years. *This was not* *the fault of the snake, but rather the irresponsible actions of* *their owners* Unlike mammals, snakes never stop growing altogether, after about 5 years a large snake will have reached close to it's maximum size, but will continue to grow for most of the rest of its life. In a safe, secure environment a healthy Boa Constrictor can live up to 30 years, what started off as a newborn snake that would easily fit into the palm of your hand could well be over 10 foot long and as thick a a mans upper thigh eating 2-3 adult rabbits a week.

Most countries require licences for the keeping of venomous snakes.

The keeping of venomous snakes is not recommended in the strongest possible terms. Apart from the likelihood of your being bitten yourself, should your snake escape and injure or kill an innocent third party not only will you be in deep trouble, the entire responsible snake keeping fraternity will suffer from the resulting bad publicity. It is worth pointing out at this stage that many experienced keepers with decades of experience will not become involved with venomous snakes. If you keep snakes, of any description, YOU ARE GOING TO GET BITTEN SOONER OR LATER, a bite off a Python may require stitches and a tetanus injection, but you're not going to require hospitalisation.

Should the desire to keep venomous be paramount, it is suggested that you keep one of the nastier breeds of none venomous for a year or two to get used to handling with snake hooks etc. before you consider going for anything more dangerous, every time you get bitten by your practice snake say to yourself, I just saved myself upwards of 5,000 bucks in anti-venom and a _lot_ of pain.

Because of the international nature of The Internet, and the regional variations in snakes, no advice can be given on how to recognise venomous snakes in the wild. If you see a snake in the wild, leave it alone, snakes are shy creatures who will avoid confrontation and try to escape whenever possible, back away from it and it will in all likelihood slither away. If you feel you would like to know more about the snakes in your area and are unsure what they are, join a local Herp Society and benefit from their experience.