Anyone here have a pet snake?

[Roundeye]

I just got one. An Eastern Grey Rat Snake (juvenile). I was getting ready to wash the Jeep after a hard day of playing and reached for the water hose and...HELLO...a little snake was hanging out on it. I saw it was a round eye snake, so I know it's a good one :wink: . I put it in an aquarium with some sand, rocks and sticks. I plan to get a heat strip soon. Question is, what do I feed it? All I can find out online is "pinkies" (baby mice). Will this guy eat insects too?

It sure is a fiesty little thing. You get anywhere near it and it coils up, swells up, sticks it's tongue out and shakes it's tail (trying to imitate a Rattlesnake). Get close to it and it strikes quickly. Cool little thing.

 

[MudderChuck]

I kept many snakes as a kid, found them really intersting. Remeber where you found him, in case you want to release him again. If he is really young you can probably get him to eat earth worms. Stick them in a glass of warm water,for a moment, makes them more interesting. Same thing with small fish, got to be careful with the fish though, rodent eaters don´t do scales well. Some pet shops sell guppies, almost without scales.
Keep the temp. down around 70, feed him until he is fat and set him in a cool corner somewhere. They do better if the natural hibernation period is not interupted. He was probably out looking for the last few meals before winter.
Males and females are easy to tell apart, back by the rectum the underside is flat with the males and has a slight step or indent by the females.

 

[Sully]

Depending on the size???If it is a small snake pinky's.If it is a medium snake get small rat.If it is huge,I dont no what to feed it,but I recomend getting rid of it before it eats YOU!
jk :lol: Sully

 

[raptor_pilot]

2003/2004 TJ Seats

I got my self a ( here it comes, long name) Spotted Albino Claifornia Kingsnake. His name's Slider. Rat snakes are very similar to kingsnakes and corns. In fact they are all nearly identical. For food you are pretty much stuck with rodents. Start him off with pinkies if he is small. Then move up two rat pups, and mice. Mine is three feet long and eats two pups or one mouse. Be carteful with mice. If you don't knock them out or daze them they will bite the sanke. As for the tank it seems pretty good. Make sure it has a water source ALL the time. Do NOT get a heating pad or rock. The rocks will burn cold blooded animals becuase they don't know how hot it is. Heating pads aren't effective enough for this application. Get a Tri-light or Bi-light. It has a light for day and night. Also make sure it can hide under something.

It is real fiesty by its nature. The only way to cure this is to handle them. Be warned they will bite and hag on if they feel threatened. I'd wear a pair of gloves until he settles down. Keep it away from your face also. They can strike the length of their body. Since you just caught him give him time to adapt to his surroundings. Leave him alone for a day or two. If you feed him he moght calm down some. Don't go in the tank till about a day after he eats or you'll make him regirgatate(spelled right?) his food. Feed him once a week during the summer and once every two or threee during winter months. The go into a semi-hibernation. They can go a long while without eating but it's no excuse not to feed them.

That's about all you should need to know to start off. If you have any more questions PM and I'd be happy to help. Things like shedding can be tricky sometimes. Good luck, they are fascinaing animals. Oh, yeah, I used to work in a pet store with a vet too so i know a thing or two about reptiles.
Mike

 

[Roundeye]

swaping in a 304

Thanks for the info! We'll see what happens.

 

[MudderChuck]

My experience is they will eat anything they can digest and somethings they shouldn´t. I don´t know the Rat snake per say, but have had and handled many Goffer snakes. Most rodent snakes hunt by heat, if you look close, there is often an extra row of heat sensors, on the upper lip. Does the Grey have a geometric, pattern on it´s back?
Pinkies are good food but die quick.
I had a California King, way before they were protected. His favorite food seemed to be, other snakes and lizards. But would eat most anything that moved, in a pinch. Seemed to be more of a sight hunter. Kept different hours also, early morning, early evening seemed to be his most active times. Goffers and Corns seemed to be more night active.

 

[Roundeye]

Pics from this weekend!

Here is a pic of it.

 

[MudderChuck]

Good looking snake, looks healthy. Looks a lot like a goffer or a Corn snake. Wider head, could be a part time frog eater, usually have wider mouths. Frogs blow up with air, to keep from being eaten, snakes have adapted, with a wider mouth.
There is a type of rattler in Calif. with almost the same color and markings.

 

[LadyJeepFreak]

He is a smooth looking snake, very alert!

 

[chinard]

oh yah... we got a nice little kingsnake named Wendigo..

Here's a nice picture of her at feeding time (makes a nice 0wn3d picture)

We also got 4 Geckos, one morbidly obsese cat, and a hedgehog!

Lotsa critters!