Snakes As Pets

Thinking about getting a new pet?  How about a snake?

Snakes are intriguing animals, and they can make a great addition to the family as a pet—especially for those people with allergies to more conventional pets, such as dogs, cats and birds.  With regular handling, snakes can be very docile animals.  However, there are a few things to consider before getting your slithery friend.

 The Dumeril’s Boa grows to a length of about 6.5 feet (photo: Paige Davis)

Many snakes live relatively long lives, surpassing 20 years.  Be sure that you are willing to commit to keeping your pet snake for its entire life.  Snakes also eat prey items like mice and rats.  Often these can be stored frozen then fed thawed, so you would need to devote some space in your freezer for snake food.  Finally, snakes can be great escape artists from their enclosures.  They will search out any spaces they can squeeze through.  It is important to have a secure cage for your pet.

 

Snakes are great animals both to handle and to view!  They will make use of their enclosure space, and you can watch them climb and explore for hours.  Being cold blooded, snakes only need to be fed approximately once a week as babies, and often  even less as they grow.  This also means less poo to clean up!  They are solitary animals that do not need attention constantly, and they will be fine if left alone during the day.

Average length for the King Snake is 2-4 feet, occasionally longer (photo: Paige Davis)

So, which kind of snake is right for you? There are several species of snakes that make excellent pets.  Some great options for a beginner snake owner include: Ball Pythons, Corn Snakes, Milk Snakes, and King Snakes.  All of these species have simple housing requirements and are reluctant to bite with regular handling.  In fact, the Ball Python gets its name because it will often curl up into a ball rather than bite when frightened.

Kahn, WBS’s Albino Burmese Pythons is currently 12 feet long and 70 lbs—and is still growing!  (Photo: WBS Staff)

Beginners should avoid very large species such as Burmese Pythons, venomous snakes, and species with difficult housing requirements.  It is easy to buy a snake as a small baby, but it is important to know how large they will become.  Pet stores regularly sell species such as the Red-tailed Boa.  This snake will fit in the palm of your hand when it is a baby, but once fully grown, it can reach lengths of 10 feet or more!  They require very large enclosures as adults and will need to be fed bigger prey items, such as rabbits.

There are many options available to you when buying a pet snake.  Through captive breeding to produce certain colors, many species come in beautiful color morphs, such as lavender and pastel.  Ball Pythons and Corn Snakes are some of the most diverse looking species, and they come in a variety of colors.  You will want to choose a snake that is eating regularly and has clear and healthy eyes and skin.

The most important thing to do before buying any new pet is to research its care before you buy.  Once you have everything you need, you will be ready for a great new addition to your family.

To see some of the species mentioned above come out and visit the World Bird Sanctuary's nature center.  Our naturalists will be happy to answer your questions about the snakes we care for on a daily basis.

Submitted by Paige Davis, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

Python regius – The Ball (Royal) Python

Ball or Royal Pythons, are indigenous to the forests of Central and Western Africa. They are semi-arboreal snakes, which means they can be found on both the ground and in trees. They are non-venomous.

Monty, WBS's Ball Python (photo: Dawn Griffard)

The name “Royal Python” derives from the fact that rulers in Africa would often wear the python as jewelry!

Ball Pythons are particularly revered by the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria.  Because it lives and travels close to the ground, it is considered to be symbolic of the Earth.  Ball pythons are given free range in Igbo villages and can wander through the streets and in and out of homes at will.  They can be carefully relocated by gently picking them up and placing them back in the forest, but if one is accidently killed, the people will build a small coffin and perform a traditional funeral for the unfortunate creature.

Ball Pythons have flat heads and a square snout.  They possess 100-150 teeth that curve inward, which allows them to catch and hold onto their prey.

Adults usually do not grow longer than 5-6 feet – females growing bigger than males.

Normal color Ball Pythons are black and brown, with black striping on the head and large irregular brown blotches on the body called “lobes”.  Many purposely-bred color mutations of Ball Pythons exist in the pet trade, some of which can be rare, and therefore very expensive.

“Pits” on the fronts of the snake’s face, formed by special scales, allow the snake to sense changes in heat in the environment as finite as 3/1000^th of a degree, which allow them to hunt almost completely by feeling the body heat of their prey.  However, Ball Pythons can also see extremely well in near darkness.  Both of these features together make them formidable hunters.

Both males and females have claw-like “anal spurs” on either side of their vent at the base of their tails.  These are thought to be evolutionary remainders of hind legs.

In captivity, the Ball Python makes an excellent companion.  They are generally mellow, almost shy snakes that will often be content to be held and will often curl up on your hand or in your lap.  In fact, the name “Ball Python” comes from the way they ball up – with their heads neatly tucked safely in the middle – when they are feeling shy or threatened.

 

Like all reptiles, Ball Pythons are ectothermic, or cold-blooded.  This means that the animal must depend on its environment to regulate its body temperature.  For instance, if the snake feels too cold, it will seek out a warm spot where it can bask in the sun.  If it feels too warm, it will retreat to a cool burrow.  Ball Pythons require a daytime basking area of around 90 degrees, and an ambient warm temperature of 85-90 degrees.  When too warm, they will retreat to a cool area, but never cooler than 75 degrees.

Like most snakes, Ball Pythons are opportunistic feeders, and will try to eat a good meal about once a week.  In the wild, Ball Pythons will eat small mammals, other snakes, birds, frogs and lizards.  In captivity, they are usually fed rodents – as they are easily accessible.  They are constrictors; which means they wrap around their prey and squeeze it until it has suffocated.  They will then proceed to slowly swallow the prey until it reaches their stomach.

Depending on the snake’s age, size and how much it eats, he or she will shed 2-6 times a year.  Young snakes shed more often than older snakes; smaller ones more than larger.  The process of shedding takes about 7-10 days.  The shedding process happens when the snake’s body begins to grow a new layer of skin under the existing one.  That new layer begins to separate from the old and a very thin layer of fluid forms between the two layers.  When shedding is about to occur, the belly may become pink and the skin’s overall color will dull.  This is called being “opaque”.  A perfect shed will come off the snake as one complete piece.  If it does not come off as one piece, the snake’s environmental humidity is probably not ideal.  Humidity is important in creating and maintaining that fluid layer between the two layers of skin for the entire length of time the shedding process takes.

Ball Pythons are oviparous – which means they lay eggs.  Females will lay 3-11 large, leathery eggs, which she will incubate underground.  She will maintain heat for the eggs by shivering her body.  The eggs will hatch after 55-60 days.

Contrary to popular belief, snakes are not animals to be feared.  They are beautiful animals that can possess calm, sweet personalities.  They are fascinating to watch and make entertaining pets.

The World Bird Sanctuary's Ball Python, Monty, is looking for an individual or a family to adopt him as part of our Adopt A Bird program (I know—he’s not a bird—but all of our animals are available for adoption.)

Monty is a beautiful specimen of a Ball Python and is a very good snake.  In our sanctuary dominated by birds, he is often overlooked as being an important educational ambassador.  Your $50 adoption fee would help feed, house and care for Monty in the coming year!

To adopt Monty on-line Click Here.  Not comfortable doing purchases on-line?  Then call 636-225-4390 and tell the staff member who answers that you want to do an adoption.

Submitted by Dawn Griffard, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist 

The Holy Grail

Do you like snakes?  Love snakes? Afraid of snakes?  Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, I encourage you to read further. 

I am going to tell you all about one type of snake that has warmed my heart ever since I met him.  I hope you will become at least partial to him after I have given you many reasons why snakes are great!  I will discuss this species native history, and some interesting facts that you may not know about snakes and this specific species.  Let’s slither right in!

This special snake is a Royal Python (Python regius) named Monty (get it? Monty Python and the Holy Grail?)  Anyway, he is such a handsome colored snake that he will definitely grab your attention when you look at him.  Below is one of the many pictures I have taken of him since I have been working at the World Bird Sanctuary.

Royal Pythons are native to central and west Africa in mixed grassland, savanna, and forest areas.  They are terrestrial, which means they are ground dwelling animals.  They spend all of their time on the ground.  Their main diet consists of small mammals, but they will also prey upon small birds and eggs.  Monty is fed 4-5 large mice every two weeks (we have frozen mice that we thaw before we feed them).  Even though the mice are dead, he still constricts the mice when I feed them to him, then swallows them whole, head first. 

These stocky pythons usually have large dark brown markings with lighter brown spots dispersed throughout the body.  The belly is white with larger scales than the rest of the body.  The multicolor of the body does vary depending on geographic range in Africa.  With these snakes and others, it is the females that are larger and have longer tails than the males.  Below you can see Monty’s unique markings.

 

Females will typically lay 1-11 leathery-shelled eggs in a clutch (a group of eggs).  The female will then consistently coil around the eggs to protect them until they hatch, which takes from 44-54 days.  After hatching, the neonates, or hatchlings, will be independent but may stick around the female for a few months.  In the wild, Royal pythons live up to 10 years old.  In captivity however, their age can increase dramatically to 20-30 years on average.  According to the Philadelphia Zoo (Pennsylvania, USA), they had a Royal Python live to be 50 years old!  Monty was hatched in 2000, making him 13 years old this year.  He is also around 5 ½ pounds (~2500g) and 3 ½ feet long.  The typical range is 5-15 pounds and 3-6 feet in length. 

Royal Pythons are also known as a Ball Python because they will coil into a ball to hide.  The term “royal” refers to the ancient legends of African rulers that wore live pythons on their bodies as a part of their apparel.  One famous example is the Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra of Egypt.

 

Snakes have the mistaken reputation of being mean, ugly, scary, slimy creatures that will bite at anything given a chance.  This is simply not true.  I think snakes are very beautiful and interesting animals.  They can be timid just like other animals out there.

If you have never felt a snake before, then you must request to if you come to visit us.  They are very smooth and dry.  I was amazed the first time I touched Monty! 

Sometimes when I hold him, I put him on my shoulders and he moves around gently to explore.  He sticks his tongue out while he moves around to smell his surroundings.  That’s right!  I said smell!  You may be thinking “I don’t smell with my tongue—how can Monty?” This is how it works: when they stick their tongue out, they are picking up molecules in the surrounding air.  Next, they bring their tongue back in their mouth and then touch it to the roof of their mouth.  Snakes have a sensory organ called the Jacobson’s organ in the roof of their mouth, and this helps tell them what is going on around them. 

And, no—Monty has never bitten me and has never constricted me tightly.  I just love showing him off to people because he is such an awesome snake!

Monty is available for adoption in our Animal Adoption program.  To find out more information, call 636-861-3225.  All adoption donations are tax deductible. 

This summer Monty can be seen at the Monsanto Environmental Education Center at the World Bird Sanctuary, which is open daily from 8am-5pm.  Monty is a very handsome snake.  You should stop on by and visit him! 

Submitted by Lisbeth Hodges, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist