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Egg Eating Snake as a First Snake?

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6.7K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  ian14  
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#1 ·
Hi all,

First post on the forum and I'm a total noob, so I apologise in advance if anything I say or ask seems a bit simple to some of you.

My 12 year old lad loves the idea of keeping a snake as a pet. He's a very switched on lad, has been doing some research into all manner of snake related subjects and is more than capable of keeping a snake, but it has to be the right snake. The right snake is the bit that seems to be proving difficult!

He does not like the idea of feeding animals to the snake so that has got him thinking about egg eating snakes, but I'm not sure if that's a good first snake. Ideally, the snake he chooses needs to meet the following criteria:

1. Eat only eggs, not an actual animal.
2. Be comfortable with being handled.
3. Be nothing more than perhaps a couple of feet long when fully grown.

Whatever the requirements for keeping the snake happy and healthy are not really an issue. He'll take the time to make sure he has all the snake needs and he's more than capable of understanding and maintaining even quite complex requirements, the real issue here is the type of food!

If there is no snake that fits the bill then perhaps he needs to think again about whether a snake is right for him, but it would be great to hear from some of you knowledgeable folk about whether there is a snake out there that would work for him.

Cheers.
 
#2 ·
IMO, it's not a suitable snake. Due to their particular diet it's often hard to source the correct sized eggs for the snake. They need fresh eggs such as quail. I also think that they are not something that likes to be handled that well. All snakes tolerate being handled, and some have a higher or lower degree of tolerance than others.

Regretfully a high proportion of snakes will have rodents as a natural prey item, which includes the traditional "beginners snakes" such as corn snakes, king snakes and some other N. American rat snakes. If your son doesn't like the idea of a snake taking a defrosted frozen rodent then one other possible option would be a Garter snake.

Garter snakes would match two out of three of your criteria. Instead of eggs, it will readly eat small fish (dead or alive), earthworms, and a manor of other things. But the thing is your son should realise that by nature snakes will predate and eat other living creatures such as mice and rats... If you or he feels that even the sight of a Garter snake eating a worm, or dead fish is not something you are not comfortable with then I personally don't think a snake is the right pet to get.
 
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#5 ·
This is a great response, thanks for the detail and the recommendation. He's OK with the idea of fish and worms as food, they are obviously more readily expendable in his eyes than mice or other rodents!

He's already started a bit of research into Garter snakes, so we'll see where that leads. Thanks again.
 
#3 ·
i'm with malc, snakes are predators at the end of the day. the few that dont eat rodents tend to be specialised and have either husbandry quirks or availability issues. i would also say that you shouldnt underestimate some of the husbandry requirements, its one thing to learn about them but dealing with them day to day can prove a lot more demanding that many people think and need to be kept up for a long time.

perhaps your lad could take a look into some of the herbivorous lizards? much more options around in that area. if it absolutely has to be a snake then i would say getting past the feeding of whole animals is pretty much essential as its best for the animal.
 
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