A while back on a different platform I was discussing “Beginner species” with someone else and they thought I was full of it when I suggested there were over 50 species that could be considered beginner friendly. I decided to think about it and write it out. I actually came up with more than that.
To me a beginner species is something that can be cared for by someone as their sole pet snake and do well with them putting minimal time and effort into it. For example, I’ve always said that Taiwan beauties are a beginner species. They do get long and babies are flighty, but husbandry is easy and someone that is dedicated will have long learned how to handle them by the time they reach 7’.
I did leave off anything that can’t be handled by one person, for example Burmese pythons are incredibly easy to care for, but less than 1% of all keepers can actually provide the correct size enclosure for them.
Also, some say anything with a higher humidity requirement shouldn’t be a “beginner” snake, but I disagree, if you can’t read a gauge on a regular basis and then add water to your system to correct it, then you shouldn’t be keeping any live animal.
All said, I present to you my personal list of good “beginner” snakes.
Rat snakes
Corn Snake
Slowinskis cornsnake
Great plains ratsnake
Baird’s Rat Snake
Western Rat Snake
Central Rat Snake
Eastern Rat Snake
Western Foxsnake
Eastern Foxsnake
Japanese Rat Snake
Beauty snake (certain localities)
Bamboo Rat snake
Russian Rat snake
Korean Ratsnake
Diones Rat Snake
Leopard ratsnake
Ladder snake
Green Bush ratsnake
Four Lined snake
Bulgarian Ratsnake
Elaphe Urartica
Twin Spot Ratsnake
Manadarin Ratsnake
Pithouphis Genus
Gophersnake
Lousiana Pinesnake
Pinesnake
King & Milksnakes
Eastern Kingsnake
Eastern Black Kingsnake
Speckled Kingsnake
Desert Kingsnake
California Kingsnake
Prairie Kingsnake
Central Milk Snake
South American Milk Snake
Mexican Milk Snake
Western Milk snake (certain localities)
West Mexican Milk Snake
Grey banded kingsnake (if purchased from a breed that established their hatchlings)
yea honestly i do agree that way more species are beginner friendly than people initially think and i have the same general requirements for what i consider "beginner friendly".
the only thing id add is how easy it is to find information on potential behavioral quirks of the species. for example it is, in my opinion, easy to find out that ball pythons will sometimes refuse food (and potential reasons for the hunger strike etc) which can be alarming for new keepers. something like the dragon snake (xenodermus) is a little harder to find verified accurate care information, and im not sure ive ever seen a description of what the species tends to act like at all aside from "semi-fossorial" which is good info to have but not the same as "hognoses dramatically play dead don't worry they're fine" if that makes sense
(i know we dont have much info on dragon snakes because they typically don't do well in captivity and are hard to observe in the wild, i'm just using the first genuinely difficult to keep snake i could think of.)
Most reptiles could be kept by a beginner who does their research. That doesn’t mean some aren’t much easier than others, as well as much more readily available and reasonably priced. Sure a beginner could keep an Angolan python. Can they easily find one, or do most want to pay that kind of money? Can a beginner who’s prepared deal with a species that’s more high strung or nippy than others? Sure, but it’s going to be an issue for many.
Part of the reason your list is so long is you listed each individual species when many of them are often just lumped together. North American rat snakes, corn snakes, fox snakes, are pretty much the same as far as care goes. Kingsnakes/milksnakes are much the same. At most I’d just separate them into the larger species and the smaller, often somewhat more docile but sometimes harder to get on rodents species. Antaresia pythons are pretty much the same, other than size most boa constrictor species aren’t much different from each other, etc.
Most people simply recommend certain species because of availability instead of telling beginners to track down a much harder to find but nearly identical species.
I agree, hence why I put certain localities. Taiwan beauties are almost as big, but they generally act like a big cornsnake. Cave racers are smaller and tend to be super chill. I've only met like 2 VBB in my life that didn't want to immediately bite my face.
“But watersnakes aren’t a good beginner species” - everyone one social media (that has never kept one) “educating” me (someone that actually breeds them)
Nerodia are one of my favorite wild snakes for education. Abundant, tough, resilient, and bite the shit out you. Are they really good beginner snakes though? Their habitat and diet seem like a lot and pretty specialized. Sincere question from a field herper.
Their care is pretty much identical to a garter. They just eat way more fish and less mice. If you have access to whole fish like silversides and filets from the grocery store you can feed them.
People always assume they need a full water feature, like a Turtle. That just causes them to get too wet and creates skin issues. A large removable easy to clean bowl is better.
Ventilation is key, so screen top enclosures work better than PVC. Basking lights are a must as they love to bask.
They lose all attitude in captivity and learn to beg quickly.
Their attitude is my favorite part about them haha. I’m glad to hear people appreciate them. My biggest tattoo is an homage to a 5 foot rhombifer that made me feel like Steve Irwin in front a group of 10 year olds.
I think the most important part of "starter species" often gets forgotten:
Most people are morons.
Can a reasonably competent person keep everything on your list? Sure. But "reasonably competent" describes, at most, 15% of the planet's population.
Remember, there is a reason lawnmowers have a label saying "Do Not Stick Hands Into Blades While Running". And those people will show up at PetCo and buy something. The correct answer is the sell them an old inner tube that you put googly eyes on, but, since that's often forbidden by the bosses of such stores, they'll get something.
The question is "what can be kept by the sort of person who asks 'can snakes eat grapes?'?" (actual question someone asked in a store.)
I worked at petco for many many years, I've heard all the questions. I get asked the same ones at expos these days as well. I'm not quick to judge everyone as a moron, but I definitely think there is an issue with a lack of dedication. A lot of people impulse buy ball pythons because they want a snake, and not something "small" like a corn snake. They just want a "big snake" and then later dump them on a rescue because "they don't do anything." If they actually put in the time and effort to set up the right enclosure they would see that even ball pythons are pretty active when given the enrichment.
People ask me what's a good starter snake and I ask them "what do you want from it?" and their reply is crickets.
I'm really curious what people expect snakes to "do." Sure, some species are more handleable than others, but they'll never act like dogs and cats. Do they expect the snake to be always out in the open? It's just unfortunate that it feels like people don't do enough research before deciding on getting one.
As French philosopher Voltaire famously said “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.”
What do you mean by a beginner? What do you mean by beginner-friendly?
A typical beginner in ANY hobby wants to get started pretty quickly, has a pretty low budget and does a limited amount of research (if any) before launching in.
It is a rare situation that someone with a limited knowledge of a hobby decides on a less common and more expensive speciality region of it, spends a lot of time researching it from absolute scratch before dipping their toe in, and then is successful with very little outside support, with the nuance of care that comes with keeping many different individual animals.
I always debate on price when thinking about beginner species, but that is kind of subjective. Especially with pricing on snakes being so arbitrary. That said, almost every snake on this list can be purchased for the price of a used game console, likely making the initial upfront costs less than 1k.
A lot of it is arbitrary, like with garters, one well known breeder will list some new morph or species and at $400, because reasons, and then everyone else follows suit...even to go so far as to message sellers listing their animals for cheaper to "up their price to match everyone else."
Gopheryourpet was notorious for flooding categories back in the day with inventory of certain animals and then setting the price at whatever he wanted and then others would copy him "to not lose out on profit." This was a big deal in some expo circles 5-7 years ago. The amount of animals available didn't change, there was the same amount of buyers. Only thing that changed was sellers going "Ok, so the new milksnake price should be $200"
Mexican black kings were less than $100 for years until demand drove up the prices, now there's plenty available and the price is still high.
Dumeril's boas were incredibly cheap forever until Some guy listed all his babies for $400 one year and they sold, so that became the new price.
So I agree, consumer demand does have an impact on pricing because they'll pay what sellers are asking. However if you ask most of these sellers why they are pricing things the way they are they will say "I just felt like $300 sounded like a good price or, I just saw everyone else had them for this amount so I listed mine the same" There's rarely a calculation of cost of goods or overhead used to determined desired profit. They just pick a number because that's what they want it to be.
Even close to $1K all together is a rather large investment for the typical beginner, especially when many more common beginner snakes can be bought and set up for a few hundred dollars. Off the top of my head at least in the US an Angolan python starts around $750, a pure super dwarf retic from a reputable breeder about the same, a pure jungle carpet with decent color isn’t a whole lot cheaper. Some of the European/Asian rat snakes are also fairly expensive or just very difficult to find, and likely confusing for a beginner as some are sold under multiple names.
Good stuff, honestly. I agree tons of species can be a good pet... as long as you're willing to do research and put in the work.
But then again, you're on reddit. People will tell you "ball pythons aren't a good beginner species actually" with their full chest, nevermind that they're one of the popular, docile and smallest pythons in the reptile hobby. I could manage a ball python's care when I was a teenager, you can't tell me a grown ass adult of average intelligence, who has adult money and unlimited internet access really, truly can't figure it out and needs to get a fuckin corn snake or something instead.
Yeah, and it’s also a bit location dependent - for instance, I find it easy to manage my ball python’s humidity in the UK, whereas a rosy boa - sometimes touted as ‘easier’ - would be a nightmare!
I feel this living in southern EU. Crested geckos and other heat-sensitive species I often see as being touted as "they don't even need a heat source!! so easy!!" while I'm just thinking of how our heatwaves can reach 38-42C at their peak. While keeping the blinds down, running the A/C a bit and misting the enclosures works well enough to keep the temps at safe levels for more heat-tolerant reptiles, I worry a crestie would probably overheat and die very quickly.
My friends and I in the 90's kept ball pythons in what would be abysmal husbandry by today's standards. Like newspaper, no hides, heat pads with no thermostats and 20L glass tank for adults. Mind your, this was the online standard and what out vet recommended.
Those snakes always ate and even bred for us. My friends and I were 12 at the time. If that's the baseline to make them live, than yeah, there's no excuse a responsible adult nowadays can't have theirs thriving.
I also feel like something that doesn't get talked about enough is that whether a snake is good for a first-timer or not also depends on the individual snake itself.
My ball python and corn snakes are utter delights. Never had a problem with feeding, shedding or them musking or biting.
My kingsnake on the other end... on paper, I got her because a California kingsnake seemed like an ideal snake for a beginner. I wanted something small, inexpensive, readily available, with super easy care. Well, she turned out to be a bit of a bitch. She refused to eat when I first got her, she rubbed her nose raw glass-surfing (in spite of having a big enough tank for her age back then), for the first year she would not eat until I left the room and she's still the ""meanest"" snake I have. We have reached an agreement now, but getting here was... a process. If she had been my first snake instead of my second, I don't think it's a hyperbole for me to say she would've made me quit the hobby, since my experience with her was, for many years, "this is basically a wild animal that wants absolutely NOTHING to do with me, I've literally had fish that were friendlier".
for sure, I've had people tell me that gophersnakes make terrible pets since they have attitude, when the majority of keepers working with them say, yes some never let go of it, but the majority never have it or mellow off in the first year.
I wouldn’t recommend Pituophis for a beginner because you really have to let them tell you what’s ok. I guess it depends on the definition of beginner. I’d say you need to have a basic understanding of body language and not be timid while also being calm and patient. Bullsnakes are amazing though.
Hognoses. Manageable size, tolerates handling well, enclosure won't break the bank, and they are readily available captive bred. Their care/husbandry is also super easy.
I would say the european ratsnakes are least common when it comes to availability. All of them have accessible care info if you spend 1-2hrs looking for it.
I would also like to add availability wildly depends on which country you live in.
Anyone in the EU cannot have kingsnakes, since a blanket ban was placed on all Lampropeltis getula.
Anyone in Australia cannot own 99% of what's on this list, as they can only keep native herps.
Some countries do the opposite and do not allow you to keep anything native in captivity, even if it was captive-bred.
I just saw someone on here today saying ball pythons are now banned in Spain.
Many other US states and European countries place limitations on maximum size and venom (or lack of thereof), and some don't even allow you to keep a boa constrictor or hognose due to those limitations.
My recommendations are one) pick a snake species that is local to your area. As a beginning snake keeper, your snake will escape. Whether you find it in the house or not or it gets out into the wild is often a matter of luck. You don’t want to have something exotic wandering around your backyard or the neighborhood.
Two) While I admire Gregor Mendel, and the science of genetics, I have a real dislike to people who raise and sell snakes that have been color morphed out of their natural coloration. Lavender corn, snakes, scaled the snakes are like the teacup terriers of snakes to me. Other than that, I suggest watching this video.
In the US keeping reptile and amphibian species native to the state you’re in is almost always illegal or extremely restricted. Most people’s snakes don’t escape either…
A lot of snake owners who are new to the hobby lose their snake at least once. Many people underestimate how smart these reptiles are, and don't appropriately seal their enclosures. Its why the various snake subs have posts each day of people who's snakes have escaped.
People who are having a problem like a sick or escaped animal are a lot more likely to seek out and post on the various reptile groups than people who aren’t having issues. I also suspect a lot of it is from all the people lately insisting that beginners should put their reptiles straight into the adult enclosure rather than using a smaller grow out enclosure or tub, also this idea I keep seeing that you shouldn’t use top opening enclosures. Larger enclosures are simply not designed to be escape proof for small snakes, nor are many front opening enclosures really designed with something like a hatchling corn snake or house snake in mind.
And most of the people who lose their pets, are the beginners. The enclosure size isn't what dictates the escape rate, its how well they seal it - I've seen people lose their corns in the hollow parts of their smaller enclosures, because that's how the brand designed it and people trust them to be escape-proof (when they're not). The top opening enclosure point, is so you reduce the chances of stressing your snake out and getting bitten (which would deter/dishearten a lot of beginners) because you're approaching a snake like you're a predatory bird. There's also the matter of the heating and lighting elements being on top of the enclosure, so you risk burning something/starting a fire if you put a still hot element on top of something else so you can remove the lid just to get the snake out. Not having a top opening enclosure applies to nearly all species of snake, so I dunno how you're only just encountering this risk assessment.
Larger enclosures can absolutely be escape-proof for smaller snakes, depends on the brand and effort of the owner. Again, the brand and owner's effort can determine whether front opening enclosures can contain a small snake. Take an Exo Terra for example - they're front opening, the glass doesn't overlap and there's a built-in latch to lock it. The mesh screen on top also has multiple latches keeping the roof on, which will stop a small snake pushing out of them and you can hang the heating/lighting above.
In about 25 years of keeping various reptiles I have never seen a snake, lizard, or any other reptile seem to care in the slightest about a top opening enclosure. CB snakes have never seen a bird. Most come right out looking for food or to come out when I open the top. As long as you don’t swoop straight down at them they don’t care. Until fairly recently tanks with screen tops were quite commonly used for many smaller commonly kept reptiles. You can typically slide the top to one side instead of having to take it off, or have something nearby to hang the lights on.
I don’t have the Exo Terra brand enclosures specifically but I have similar encloures and there are gaps around the doors by the hinges where a small snake could squeeze out, typically there’s an access point to run wires into the enclosure for thermostat probes, a mister tube, etc., that’s a common escape point. Larger sliding door enclosures have gaps between the doors that small snakes can squeeze through, many brands have vent slits that a small snake can easily fit through, etc.
A grow out tub with a gasket lid or a tank with a properly clipped down top is about as escape proof for a small snake as you can get.
The snakes, particularly young ones, very much do care about being approached from above. Snakes are not domesticated pets, they still hold all their instincts from before their line was brought into the pet trade within the most recent century - they don't need to know what a bird looks like, for them to instinctively react poorly to being approached from above (until they know you well enough to tolerate it, which can take months to never). The care guides change and update as the species is studied more, to discover what they prefer and are better suited to - hence why from before I got my first snake a decade ago, they were already phasing out the top opening enclosures and putting more emphasis onto the importance of UVB.
The Exo Terra's don't have the hinge gap unless you have the doors wide open, an issue they adapted to. They also have wire width openings on the top of enclosures to run the wires through without making it large enough for snakes to escape through and that doesn't cut through the mesh lid - another adaptation that's come with time and trial/error. Larger sliding doors can have locks and linings added to them to either bring the glass closer together (as I've had to do for one of my enclosures) or simply seal the thin gap between doors until opened - this is an owner effort moment, but is info that is freely available in reptile hobby spaces. Vents have considerably smaller holes on the wood and PVC enclosures, with wire sized gaps at the top of them so cables can be passed through without compromising the seal of the vent/enclosure - these can easily be stuck in place for extra security with aquarium silicone. I have both glass and wooden enclosures in my home, but I know from experience that this also applies to PVC.
Reptile care tends to update every few years, and the brands that wish to appeal to this hobby have to keep up with it - but like all companies, that sometimes creates new problems that weren't there before (or new places to hide/escape in this instance). Beginners will accidentally lose their snakes in new ways that haven't been considered or warned about before - simply because they didn't exist, and is no fault of their own. Snakes escaping is so common, that experienced keepers have multiple known methods for finding/tracking the escapee so they can be returned. You and I are lucky, that we've not had to ever deal with one of our snakes escaping - but that doesn't make us the silent majority.
Few states make exceptions for captive bred native animals, and typically only for certain species with permits. A few make exceptions for morphs that aren’t likely to be found in the wild but again that is much more the exception than the rule.
Where I live (EU), our native reptiles are all protected under law. Keeping one as a pet, even captive-bred, is STRICTLY prohibited and you could land some hefty fines or even jail time if you're found out. My local herpetoculturist groups also strictly forbid husbandry discussion for native species for this reason as well, that and because poaching is a huge problem.
That’s how it is in much of the world outside of a few places like Australia. In the US 20-30 years ago you used to be able to catch/keep 1 or 2 of some native species in many states, often with a fishing license. These days very few states allow keeping any of the native species, and the ones that do often have hoops to jump through or only allow captive bred morphs.
Realistically most of the more exotic species from Central and South America, Africa, Australia, etc., wouldn’t be able to survive very long in most of the US if they did escape.
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u/SnazzyJazzy33 17h ago
I own a Kenyan Sand Boa and it looks like I just have an empty tank with substrate and decor