[BlueFrog]

There's been so much interest in all things serpent on Find/Buy, seems like it's time to show off our slithery treasures. Real, realistic, cartoony, plush, whatever, let's see those snakes. Any information you can provide on where yours were purchased, pros/cons in haunts, etc. will be appreciated.

Picture below is my vintage cobra taxidermy monocled cobra mount. These are readily available on evilBay at wildly differing price points, so if you're in the market and watching the price climb, be patient. There will be more. They are fragile and can't get wet, but it's tough to beat the realism.

If you are in the United States, PLEASE remember that you must have a $100 annual import license and wade through a staggering amount of paperwork in order to legally bring any wildlife parts into the country. Otherwise, that knock on the door after your overseas package arrives may be a member of USFW to fine or arrest you.


There are also many amazing resin death casts of real snakes, some pre-painted and some available as blanks with painting instructions, should you prefer to go the artificial route. Morgan Reptile Replicas is the best known of these, but sometimes blank casts are available from individual taxidermists who have poured spares from molds they've made themselves.

 

[thenightmarefamily]

Just looking at that thing creeps me out.

 

[hallorenescene]

I love that snake blue frog. I have quite a few snakes. but none real. here is one

 

[hallorenescene]

 

[BlueFrog]

Two thumbs up for having a lot of snakes in your haunt, hallo. Where oh where did you get the snakeskin patterned gloves I saw in one of your photos? I love them.

 

[Tyrant]

My real snakes:

My leucistic Texas ratsnake, frog-eyed variety. An old picture when he was a yearling:



My corn snake. He's an anery morph:



I've greeted many a ToTer with my ratsnake around my shoulders, unless it's too cold outside. Usually they're a bit bad tempered, but he's a huge sweetie, as is evidenced by the fact he's not striking at the camera.

 

[DarkhavenManor]

Wow! Your white snake is one of the creepiest yet most striking snakes I've ever seen. Beautiful creature!

 

[hallorenescene]

a snake I painted.

 

[Saki.Girl]

That is one thing that scares me and creeps me out is snakes
The live ones that is.

 

[hallorenescene]

I'm not so bad with snakes. spiders scare me.

 

[BlueFrog]

Beautiful snakes, Tyrant! I've kept several myself over the years, but now that I rescue rats from shelters and labs, I can't handle the cognitive dissonance of feeding. Plus, as you can imagine, rats aren't keen on the smell. Still love to see them. Your rat snake is particularly striking. I'd heard of the frog-eyed morph but hadn't seen one before.

 

[Tyrant]

Wow! Your white snake is one of the creepiest yet most striking snakes I've ever seen. Beautiful creature!

Thank you! Yeah, I suspect it's his eyes that tend to creep everyone out the most. At least initially. The weird frog eyed trait isn't highly desired amongst breeders and enthusiasts. It makes them look pop eyed and I have found it handicaps their field of vision slightly (wider forward facing blind spot). Not that snakes really rely on eyesight much, though.

He honestly is the most gentle, calm, well mannered snake I've ever owned, though, and this is comparing him to my corn snakes, which are known for being nice. Usually when folks get to know him, they find him to be creepy cute instead of just creepy.

 

[Tyrant]

Beautiful snakes, Tyrant! I've kept several myself over the years, but now that I rescue rats from shelters and labs, I can't handle the cognitive dissonance of feeding. Plus, as you can imagine, rats aren't keen on the smell. Still love to see them. Your rat snake is particularly striking. I'd heard of the frog-eyed morph but hadn't seen one before.

Thank you so much. I personally prefer to feed pre-killed rodents to my snakes. I couldn't handle a live feeding either, plus it actually increases the chances of the snake getting injured if the particular rat or mouse has some fight in them. Those teeth can do some damage.

 

[BlueFrog]

Having been on the receiving end of rodent teeth a time or two, I'm all too painfully aware of what they can do! Oftentimes shelter personnel are scared of rats so I am always the one who reaches inside the cages of terrified animals who are convinced they're going to die at any second (consider all the cat and dog smells at your average shelter). Normally it's hard to get a domestic rat to bite even under those circumstances but it does happen to even the best of us. Nursing mothers are particularly prone to attacking strangers - again, who can blame them? - and half the time the staff have failed to notice newborns safely tucked under mamas' bodies. Oh, the stories I could tell....

I never cease to be amazed by people who can calmly discuss the gruesome deaths suffered by snakes at the teeth of rats while standing in line to buy... live rats. I always fed pre-killed as well but still can't handle it emotionally any more, so I enjoy playing with my friends' snakes and then come home to my rats. I keep waiting for my friend's female rubber boa to reach breeding age, because I'd take the offspring of her and her eventual mate in a heartbeat. Bonus: they never get big enough to eat even newborn rats.

I wish Mexican black kingsnakes had better temperaments; I know someone who breeds them and would let me have a baby out of her "Lilith" in a heartbeat, but I'm much more in the corn snake/rosy boa/milk snake/rubber boa end of preferences.

 

[Tyrant]

Oh heck yeah. No animal bites quite like a rodent. Nature equipped them quite well for self defense. Against snakes, if the rodent gets his/her nerve faced with such a predator, they're bright enough to know just where to clamp, too. I had a friend who had a completely blind garter snake, both eyes rendered nonfunctional by her food.

While emotionally I'm on the same page as you about feeding rodents to snakes, I did a ton of anatomical studies and the like while in college which desensitized me somewhat to the gut reaction part of the process. While I don't -like- feeding even prekilled, I try to think of it as not unlike going to the supermarket and buying meat for myself. I think what bothers most about it is the fact that the mice and rats are still whole and recognizably mice and rats. And then there are the things one must do to rodents to get a non-feeding neonate to eat, which is the primary reason I've not bred any of my snakes. It's hard when you know how intelligent rats and mice are, and what awesome companions they make.

Temperament is huge in my book. As a pet owner rather than a breeder or collector, I personally don't see the point of owning an animal you can't interact with easily and make a part of the family. As such, nearly all my snakes have been corn snakes.