Mary Allen
Hardly any animal triggers such different reactions in people as a snake. Some are disgusted by it, others are fascinated by the reptiles. Interested beginners should first get a non-venomous snake.
Ever since people have been telling stories, it has meandered through legends and fairy tales: the snake is the first animal to be mentioned in the Bible and was considered sacred even before that in ancient Egypt. She is known for her mysterious character in many myths around the world, for example as the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl in early Mesoamerican civilizations, or as a lindworm in the Germanic sagas. To this day, there is hardly a fantasy story without snake-like creatures.
Creeping Hunters
So it’s no wonder that people are attracted to snakes and these reptiles are at the forefront of popularity. Snakes are reptiles, so they don’t move with legs, arms, or fins, but exclusively with body muscles, vertebrae, and ribs. They can crawl, swim, climb and burrow. They are consummate hunters, stalking their prey and using their backward-pointing teeth to hold and devour them. Like all reptiles, they are cold-blooded and their body temperature depends on the conditions in their environment. However, this also means that, in contrast to mammals, they do not have to constantly gain their energy from eating, but can also go a few days without eating.
Be Well Informed Before You Buy
Keeping a snake in a terrarium requires comparatively little regular effort due to the infrequent feeding. Depending on the species, adult snakes generally only need to be fed every one to four weeks. However, the owner and his family or roommates should be aware that snakes do not make do with dry food, but with whole food animals such as mice and rats, which are usually offered frozen by pet shops.
Other important requirements include long-term dedication and a carefully designed terrarium built for the specific needs of each species of snake. Roland Zobel, from the Fördergemeinschaft Leben mit Heimtiere e.V. (FLH), has been a snake expert for many years and advises: “Anyone who wants to get a snake should know that these animals can get very old and live in a terrarium for several decades. Thorough preparation and a forward-looking selection of terrarium technology and accessories are therefore the first steps to take before buying the desired snake. This is best done in a pet shop.”
Kingsnakes: Popular with Snake Fans
Many snakes possess fangs that stun or kill their prey. However, anyone who has not had years of experience with keeping these animals should only keep the non-poisonous species in a terrarium. A good choice for beginners is king snakes. They are non-toxic, do not usually grow taller than 1.20 meters, and are impressed with their bright colors. Mostly they have crossbars in the colors red, white, and black, but other variants are also possible depending on the breed. Originally it comes from the USA and Central America, where it lives on the ground, but it can also adapt well to other habitats.
The colorful cultivated forms of the very commonly kept corn snakes are also popular terrarium animals. Other species of the snake family, such as the black snake or the scarlet snake, are not suitable for beginners because they are food specialists.
Set Up the Terrarium Professionally
Every snake terrarium must be planned and set up individually to meet the needs of the respective species. For a king snake, the dimensions should not be less than 1 x 0.5 x 0.5 meters (L x H x W). There are also substrates, an opaque rear wall, daylight lighting, a radiant heater that ensures room temperatures between 25°C and 30°C and offers the animal an area to warm up, and retreats such as caves or tree trunks. In any case, every prospective terrarium owner should have a contact point in the pet shop where their questions will be answered individually by experts and the right specialist literature will be recommended.