Need help picking a good pet

[Kerberoz]

Most dorms only allow fish, but in practice, you can usually get away with anything that stays in a tank, as long as your roommate is okay with it. Still, you should get that sorted before buying an animal.

[Salodin]

What's the benefit of frozen mice over live other then the obvious attacking of a snake if he isn't hungry yet? And does the snake respond to the frozen mouse the same as a live one (reject the food or just leave it, etc)?

[Moss]

I'm on board with the reptile votes.. However, I don't agree with "they'll only grow as big as you want them to be." for snakes (Well.. any reptile/animal)
That is stunting their growth and is -NOT- healthy.

Ball pythons are great. Their only downside is they CAN essentially get up to 6ft long.
I have corn snakes. =) They max out at around 4ft and are generally very friendly. I've only EVER worked with one aggressive corns.. I've worked with many aggressive ball pythons.

I recommend feeding frozen/thawed mice and rats. They're easy to keep and MUCH safer to feed to your pet. A live mouse/rat left in the tank can cause some serious damage to your pet. Also, if your snake doesn't eat the mouse/rat right away, you're left to care for it.. Then you'll have two pets! haha.

Snakes do not require much care wise. I feed my snakes every 5-7 days. They get 1-2 mice or 1 rat depending on their size.

I also have (and breed) leopard geckos. They are probably one of the easiest reptiles to care for. They don't get very large (10-12 inches) and are generally pretty calm~ I like to walk around with one on my shoulder.

The initial start-up cost for a reptile is going to be your most expensive. The "upkeep price" isn't that bad.
For start-up you need your terrarium, heating, bedding, habitat decor, water bowl, animal, food, etcetc~

I breed my own mice and freeze them for my snakes. It's a lot cheaper for me in the long run since I have 6. Petco and Petsmart sell frozen mice. At Petsmart they're ~$11 for 6 mice depending on size.

Good luck!

ETA: I also agree with the above posters! Crickets are evil and smelly! Mealworms/Superworms and feeder roaches are great~

I'm just curious, how do you go about killing the mice? Freezing them alive sounds kinda cruel but idk what else you would do.

[Ksandra]

All you people who have snakes should get shot in teh face!

(and before you say "it's not that bad" or w/e I had a roommate in college for a year who had two in our living room, it is that bad! D: )

What's the benefit of frozen mice over live other then the obvious attacking of a snake if he isn't hungry yet? And does the snake respond to the frozen mouse the same as a live one (reject the food or just leave it, etc)?

Some won't eat dead things (my roommate's ball python would only eat live rats, not even mice), but that's not too common I think. though oh man, I'd hate that so much, like others said the rat (obviously) will try to defend itself. My roommate bought a feeding tank for when she fed the python and had to sit there and watch every second so she could defend the python from the rat while it tried to eat it. I was always rooting for the rat. :/

*shudders*

[Cantih]

In before the snapping turtle/mouse gif.

[Kurp]

I'm just curious, how do you go about killing the mice? Freezing them alive sounds kinda cruel but idk what else you would do.

You buy them frozen from a pet shop. I think they gas them? It probably depends on where you buy the mice.

[Kerberoz]

I'm just curious, how do you go about killing the mice? Freezing them alive sounds kinda cruel but idk what else you would do.

Place in bag ---> hammer to skull ---> bag in freezer. Some snakes need to be coaxed into eating pre-killed prey at first, but they get used to it quickly.

[Kerberoz]

wtf doublepost

[Ksandra]

You simply buy them frozen. I think they gas them? It probably depends on where you buy the mice.

read the person they quoted She said she breeds her own.

[Kurp]

read the person they quoted She said she breeds her own.

Ohhh. Nevermind me, then.

[Uzor]

You really make me want to get a parrot again. The last one I had died when I went on a 2-week vacation and we hired someone to watch the house and pets for us...

[Kitsuu]

I was looking into getting a snake as a pet, most likely a corn snake. One thing I was wondering about is if they are fine with being kept in my bedroom, where I keep my PC/spend most of my time. I read online that they can get agitated by ambient noise so as I listen to a lot of music via open air headphones and have a PC that's on alot would this cause major issues?

I'm limited as to where I can put the tank because I am going back to Uni this year and will spend the first year in Uni dorms so if they even allow people to own pet snakes I will probably have to keep it in my room.

I've never had issues with my snakes and ambient noise. I listen to music pretty loud, so you should be fine. ^^;

What's the benefit of frozen mice over live other then the obvious attacking of a snake if he isn't hungry yet? And does the snake respond to the frozen mouse the same as a live one (reject the food or just leave it, etc)?

The main benefit is definitely that it's safer for the snake because the mouse can fight back. It's also easier to buy frozen mice in bulk so you don't have to make lots of trips to the pet store! Unless you breed the mice, of course. Also, frozen mice from a reputable place are guaranteed to be pest/disease free. There are some parasites/diseases that can transferred from mouse to snake and I've personally never seen a guarantee like that in any pet store with their live feeders~
If the snake was raised on live prey, it can be hard to switch them over to frozen/thawed. Most will take to the change pretty well though. Unless there is an underlying problem, a snake will not let itself starve~
The best way to entice the snake is to "scent" the frozen/thawed mouse with some mouse or lizard bedding and to make sure the mouse is heated enough. (Never put one in the microwave..It's not pretty!! Heat it under hot water)

I'm just curious, how do you go about killing the mice? Freezing them alive sounds kinda cruel but idk what else you would do.

My pinkies get put right into the freezer. Anything larger than pinkie size is put into a homemade CO2 chamber.
Pinkies are put into the freezer because they die a lot quicker that way than with the CO2 chamber. With the CO2 chamber, they can suffer for 30 minutes to an hour. They die within a few minutes in the freezer. (Vice versa for anything larger) A CO2 chamber is the most humane way of killing them. : x A lot of people with give them a large blow to the head.. But, yeah.. I can't do that. lol.

[miokomioko]

An extremely hard flick to the head will most likely instantly kill a feeder mouse. I've seen a few handlers do it when they need to dangle an otherwise erratic mouse by the tail in front of a young and/or nervous snake to get it to eat. My girlfriend's brother in-law breeds ball pythons. Mostly Spiders, Piebalds, Albinos, and Standard/Normal. They are pretty sweet snakes, very handle-able.

[Salodin]

Looked into rats a bit. I honestly think a snake would be a better pet for me, since I don't want to risk a cat at the moment. I'll look into what kind of snake later on, once I finally take this bird back. Thanks for all the awesome replies, I greatly appreciate it!

[Djghost454]

Good luck with the snake. But somebody go buy a GD bird now, I want to feel useful :D

[Salodin]

Huge bump, but other thread made me think I should give an update. Thank you to everyone who gave advice, I decided to go with a baby ball python. Her name is Basil, and has pretty much turned out to be a very awesome pet.

Spoiler: show

[Silenka]

Aww how cute <3