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Does anyone here keep corn snakes or bearded dragons? How do they compare as pets? Which is easier to handle, or more interactive and friendly?

This is getting a bit far from Catfishes, but that's "Speak Easy".

I have kept both in the past and currently have Corn Snakes along with several other species. Neither are particularly difficult to keep well.

Both have their merits. The Pogona are much more interactive with thier keepers, however they have vastly different and more strict care requirements.

They need alot more space
Have a more rigidly defined thermocline requirements.
Need UVB lighting (that needs replaced regularly).
Diet is more complicated, not hard to do but let's face it, snakes are damn easy to feed!
Calcium suppliments are an absolute must (but I use these with my snakes too. Females anyway.)

On balance for me, I prefer the snakes. Easy care, easy feeding, not alot of space required and they don't care if you're around at all.
Others will choose differently. The decision is entirely your's.
As my son's get a bit older, the Pogona are one option I have been considering as a pet for them.

I would suggest you check out the forums at

http://www.kingsnake.com

You'll find tons of information about all types of herptiles there.

Dealing with herps in the past, I would deffinately get the bearded dragon. They will sit on your shoulder and watch everything that goes by as you stroll down the street. Can't do that with a corn snake. I agree that the care may be a little more in depth, but you will get the enjoyment back two fold. In the end its your decision. Just make sure you study up on which ever you choose.

I agree that beardies are absolutely wonderful pets as far as interaction & general intelligence go, but I'll be very frank about the fact that they are quite expensive & somewhat labor-intensive to care for properly. I only say this because most care info is lacking at best, since even the most often referred-to book on the subject is by a general know-it-all (think Herb Axelrod of herps) who co-wrote it with a sleazy dragon farmer. Ah well, at least one vet helped write it too..

Also be cautious of breeder or product recommendations in that dinosaur of a forum on kingsnake.com, as their moderators are known to delete posts recommending businesses & products that are in direct competition with their advertisers.


OK, so if you don't have a bunch of other pets alongside 4 dragons like there are here, beardies aren't really a ton of work. Though I do have to say that the difference between a snake and a diunal lizard really hits you when you already have alot of other pet chores. Basicly, just don't ever let someone tell you dragons are good starter reptiles, unless you want a crash course on every end of herp care!

I agree that beardies are absolutely wonderful pets as far as interaction & general intelligence go, but I'll be very frank about the fact that they are quite expensive & somewhat labor-intensive to care for properly. I only say this because most care info is lacking at best, since even the most often referred-to book on the subject is by a general know-it-all (think Herb Axelrod of herps) who co-wrote it with a sleazy dragon farmer. Ah well, at least one vet helped write it too..

Also be cautious of breeder or product recommendations in that dinosaur of a forum on kingsnake.com, as their moderators are known to delete posts recommending businesses & products that are in direct competition with their advertisers.


OK, so if you don't have a bunch of other pets alongside 4 dragons like there are here, beardies aren't really a ton of work. Though I do have to say that the difference between a snake and a diunal lizard really hits you when you already have alot of other pet chores. Basicly, just don't ever let someone tell you dragons are good starter reptiles, unless you want a crash course on every end of herp care!

Ok, thank you. That post was a big help! I've decided to go with the corn snake for now: it seems like a lot less work and a lot less expensive. I've never had a reptile before and so I think its probably best if I stick with an easy to maintain one to see how I get on and to introduce me to the world of reptiles! I'm also tight on money right now and living in student accomodation so money and space are an iss ue .

I only have one other "pet", my 20 gallon fish tank so I'm not over loaded with pets, but I just think I lack the experience. I'm sure in the future a bearded dragon may find its way into my home though .

I have been told that bearded dragons are a good starter reptile, they don't sound it though! I don't know where or how I'd store all those crickets, or afford them .

Thanks for your help

a very good food for Dragons is to breed roaches. especially roaches like Blaptica dubia or the Deadhead-roach.
roaches are clean, breed fast, don't escape easily (the recommended breeding species cannot climb glass or plastic), eat what we eat (so their food is dirtcheap), and often breed well on roomtemperature.

unfortunately most people have a huge adversion against roaches, due to the species wich are pests......you try sleeping next to a tank of roaches or a tank of crickets and tell me when you had a good nights' rest, however!

but I agree a snake is far less work.
however snakes have the same thing as roaches and tarantula's....people who are able to tolerate dragons or other lizards can fly completely off the handle when you arrive with a baby snake (especially parents, wives or girlfriends).....I know for example my parents strongly vetoed any notion of bringing home snake, roach or spider, but I was allowed to keep lizards, toads, frogs, newts and fish.

It would be next university term when I got the snake, and I'd be staying in a flat with my boyfriend and another couple...I've asked and none of them mind snakes, so all is good .

The problem would come when I took it home for summer to the house of my snake-phobic mum . She says I'm not allowed one in her house and that she'd move out if it escaped, but she was joking (kind of )and I think she'll come round (when I showed her some baby snakes in the shop she actually said they were kind of cute ).

I think the corn snake is a more lovable-shaped snake. Some people have suggested ball pythons to me because they are more docile but I think that would really set my mum running, and my boyfriend says no

Very good point Sid, because I have a Nauphoeta cinerea (lobster roach) colony for just that purpose. They feed everybody here, right down to the little pair of jewel-masked curlytails to the Percival's legless skink.

These guys do climb glass, but their fecundity more than makes up for having to get creative with their containment. The beardies also get a snack of a medium/large male Madagascar hisser from that colony every now & then to keep them on their toes, since they aren't exactly popular pets. The lobsters & superworms (Zophobas morio) are their insect staples tho, as I've stopped bothering with nasty crickets altogether. Not only are they noisy, but without impecable care they really stink too!

Anyway good choice on the corn snake, even over the ball python. The corns are at least 99% captive-bred, while almost every normal form ball python was farmed in Africa & comes with all the parasites & eating problems of wild-caught.

Cornsnakes (Elaphe guttata or Pantherophis guttatus) are indeed cute, colorful, hardy and docile.

however they're like 99% of all snakes, like Pythons and Boa's and all the rest: sleep all day, sleep all night and once in a while show some movement when they're hungry.

there IS another type of snake, and it's native to the US....Thamnophis, the Gartersnakes and their close relatives.

these too have a bad reputation, because they can stink. however, if you keep their housing clean, they do not.
Thamnophis are active, active, active! '

very easily handled (captive breds, wildcaughts can use their glands if they're not in the mood), they don't bite and they're small.
adult ones are a bit smaller than Cornsnakes, and despite not being red (except the stunningly but rare beautiful T sirtalis tetrataenia) quite attractive.

I've taken care of many Garters when working in the reptile house, and finally got room for a tank with a bunch of them myself. my soon-to-be-kept species will be T radix. I can get captive breds.

Some species are very good for keeping, others should be avoided, although they end up in the reptile-store as well. those look a lot alike, but they're often wildcaught, fragile, full of parasites and quite hard to keep healthy in the long run.

I don't know all their common names!
The US based people here can supply those I think.
Good to keep Thamnophis:
-Thamnophis marcianus. big spotted snake that reaches the same size as a Cornsnake. it can easily be weaned of fish and to eating mice, doesn't stink, it's very robust in the taking care of. it's bred in captivity.

-Thamnophis sirtalis (Gartersnake). very commnon snake; comes in a wide variety of subspecies. some are caught in huge numbers when emerging from their hibernationburrows in astronomical numbers. those wildcaughts are often less suitable for being kept as a pet, however.
Good to keep are Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus, T sirtalis sirtalis; species like T s parietalis and others should be left alone.

-Thamnophis radix. this one got spots on the flanks (like marcianus) and a big orange stripe on the back; it's being bred (at least over here) and good to keep.

There's one other exclusively captive bred Garter, and it's extremely pretty, but unfortunately highly threatened or already extinct in the wild. T sirtalis tetrataenia.
It's the holy grail of keeping small snakes; we in Europe have a captive-bred population as well, but boy....it's the Synodontis granulosus of the Snake-World
one day I might try them if my boss gives me a second paycheck

other species like Thamnophis sauritus or T proximus should be left alone as well; these don't eat earthworms (baby Garters eat those), often only accept amphibians, no guppies or otrher fish, no baby mice; and they're always wildcaught. avoid those.

A thing you might need to know about feeding fish to fish-eating snakes; a lot of fish have in their meat an enzyme that destroys vitamine B (or a type of Vit B). if you're not aware of that, your Garter might get sick and die. it's easily avoided if you add a vitamine-supplement to their drinkingwater or powder it over fed aerthworms, or wean it off the fish and switch to baby mice (pinkies)


a pet snake