How to Care Properly for Your Pet Snake

Sometimes parents can get themselves easily into trouble when trying to negotiate, rather than dictate with their children. Take the case of my daughter who desperately wanted a dog. We really have not had much luck with pet dogs at our house so we told her she could pick another pet.

She picked a snake; a baby python that would eventually grow into a 10 foot long monster. Eventually we gave the snake to the local zoo as it was an albino version of Asian specie that they did not have and were quite happy to obtain.

During the time we had the snake, which I was just terrified of, we learned how to properly take care of the reptilian pet. And that is what this article is about. Here is our list of how to properly take care of your pet snake.

There are a few basics involved in the proper care and feeding of a pet snake. Okay maybe there are more than a few but in any case here is what we developed based on our experience.

Make sure that whatever type of cage or enclosure you have for your snake that it has proper ventilation and most importantly that it has very good air circulation. You need to have the ability to keep the temperature between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius (which is 77 to 81 degrees Fahrenheit.

Make sure the snake is kept in an area that is as quiet as possible. As scare as you or some of your visitors might be the snake also gets stress from too much noise, commotion and activity.

Put a large shallow water bowl, pan or dish in the enclosure and make sure it is full at all times. A perfect arrangement is if you can provide something where the water very gently enters and leaves keeping the water fresh at all times. In addition to drinking the snake occasionally needs to immerse itself in water to help control its temperature. This is especially true when the snake is shedding its skin; which is called molting.

Make sure the food you feed to your pet snake is either very fresh, live or just killed before feeding time. Do not handle the snake for at least two hours after feeding or it may regurgitate the food you fed to it.