Baby Snakes and Children

[Mandi0284]

So my step-kids were wanting to keep that big female plains garter that was caught and released. According to my oldest, suddenly they all want snakes. And newborns at that. He wanted to know if mine would mate and create hybrids.

I am not too sure about breeding snakes yet as I am still getting to know garters and their behavior and how to care for them. I also know that I dont have the experience to care for a new litter. Even though I do have a soft spot for young animals

Aside from that, I am not sure about having my kids care for snakes on their own. I just dont feel that they would be able to handle feeding a baby snake and caring for it. They wouldnt want to take the time to thaw silverside or pinkies and would probably feed them goldfish.

My oldest has a Bearded Dragon that he has had since it was a baby. Now it is almost half grown. So I feel that he could handle a young snake. He would be ok with feeding and cleaning.

My step-daughter (15) might do ok, but she is a little too rough with animals. She was holding the radix and was being a little too rough and Zeus regurgitated his fish all over her leg. It was actually funny to see the look on her face.

And then there is the 10 yr old son. He is scared of snakes, having been struck at by a little one a few years ago. He will touch them if I hold them, but he isn't comfortable. I dont know why he wants a baby snake, but I would not let him have an adult one. He would be too afraid to interact with it, let alone feed it.

I just though I would get opinions and stuff from you all, as I have always gotten great advise here.

[guidofatherof5]

I would say that baby snakes and children(young) is a bad idea. Most are unable to control the amount of pressure they put on the snake when they are holding it and the snake can be injured. If the child is startled by a thrashing snake they can be dropped and injured or lost.

As far as the hybrid thing goes, I would say NO!
Hybrids ruin the bloodline of both species and are terrible for the garter snake hobby. The babies born are mutts and usually look like a watered down version of the parents or simply look plain.
The individual variety within the Thamnophis genus is boundless and should not be messed with.
Just my strong opinion.

[Mandi0284]

I dont think i would want hybrids.

The kids are smart, They could probably learn how to handle a snake. They want a snake cause i have two.

[Steveo]

You could get a snake that's "their snake" but you help them with it. If you get a good eater, feeding isn't hard. My biggest concern is uncoordinated hands trying to handle a tiny snake - one wrong move and it's over. As a coordinated adult I still have trouble moving my youngin's around gently. I even lost one because it lept from my hands and I was afraid I'd kill it by snatching it off the floor.

[d_virginiana]

I would really recommend against getting them a baby garter, especially if being too rough is an issue with adults. I don't even really handle my babies, just put my hand in the tank and let them crawl on it, until they get older.
Would they be okay with yearlings? They are still about half the size of an adult, so they'd still get to raise them and watch them grow up, but they're large enough to handle. Also, they can be fed once or twice a week as opposed to every day/every other day like a newborn. They're calmer too... Very young ones tend to be pretty jumpy. I'd worry about them getting away from someone without much experience with snakes since you can't just reach and grab them when they crawl away.

[Invisible Snake]

Baby snakes + children = bad idea

[chris-uk]

I'll add to the "baby snakes + children = bad idea". The baby snakes I've had are too difficult to trust in the hands of children. When my baby Cuitzeo has a good head or steam on I find him difficult to handle.
Last year we got some checkered babies from Pinjohn, one of them was destined for our friends' girls (10 and 8) but we kept hold of it until it was 6 months old. During that time they came round and touched it while their dad was holding her, once they had her they were gradually allowed to handle her more but always supervised. Now Lightning is a few days short of a year old, and she's a big checkered girl, the girls are both able to hold her without any trouble.
I think yearling is probably the right sort of size to be robust enough for kiddy hands, but still careful supervision until you know the kids can deal with the animal.

[Invisible Snake]

Also keep in mind that this might just be a phase they are going through, I know when I was a young teen I went from wanting and owning hamsters to lizards then to snakes all in a couple of years.

[Mandi0284]

I think that is what they are going through.

[chris-uk]

Also keep in mind that this might just be a phase they are going through, I know when I was a young teen I went from wanting and owning hamsters to lizards then to snakes all in a couple of years.

Another good point. When it comes to children don't take on a snake that you don't have time to look after yourself if the child looses interest.