How much does owning a snake cost?

Hi guys!

I'm currently in love with snakes because they're just so cool and amazing, and am very interested in getting one. We have the space for it too, but there's one problem: since I'm still a teenager, my parents are unwilling to pay for them because

1) They're deathly afraid of snakes (my dad says it's his worst fear) even after I told them they will never see it and never need to interact with it,
2) They're afraid a snake will escape and get into our house (I mean, I get where they're coming from, like, I wouldn't want a runaway snake either, but they're living inside a glass terrarium, not a cage), and
3) They just have no idea that caring for snakes will not be impossible (to them, even fish and a hamster are like "zoo animals", so don't get me started on snakes).

Is there any way to thoroughly convince them that these things can be prevented/snakes are good pets? Because if not, which is expected, I would like to know about how much money I should save up before buying a ball python or a corn snake (deciding on one from those two)? I know that snakes are definitely not cheap, and this isn't counting the monthly cost for mice, which I know can get expensive sometimes.

i also made a poll if you don't want to reply and just want to give a rough minimum estimate.

Thanks guys! Just a hopeful kid trying to get a dream pet...

 

Okay, well, a ball python and a corn snake are two TOTALLY different snakes. Their cost is different, their behavior can be different, and it's like that for most snakes. (so research the species, and see if you can find one locally that fits your current situation - ideally, a snake that stays smaller, but is also hardy and has a peaceful temperament).

As far as your parents concerns, they are legit concerns for any new snake owner. You can let them know that...
1. you won't buy a snake that gets too large for it's means. (or if you do, you'll understand you'll be moving out and on your own ready to provide for your monster snake later on, and the 6ft ball python won't be at mom and dad's while you're at college).
2. None of the snakes you'll buy will be venomous or big/strong enough to hurt anyone in the family. (they're actually illegal - well, you can find them for sale but not at your local pet store... and a snake bite is lesser in magnitude than a dog bite, if that ever happens, gently squeeze and pry at the hinge at the snakes mouth, you may need to push/pull a bit to get the fangs out without harming the snake - snakes teeth are angled backwards, you'll have to push forward first, pry open, then pull back for the release. It's not that bad, just dont panic, was bit last week - it's a sharp pin stick, hurts less than a paper cut [from a baby snake anyway]).
3. They'll eat frozen food - please do research on feeding live and feed frozen if you can help it.
4. You will have locking clips on top of the screen top. - snakes are STRONG. Strong enough to push the screen lid on their enclosure right up off the top and slither out. (especially your larger species, like ball pythons). Locking clips are a cheap little investment that will add peace of mind to everyone.
5. Snakes are nearly indestructible (very hardy) so long as they're accepting food and you're providing enough humidity for them to shed properly and heat for them to digest their food, that's really all they NEED.

(Have a friend who, had a black african house snake that...got out of it's enclosure...4 months later they found the snake in their sink drain pipe. Alive and well - indestructible).

Between the Ball Python and the Corn Snake - as a first snake...there are upsides and downsides to both. I would recommend the Corn Snake in terms of 'easiest to care for' but the balls aren't impossible...They're def. just more of a long term investment, something you have to be SURE you want for 15 potential years down the road, not something that's typically 'easy' to re-home either. (gotta find the 'right' person).

Corn Snakes - Super hardy, not finicky with humidity - typically sheds well, Will max out around 2 or 3 foot and is found in a variety of color patterns, they tend to be 'a little' more strikey as babies/adults than balls. In my experience. (they tend to have attitude/can be 'harder' to handle, will sit still less).

Ball Pythons - CAN be finicky with humidity, are prone to shedding issues (gotta get humidity right), max out around 4 or 5ft (so they get BIG and STRONG), comes in a variety of morphes (steer clear of the spider morphes), tend to be more 'chill' as babies (and adults if they're handled often/cared for well). At the store, of all the snakes to pull out of their enclosure and handle, I recommend the ball pythons, because they're usually very peacful and relaxed. Sometimes we get a strikey one, but for the most part these guys are like big babies.

So, cornsnakes are great because they're not hard to care for and won't get huge later on (and the bigger snakes are more expensive because they eat Larger prey). Negatives are that they can have attitude and tend to be less 'personable' than the ball pythons.

But ball pythons get HUGE, and will require a huge enclosure, accessories, and food items later on. It'll be an investment, but they're usually like dogs in their temperment. (though, a snake is a snake, don't ever 'trust' your snake).

I have an African Childrens Python named Tilly (short for matilda).

The cost to have her, she herself was 189.99, I paid 40$ for her tank (dollar per gallon sale at...petco?petsmart? one of the chains does that sale). snake bedding gets cleaned out about once a month, we use aspen (its ~12$ a bag), You can use literally anything for a hide (you can buy some take out from KFC and use the black side dish containers flipped upside down if they're small enough - just highlighting that that can be DIY, I dont recommend that but the hide doesn't have to be fancy). She has a uvb mini combo fixture, a mini infrared heat bulb, and a heat matt underneath her tank (which in all, costed around 100$ total), with a large shallow water dish (for bathing) and some taller spider wood, for climbing.

Now, the pricing on things will be different depending on where you live, and some of those things you may not even need depending on the snake you get.

Our tilly max's out at about 2ft in length, but she's a python too. The con to this species is that it will be slightly more expensive/harder to find than the other two. My mom used to be afraid of snakes too, tilly is actually her snake. She is fed 2 fuzzy mice every wednesday.

To give you an idea of the cost of food....I work at a pet store.
Our pinky mice are .89 a pc. (the smallest). Fuzzy are 1.49, Adults are 1.69. Not expensive at all, can buy 10 at a time (good for ~4months of feeding) for less than 10$.

A frozen RAT.....5.49 for med. 6.99 for lg. 7.99 for xl. and 11.99 for a jumbo (which is a full sized rat - guinea pig sized). ...Okay, Buying 10 at a time for 4 months feeding for just a regular sized rat would = ~55$.

Now, if you're feeding live....You'll literally be buying stock pet store animals to feed to your ball python once it's an adult. I'm talking rabbits and guinea pigs. Nobody wants to hear that, and most people don't want to do that, but when you have a 6ft snake that won't accept frozen....what are you going to do?....we sell our rabbits for 39.99 a pc. Now, I'm not aware of any 'large snake prey' breeders around, they probably do exist for cheaper than buying a 'pet' for your snakes next meal. Just know that these prey items may be an option in 5 yrs when the ball is an adult.

Why feed frozen over live?
Live food is straight up harder to find. I know our store is the ONLY store in a 50 mile radius that will sell rats/mice as feeders (ours are FOR feeders, but most of the chains will refuse the sale if they find out you're feeding the animal off). Additionally, live feeders can often fight back, and end up damaging the snake. Just feed frozen if you can. Once a snake is eating live, they will almost NEVER revert back to eating frozen (it can be very hard to get them on a frozen diet once they've got the smell and taste of a warm, live animal.).

(an alternative idea would be to feed multiple smaller live prey to your snake (like 3 rats instead of a guinea pig) BUT with each food item, digestion will have to work harder, and loading the snake up like this can cause troubles later on, I recommend a max of 2 food items fed back to back. You always want to wait until your snake has passed his previous meal before you feed the next. (EVEN if it's feeding day, if he hasn't pooped yet, don't feed him till he does - bathing in 'warmer' water can help them go too). You may have to do this (feed multiples) before moving up a size. (if the snake is getting bigger but it's head isn't quite big enough to take larger food options that his body could digest/handle).

I hope I helped in general, maybe I didn't directly answer your questions but hopefully gave you some things to think about in your decision. It's a hard one to make with so many options. .

You'll Need:
The Tank: 20-40$ on sale (retail 90 - 140$) For most med - small sized snakes, a 20Long or a 40Breeder tank works well - the bigger the foot print, the better - most don't need a lot of height to their tanks (unless you have an arboreal snake, like a tree boa - not recommended, usually very aggressive, usually a 'looker' snake, not one we handle). They don't need ALOT of roaming space, mostly just consider their max size and ensure they have enough space to move around relevant to their max size.
The Substrate/Bottom: 12-20$ an 8qt bag (some people use newspaper - this is more a temporary type of enclosure IMO - some snakes like to burrow, tilly isn't a 'burrowing' snake but she still digs/burrows in her aspen - look up snake substrate options - aspen can be controversial)
Under Tank Heater OR Basking lamp/bulb: 20-50$ depending on what you choose - lamp fixtures will be more than heat matts (bec you'll need the fixture AND the bulb) You'll need SOME form of 'heat' - even if your house stays at room temp through the winter time, it's best to have a temperature gradient for them so they can choose when they're warm or cold (google the species temp requirements and buy a heat bulb that satisfies that). (you'd situate climbing things near the bulb (or a hide on top of the heat matt) as well as a hide on the cool side of the tank too. If you use a heat matt, you need substrate, in some (unusual) cases, the heat matts can actually get too warm and cause burns (so a layer of substrate to insulate against this is helpful.) Don't choose a 'heat rock'.
UVB Lighting : 60$ for fixture, 20$ for bulb. If you want an actual 'light' to 'see' your snake, you'd use a linear fixture (a long, fluorescent tubular bulb) with a UVB bulb. Snakes don't NEED UVB like how most other lizards and turtles do (so this costly addition is OPTIONAL, technically), but there is evidence it's beneficial for them, and if you want to have a light, that'd be the type to choose (don't just use a regular fish tank light - you can, not optimal for the snake is all).
Screen Top + Locking Clips: 20-30$ + 5$.
Feeding Tongs: 10$ if that
Snake Hide/Cave: 20-40$ or free Some pre-made caves and hides are really cool looking, but they can be expensive.
Shallow Water Dish: 20-30$ or free Snakes (and most other reptiles) will bathe themselves if they're dehydrated or are going into shed. Snakes can absorb water into their skin this way, always good to have.
Climbing/Hiding accessories: 40-60$ or free depending This is totally up to you, you can go to the store and buy things for your snake to slither through, on top of, and around. Or you can get creative and use things that are 'snake safe' but that're lesser cost options or diy. PVC piping, Woods that've been sun dried/oven cured, Stones that've been thoroughly cleaned with vinegar. Slightly rough or textured decorations can help with shedding, Snakes will rub against things in their enclosure when they're trying to shed. Cork wood is a semi-cheap 'rough but soft' option to use.
Dish to Thaw your frozen foods: (can be anything, best to use something you haven't used in the kitchen, and reserve that dish for your snake food only - to avoid cross contamination either for the snake, or your family).

"Getting Humidity Right" - Always have a water dish in the tank. a trick is to situate the (or a) heat bulb slightly overtop the water dish SO THAT some of the water will evaporate at a quicker rate, increasing the humidity slightly. Snakes aren't typically misted, you may need to physically bathe the snake (ball pythons) to help them shed properly. Stuck shed happens when the enclosure is kept to dry. One bout of stuck shed is, not so great but fixable, but if it continues, where the snake is trying to shed through multiple cycles and cannot get rid of the one spot (or multiple areas), it can cause necrosis in the skin underneath - really not good at that point.

So....whether you go all out and spend a fortune on your snake (you could easily have a 400$ enclosure, or a 100$ enclosure for the same animal), or you have enclosures that're similar to what a 'breeder' would use (Look up SnakeDiscovery on youtube and watch some of their feeding or showing videos) - It's def. doable with some saving and understanding with your parents. The most expensive things will be the lighting (if you use lighting), the heat, and the tank/screen lid itself. The snake may also be a bit expensive. But for the most part, the accessories after that are very affordable.

Tilly, and tilly's background - less enclosure. For inspiration. Though this was fairly simple to put together, wouldn't call it 'inspirational' but, this is our tilly.

 

Corn snakes are cool. But I'll always suggest ball pythons as a first snake over ANY colubrid. Pythons are so much easier to handle for an inexperienced keeper. And ball pythons are the puppy dogs of snakes. You're more likely go get bit by an actual puppy. Fantastic first snakes.

Edit to add: I agree with above. Frozen food is extremely important and it's less expensive too. If possible try to find a snake that's already eating frozen. Ball pythons are easy to switch over. But nothing is easier than having the breeder already done it ahead of time. Males stay smaller than females too. I had a male for 20 years that never got big enough to eat rats and took mice his whole life.

 

I have a corn snake that’s about 3 years old. I got him after COVID started and he had been a school pet so he was very calm and he was used to loud noises and humans. As long as you handle them a bit I doubt you’ll have any issues with them being aggressive or them trying to bite you. He’s about 3 feet long. I’d say ball pythons are much calmer than corn snakes but corn snakes are more active and imo easier to keep. They shed easier and are much more flexible with humidity vs. ball pythons which tend to have shedding issues and need more specific humidity levels.

 

Is your cost above per month, or year? I keep a locally rescued (spinal injuries) northwestern garter snake. He is full grown now and eats about $14 of night crawlers in a month. An annual vet check is about $150. When he was a baby he ate mostly small guppies, I ended up learning to breed endlers and got into fish keeping because of him. That could have been expensive if I hadn't figured out the feeding thing. The substrate he likes is $11 per bag, I cover half of a 20 long 2 inches deep in average so it lasts me a month-ish. Pro tip with aquatic snake, put a layer of paper towels under the substrate

14x12. 168
11x12 132
150x1. 150

450 annual for what I think is one of the cheapest snakes to maintain. I know some snakes prefer bare bottoms, so that may be a cost saved, however they usually also eat more expensive food. Your vets cost could vary significantly, also many snakes need supplements to make up for parts of their diet or drinking water parameters we just cannot do at home. Really compared to our dogs though the snake is about 50% cheaper on vet cost and and not even comparable on food.

 

I'm not going to give a super long answer but I've owned snake for a long time and short version depending on how you want to house them and what type of snake will give you the answer to how much! I love love love balls if you have never owned a snake before or you just haven't done a lot of research I personally wouldn't go for one and go for a corn or king snake.

 

Thanks guys! This definitely won't be in the next few weeks or even months, but helped me think about what snake I'm getting/how I'm going to manage having a snake in the future. I think if I ever attempt this, it will probably be with my own money (when I save up enough) and in my own house/dorm. Trust me, I will research a lot about these guys, and will not impulse buy. Also, no need to worry. There's no way I'm going to get a monster snake (right now, I'm thinking a corn snake, 2-4 ft) and I can't get one that has the possibility of outliving me! I'll see what's possible in the next few years, but thank you so much!

Also, there's no way I'm going to get one without it already adapted to eating frozen. I have a pet hamster and mice, and there's no way I'm ever going to think about live feeding. I'll definitely feed it frozen.

 

I will say i had a buddy that had a corn snake and it liked to escape from his terrarium. Luckily it was winter, so he would jist turn the heat off for a few hours then find him by a heat vent after turning the heat back on.

 

Also, there's no way I'm going to get one without it already adapted to eating frozen. I have a pet hamster and mice, and there's no way I'm ever going to think about live feeding. I'll definitely feed it frozen.

Yeah a corn snake would be best then. They’re more likely to eat frozen food than ball pythons.

 

I will say i had a buddy that had a corn snake and it liked to escape from his terrarium. Luckily it was winter, so he would jist turn the heat off for a few hours then find him by a heat vent after turning the heat back on.

Corns are much more prone to escaping than ball pythons. Another plus in the python column

 

If I may ask, Betta'sAnonymous mimo91088 , how do they escape? Like even with a locked mesh lid? Just curious. Yeah, I know about corn snakes not being as chill as ball pythons, but I've also found a lot about ball pythons getting so big, and I would not want to care for a 4-5 feet chunky snake by myself lol. Besides, don't ball pythons tend to have periods of not eating, and you don't really know if they want to eat or not for like a month or two? I just feel like a lot of mice would be wasted because you have to defrost them and then they're pretty much unsafe for them to eat afterwards.

 

If I may ask, Betta'sAnonymous mimo91088 , how do they escape? Like even with a locked mesh lid? Just curious. Yeah, I know about corn snakes not being as chill as ball pythons, but I've also found a lot about ball pythons getting so big, and I would not want to care for a 4-5 feet chunky snake by myself lol. Besides, don't ball pythons tend to have periods of not eating, and you don't really know if they want to eat or not for like a month or two? I just feel like a lot of mice would be wasted because you have to defrost them and then they're pretty much unsafe for them to eat afterwards.

Don't know the details on my friends terrarium, whether he had it locked or not. This was easy 15 years ago. I'm old.

 

You need a really really tight fitting lid if you get a baby corn. They're small enough to wiggle out the tiniest gap.