Snakes are fascinating creatures and with regular handling can be quite tame.

However, snakes are obviously not the right pets for everyone. They have unique requirements and should only be kept by those with the commitment to understand and meet their needs.

If you are new to pet snakes, find out what you should consider before deciding on a pet snake and what species are the best snakes for beginners. More ...

Choosing a snake as a pet – first things first

• When choosing a snake, you are making a long-term commitment – many can be expected to live longer than 20 years.
• You must be willing to feed prey animals to your snake (though frozen, pre-killed prey is the best choice), and you will probably have to devote some freezer space to frozen prey items (i.e. rodents).
• Snakes are very clever escape artists, so make sure you have an escape-proof tank, keeping in mind that snakes are persistent about finding and squeezing through any small gaps.
• Finally, as beautiful as they are, we strongly recommend against anyone keeping large constricting snakes or venomous snakes.

Recommended beginner snakes

These are all reasonably sized, fairly easy to care for, and tend to be quite docile:

• Children's python
• Carpet python

Again, it's important to do your research and do some hard thinking about the commitment needed to keep snakes as pets.