grass snakes

[purple_tunny]

hi im 15 n i would love a grass snake for a pet!but would it bite me all the time n what do they eat and everything?? plz help!

[Lindy Loo]

As far as grass snakes are concerned, they are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from being killed, injured or sold. If you catch one, you will be liable to prosecution. Best thing to do if you want to keep snakes as pets is read all you can on them first...my son is reptile mad and now has 2 corn snakes, a 5 foot boa constrictor, a western hognose snake and a chameleon!! He started with a baby corn snake (�40) as they are relatively easy to care for and handle, but he did loads of reading first, and spent ages talking to the guys in the reptile shop, then weeks persuading me to let him have one!! There is also the cost of the vivarium, heating, lighting and accessories to consider. Snakes in captivity eat mice and rats, but the bigger the snake, the bigger the food!! These rodents have been bred for the purpose and are bought frozen. They have to be thawed before feeding to the snake. Snakes do bite at times, it's one of the hazards of keeping them!! Hope this helps..

[New Forester]

Lindy Loo - You are right, grass snake in the UK is protected against direct harm and unlicensed sale. However, unlike rarer reptiles it is not protected against capture or possession(those parts of Section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act do not apply to certain species). Grass snake food is quite different from corn snake's -- frogs are easiest. Otherwise I agree with your advice. The advantage of a grass snake over a foreign species is that you can always let it go if you don't want it any more, without introducing a possibly harmful species to the UK (which would also be illegal). Purple Tunny -- also see previous answer: http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals_and_Nature/Question54 435.html

[woofgang]

I'm not sure that it would be humane to confine an animal that has been used to living in freedom to a tank or other confined area. You are also likely to be removing that individual from the breeding pool and afecting (in however small a way) the viability of the species as a whole. Why do you want a pet grass snake?

[Ray the DJ]

Grass snakes are best left to live in the wild. No animal should be caged up.

[New Forester]

It may not be ethical to cage animals up, but I don't think it is necessarily inhumane. It depends upon how the cage compares with the animals natural range, and whether the cage restricts the animal's natural range of behaviour. To take extreme examples: A mussel spends its life attached to a rock by permanent threads. Put it in a tank and give it food (tricky, as it happens), and it would not notice -- even if it had enough nerve cells to call a brain. On the other hand, put an intelligent, wide-ranging, excitable animal like, say, a cuttlefish (which of course is another mollusc) into a small tank on its own and it may become very unhappy. I'm sure snakes are happier in the wild (as I said in my original answer). However, even in the wild, when they have plenty of food they naturally spend a lot of time doing not very much. They do appear to adapt quite well to relatively small cages. I'd not worry too much about keeping one, especially if only for a few weeks.

[leighashford]

im 14 and iv got lots of corn snakes. as long as you feed and hold them regurally they wont feel threatened or scared and will not bite you.