Why
Choose African House Snakes
 This is a question I get quite
often from fellow breeders and prospective customers. As you
might imaging potential customers are asking "why" mostly
from the stand point of what type of captive they are, how big they
get, how easy to care for and what is available, etc.
Fellow breeders though are often
asking something more like, why not a better known species or one that
is more profitable. Indeed they make a reasonable point as one
can make a lot more money breeding designer ball pythons, high end
corn snakes or many other popular snakes in the pet and breeder trade
today.
I guess the first part of
answering this question has to do with the fact that I like to
actually "create markets". I personally feel that
house snakes would be a lot more "popular" in the trade if
they were actually commonly available.
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 I
mean sure you could start breeding a well known species where much
of the work has been done but then you simply become part of the
market, with house snakes we have the opportunity to actually shape,
create and define the market. To me that is exciting.
My second answer is simply because we have so
much to learn! I have spoken to many breeders that believe
they are "in the know" on house snakes and found that
while most are calling everything and anything "Lamprophis
Fuliginosus" that Fuliginosus is actually less common in trade
then L. maculatus and L. capensis. So when knowledgeable
breeders don't even have a full grasp on defining the commonly
available species, you know we have much to learn. See the
species identification section for more information about this.
My third answer is simply because house
snakes have so much going for them as captives. Think about
these following attributes and it starts to become clear how ideal
House Snakes are both for the breeder and simply the individual that
likes to keep snakes as "pets".
| ~ House Snakes are
beautiful animals - Lamprophis means "the shining
snake". |
| ~ House Snakes are
very easy to keep thriving, not just surviving. |
| ~ They are
adaptable to a wide range of temperatures and that makes
husbandry easy. |
| ~ They are
different, everyone has corns, kings and bulls but house
snakes are unique. |
| ~ They breed as
easily as the mice they consume - so anyone can try their
hand at breeding. |
| ~ There are many
color and pattern forms to work with. |
| ~ House Snakes have
a "vipers eyes" which most young herpers seem to
enjoy |
| ~ The biggest house
snakes are smaller then average corn snakes = points with
parents. |
| ~ House Snakes can
produce 3-4 clutches per breeding season |
| ~ They are very
docile snakes and are easy to handle - though a bit fast. |
| ~ They eat pre
killed prey & never need anything much bigger then
weanling - small mice. |
 I
could continue with this list but by now it should be obvious that
rather then ask, "Why house snakes", the better question
would be, "why don't more breeders and hobbyists work with
house snakes". To me there has never been a better
time to be working with House Snakes, today we have gotten past much
of the initial confusion, animals are being bred and imported with
decent availability and the future of the species has much to be
optimistic about.
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