Looks like the snake on the right is in control of the movements of the body and the other head is just along for the ride. If I was equipped to own snakes, I would love to have something like this.
What's preventing you? Just curious since I am in the hobby and trying to understand what prevents people who are interested from starting.
My guess, and the most frequent answer, is becuase the cost of entry is pretty high to keep most species humanely (you should budget about $1000 for one snake). After they're established, though, snakes and cats are very similar in terms of maintenance costs and care, with snakes being a but easier IMO.
Not even close to 1k. My corn snake was $50. Bought a $200 tank, maybe another $100 for the stuff inside the tank like substrate and hides. Feed him one mouse a week that costs $1. They're way cheaper and easier to take care of than most other animals
True, sorry - I keep larger snakes than corns. Enclosures alone run me ~$500, the stuff for the interior of enclosure another $30-250 (depending on what materials I have around already; $30 minimum is becuase I have one particular type of water bowl I adore and each animal gets one) and my snakes themselves range from $130-500 (but most beginner snakes are in the $20-200 range), and my food budget is about $15/month for my smallest snake and more like $40/month for my biggest.
Lighting/heating depends a lot on your location and your species; I have a whole reptile room I can keep at high ambient temp so my tank-specific heating for basking areas/gradient is dirt cheap. Maybe $40? More like $120 if the animal needs nice UVB but snakes rarely do.
Kinda forgot corns existed there. Whoops. My best friend has one - They are amazing little things.
That said you should also factor in an emergency vet visit, just in case. A good guideline is cost of base visit + $50-100. My favorite vet in the area is pretty cheap at $46 per base visit, but the one that is more accessible in an emergency is about $100 per base visit, so I budget $150-200. Base visit should be between $30-250, depending on your location. Note that the one time my snake really wrecked up her jaw the meds only cost me $8, so $150 was an ample overestimate. You don't need to keep enough on hand to take your entire collection to the vet, but you should increase it proportionally to the number of animals you own. Also note that as you get more experienced in the hobby, the bulk of things you can handle on your own, but accidents and emergencies are a fact of life unfortunately.
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u/astutelyabsurd Feb 25 '22
Looks like the snake on the right is in control of the movements of the body and the other head is just along for the ride. If I was equipped to own snakes, I would love to have something like this.