I need your advice: on a website I read an ad about someone selling a 6 year old male russian rat snake and the size is pretty much the same as Nikita! That person lives somewhere in Bern about 1,5 hours train ride from my place.
Now I want to know from you if it's a good or a bad idea to get him?As I have had Nikita only for 3 weeks now and she lived by herself most or all of her life,would you say yes or no?
My heart says 'yes' but my little voice says 'no'! I love my big girl and only want her best,as she had a bit of a crazy life so far.
I would put the male in the same terrarium as Nikita,of course,which would sure be big enough (200cmlong,100cm deep,150cm high).
I know snakes are not social animals and are perfectly happy on their own all their lifes.And I don't want to breed with her,(although it would be cute having little Nikitas,lol).It would be just for my own pleasure,really,and interesting to watch the different characters.But if you,my friends,think it's not good for Nikita,I leave it!!

LOL! Jacky I think that you should slow down! One of the greatest dangers in new people getting into this hobby is the tendency to aquire animal after animal after animal! We joke about it being an addiction but there is some truth in the matter. Often people are so excited about the aquisition of new animals that they just keep buying new ones. While this in itself is not necessarily a bad thing it is very easy to find that you have so many animals that your enjoyable hobby has suddenly turned into a full time job! This often results in either the animals being neglected or the keeper losing interest and getting rid of them.
As you said the snakes don't need a companion and if you keep them together there is the possibilty of them breeding. Then you have to deal with caring for eggs and feeding and caring for a bunch of little Nikitas.
I'd wait.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I agree with Merlin....I have the same impulses to get more animals, but then I have my husband to stop me from doing it because there's no way he'd put up with more than the 4 we have. If it weren't for him, I'd probably have at least 8 right now, and that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. As it is, I don't have enough time each day to hold them all and interact with them as long as I'd like, which is I think is why Jack and Sally are still not as calm and tame as I'd like them to be.

Also, I wouldn't put another snake in with Nikita at all...as you said, she's spent her whole life by herself, and another snake would just cause stress for her. Plus you'd have to worry about them breeding, and that would be probably more than you're ready to take on at this point.

Jack and Sally used to live together, and I'm convinced they were very stressed by it because they used to hide all the time. Once I separated them, they started coming out and moving around a lot and looking at things. They seem SO much more relaxed now that they have their own homes.

So as tempting as it is (and I DO understand the tempatation!), I wouldn't get another snake. Give all your love and attention to the ones you have for now That's what I'm doing at my house

__________________
~Juliane~

Well, I want to say follow your heart and get him! But, I wouldn't keep them in the same enclosure - for a few reasons; 1) quarantine - you need somewhere to keep him for a few weeks/months as you should do with every new snake. 2) you said you don't want to breed - if you house them together they will breed.

If you want to get him and can provide a new enclosure for him, or if you can allow for a quarantine period and are prepared for breeding then go for it. If not I'd say wait until another female comes along. LOL we usually let our hearts do the deciding, but you have to let your head have some say too.

__________________
"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Thanks all of you.You just helped me decied,and you are right.I still have the ball pythons to come in November or so,and maybe the blizzard corn,and that'll be it(for now,anyway,LOL ) And why take a male in if not to breed?!
There was another one available like Nikita:male,a bit shorter and the police found him and no one was missing him,so they think he was let lose on purpose,poor baby!! It was just 1/2 hour from my place.But I can't reall open up a snake shelter,not now,anyway,lol! But when I think about it,it's rather a nice thought,doing something like Jay does,because I never heard about a reptile-shelter in Switzerland.That's something to consider for the future maybe,when I get loads of experience in the years to come!
Thanks again.

Merlin,

I have to agree with your comment "One of the greatest dangers in new people getting into this hobby is the tendency to aquire animal after animal after animal!" Sounds so much like Lyn! (LOL)

Smallgrayfox,

"but then I have my husband to stop me from doing it".....but i'm getting hooked now too .... especially with the snakes!

Steve

Steve, I have sinking feeling I won't be as lucky as Lyn...I can't see my husband getting hooked on reptiles. He likes them, but he says "enough is enough", and I don't think he'll ever be hooked on them. *sigh*

But my question is, how come he's the one who gets to say how many is enough? Hmmmm?

__________________
~Juliane~

LMAO! Good question!
I am fortunate. My other half is almost as bad as I am.

I know when I hear the phrase, "Oh it's sooooooooo cute!" it usually means that money is fixing to fly out of my wallet!

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!