If you are one of the legions of people who have acquired or are about to get a new pet snake, you are also about to have a rewarding experience. Snakes have a lot to teach us. A properly maintained terrarium can be a work of art, many are prominently displayed in homes, provided the snake keeper takes some essential information into account:

Make sure you give your snake enough heat, that means enough for the snake, not you. It is best to keep a snake in warmer summer temperatures of 85 to 100 degrees F, unless it cools down to hibernate. Temperate-zone species can tolerate a 30-degree drop in temperature overnight, but tropical species rarely do well to such fluctuations.

· Never, never use your snake to scare someone! Many people are afraid of snakes, some pathologically. Using a snake to scare a person is irresponsible on your part, can cause injury to another person, and is traumatic for the snake.

· Make sure to feed your snake a proper diet at appropriate intervals. Snakes less than 3 feet long should generally be fed prey the size of an adult mouse once or twice a week. Larger snakes take larger or larger prey at less frequent intervals. Really large snakes may eat only once a year, but these are not snakes for beginners.

Do not handle snakes after feeding or until they have digested their meals. If a snake is handled too soon after eating, it is likely to regurgitate food and refuse to feed for many days afterward.

Snakes should shed their skins, but they do much better if you don’t help them. If the snake has been fed and watered well, it will grow, and the snake will carefully break off the old skin and shed it in one piece. If a snake sheds in patches, it may be dehydrated or have a nutritional disorder.

· Do your homework! Buying a snake is not the same as knowing how to care for it properly. It is your responsibility to learn about your snake and any special needs it has in captivity. For example, unless you carefully teach your snake otherwise, many have specialized diets: Garter snakes eat fish and frogs, hognose snakes eat toads, and corn snakes eat small rodents and eggs.

Get a veterinary snake lined up now. Snakes have a slower metabolism than we mammals, so they can show symptoms long after they have a disease. Waiting to find a qualified vet until the snake is sick may be too late.

Clean the snake’s cage when it gets dirty; don’t just wait for Saturday morning to arrive. Use only disinfectants suitable for a snake cage. You can use rubbing alcohol, soap, and specialty products available at your pet store. Do not use chlorine bleach or industrial cleaners such as Ajax or Comet, because their residues are often toxic to snakes. Lysol is particularly dangerous.

Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling your snake or cage accessories. Snakes, like most animals, can harbor dangerous bacteria like Salmonella.

· Okay, now go see your snake and have fun!