LETTER:Snakes with a suitable diet

From Mr Paul Whiteman

Sir: Chris Moncrieff (Letters, 31 May) could do a lot worse than choose a snake as a first pet, but I would suggest a corn snake would be ideal, rather than a boa constrictor.

Three years ago, we bought a hatchling corn snake (nominally for the children) and, having been impressed with how little trouble it is to keep, I bought my wife the other half of a breeding pair as a birthday present.

There are many advantages to keeping snakes in general, and corn snakes in particular. Corn snakes make no noise at all, have to be fed only once a week, do not bite at all, are very amenable when being handled, go into semi-hibernation for three months in the winter and live and breed quite happily in a relatively small vivarium in the kitchen for the rest of the year.

Our female has just laid 20 fertile eggs and sale of the hatchlings should pay for all the food and equipment needed throughout the year. The other attraction for Mr Moncrieff, who was attacked by a gerbil, is that they eat rodents.

Yours faithfully,

PAUL WHITEMAN

Hinckley, Leicestershire

31 May