Temperment experienced?

[DreamDrownedAtHotmail]

i'm looking for a list of snakes that will sit in your hands/arms and not move constantly. i have a bunch of corn snakes, REALLY docile, i can pet their heads and they are fine with it, but only 2 of them will sit still for more than a second.. and even then, only for like 5 seconds. i had a snake that wasn't a corn snake once, i had it since it was hatched, and after a few months, it was calm enough to sit in my hand.. and it sat there for MANY minutes, letting me pet her anywhere i wanted, but she died of parasites/worms... i got the medicine too late. anyway, her sitting still for a while was one of my favorite things about her. it was something i wasn't used to with the corn snakes. i hear that the tame ball pythons sit still pretty well, but what else is there? i've tried google'ing a million combonations of words, like "snake" "sit still" OR "don't move" and a MILLION others, but i havn't had much luck.. so i figured i'd try posting around on a few forums to see what the snake experts think. can anyone give me a list of snakes that will (after being tamed down to docile status) sit still while being handled (even if for a short time)? i'd really appreciate it, i'm trying to find my perfect snake :) thanks for reading this long letter, -Ryan

[MDC_Ophiuchus]

Hmm...well, most colubrids are pretty active and few will sit still for you like you're wanting. Its really more of an individual/personality thing, and not so much species-specific behavior. IN other words, one cornsnake may sit in your lap contently while the next one can't stay still for a second. That said, cornsnakes, kingsnakes, pits (gophers, bulls and pines) and African house snakes are your best bet if you're wanting to stick with colubrids.

As far as boids go, if you're wanting a snake that will sit in your lap while you watch TV, its hard to beat a ball python...or really any of the commonly-available constrictors as well: red-tailed boas, burmese pythons, spotted pythons, childrens pythons, rosy boas, sand boas, etc...

One thing you need to figure out early on is how much space can you devote to a new snake, and then start looking at species within that size range.