Help me with pine/gopher/other species temperment

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

You best bet is a ball python - famous for sitting still, and doing absolutely nothing.

I dunno, Jim, sounds like a rubber boa might be the way to go....not the live ones, the ones made of rubber. They sit still better than most other kinds of snakes

heh. a fake snake would somehow not be as fun and rewarding to hold though, i'd imagine :> kinda like sitting on a plastic horse, compared to sitting on a real horse that is just ok with standing still. just knowing it's alive and Can run, but chooses not to because it is comfortable with you, would be a great feeling i'd bet.

I guess, if that's what you're into...me, I'd get pretty bored, pretty quick, with a horse that just stood there.
Anyway, glad you didn't get upset by the joke...hope you find a snake that just sits still

yeah, i guess i'd get bored of one that JUST sat there ALL the time.. but once in a while for just a few minutes would be nice atleast.. most of my corns are CONSTANTLY on the move.. i have a few that move for 5-10 minutes, then sit for 1-2 once they're "comfy", then move again.. just a tiny joy that makes me feel the illusion of a bond between the snake and i, and i don't hear many people talk about it. i'd like a horse that was capable of running like the wind, but once in a while would just sit still and bond with me to look at the scenery, then we could run again. weird taht i picked that as an analogy though, since i've never even touched a horse, let alone took a ride on one, heh. think i'll get a ball python, they're pretty common and have a LOT of available care sheets/info and plenty of experts to talk to.. plus they're heads just look pretty ba-dass, all viper-ish and cool with thier heat sensors.. yeah, i'll check them out. thanks.

oh, and no problem about the joke.. we're all adults here, we can handle being the butt of a joke once in a while.. fun's fun. :> and anyway, it's hard to get mad at a fellow hobbiest. when i think about it, we ALL have atleast ONE thing in common.. we're all here to enjoy a hobby. plus, it would suck if we couldn't joke around every now and then... tension would build up, people would get snappy and new people would be shunned away from the hobby and snake prices would go up, making it harder for us to buy the snakes we want, the world would go into chaos! ...and besides, business gets dull without fun and play

You will come closer to that boring goal with some of the boas and pythons, but few colubrids are like that unless they are sick or too cold (which means they will get sick). Handle your colubrids more, and they will get more calm, but they are always going to be more active and curious.
KJ

weird... alot of people have unexpectedly given that type of response (they don't want a snake that'll EVER sit still for even just a minute or two before it goes back to exploring).. i don't want one that'll just sit there forever, but it would be nice if one would sit still for a minute inbetween exploration periods of 10 minutes or so. i thought having a snake move for a while, then take a few minute break, then move for a while again, would be a true sign of trust from the snake, letting me know it feels safe enough in my hands to take a break for a minute from exploring, and i thought people would appreciate and desire to have a snake eventually trust them enough to sit still for a minute, then go back to exploring. i'm kind of new to the snake world, and that's the first question that i've actually had alot of trouble looking up on my own on the internet or library, so thanks for any/all info. i'll be able to do more in depth research on those pythons/boas now that i know they may get to the point where they could trust me enough to sit still every once in a while. even though that trust may just be an illusion, it's still nice to think that we've accepted eachother in a bond of some sort. and thanks for everyone's help with this weird question of mine.

Most of my snakes are pretty calm, and the ones that I usually will sit and chill out with the most are my northern pines, black pine, some of my bulls, and graybanded kingsnakes. All of my snakes are pretty good about not spazzing out when being handled, but after much thought, those mentioned are the ones that I hold that I know will usually always be calm and collect on my arm.

You do have to remember that each snake is an individual as well. There are exceptions to all different kinds.