Vivarium 90x45x45cm (36x18x18in) min; 120cm for large females
Social needs
Solitary; house singly
Diet
Carnivore (frozen-thawed mice)
Time
Low; feed every 10-14 days, spot-clean
Cost
Low
Overview
The African house snake is a glossy brown-to-black lamprophiid from sub-Saharan Africa, named for its habit of hunting rodents in and around human dwellings.
It is not a colubrid like the corn snake or kingsnake, though it fills the same easy-keeper role, and its scales throw a subtle rainbow iridescence under bright light.
A pale stripe through each eye is its most recognisable field mark.
Size dimorphism is dramatic in this species, with males topping out around 60-90cm while females reach 90-135cm, so know the sex of the animal you are buying.
Its defining trait as a captive is an almost mechanical feeding response, and it takes frozen-thawed prey with a reliability that ball pythons simply cannot match.
Captive-bred animals are inexpensive, widely available, and live 15-20 years.
This is arguably the best first snake that most beginners have never heard of.
It stays around corn-snake size or smaller, needs no special humidity regime, and forgives the minor temperature wobbles that panic new keepers.
Housing
House an adult in a vivarium of at least 90x45x45cm (36x18x18in), and treat that as a floor, not a target, because these are active nocturnal foragers that use every inch at night.
A large adult female, which can approach 135cm, does better in a 120x60x45cm (48x24x18in) enclosure, and the extra room costs little once you commit.
Never cohabit house snakes, as they are opportunistic snake-eaters and a larger female can and will consume a smaller cage-mate.
Provide a warm-side surface temperature of 31-32C (88-90F) under a thermostat-controlled heat mat or low-wattage overhead, with a cool side of 22-24C (72-75F) and a night-time drop to around 20-22C that this species tolerates well.
UVB is not required for a nocturnal snake like this, but a low-output 2-5% (Ferguson zone 1) tube is a reasonable modern addition and does no harm.
Ambient humidity of 40-60% is fine in most homes, with a moss-filled humid hide added during shed rather than misting the whole enclosure.
Give at least two snug hides, a water bowl, aspen or coco substrate 5cm deep, and some low branches, which they genuinely climb after dark.
Escape-proofing is the part keepers most often get wrong with this species.
House snakes have slim heads, real strength for their size, and a talent for finding the one loose vent or sliding-glass gap, so use locking lids or wedges and check every seam before the first night.
Diet
Feed frozen-thawed mice no wider than the snake's body at its thickest point.
Hatchlings take a pinky mouse every 5-7 days, growing juveniles a fuzzy or hopper weekly, and adults an appropriately sized adult mouse every 10-14 days.
Large females handle adult mice easily, while small males may stay on hoppers for life.
The famous appetite is also the trap, because a house snake will act starving at every opportunity and strike at almost anything warm.
Obesity from sympathetic overfeeding is the single most common husbandry failure in this species, so feed to a schedule and body condition, not to the begging.
A healthy house snake is firm and gently rounded, with no visible spine but also no skin folds or segmented, bready look.
Always offer food with long tongs, never fingers, and never feed live rodents, which this species does not need and which can injure it.
Fresh water must be available at all times, and expect the snake to soak occasionally before a shed.
Health
This is a robustly hardy species with few inherent problems when kept warm, dry-ish, and appropriately fed.
The realistic health risks are obesity from overfeeding, stuck shed when no humid hide is offered, and the standard quarantine issues of mites or respiratory infection in newly acquired animals.
Quarantine any new snake for 8-12 weeks away from other reptiles.
Females carry one species-specific caveat, as they are prolific layers and can produce clutches of infertile eggs, called slugs, even when they have never met a male.
Provide a mature female with a lay box of damp sphagnum and good body condition year-round, and see an exotics vet promptly if she strains, swells, or stops feeding for weeks, since egg-binding is an emergency.
Repeated laying also drains calcium and body mass, so let a well-used female regain weight before assuming her slim state is normal.
Wheezing, open-mouth breathing, or bubbly mucus means the enclosure is too cool or too damp and the snake needs a vet, not a wait-and-see period.
Locate an exotics-competent vet before you buy, and budget for a 15-20 year relationship with them.
Temperament
Adult house snakes are calm, deliberate handlers that rarely bite defensively and almost never musk, which puts them among the most pleasant small snakes to hold.
They are nocturnal, so evening handling suits their rhythm, and one or two short sessions a week keeps them settled without stressing them.
Do not handle for 48 hours after a meal.
Hatchlings are a different animal, being tiny, flighty, and prone to treating everything that moves as either a threat or a mouse.
This stage passes within months of regular gentle handling, and buyers should treat early nippiness as normal rather than a fault.
The bites of even a large adult are trivial and bloodless.
The one behavioural quirk to manage is the feeding response, because a hand that smells of rodent, or simply appears at feeding time, may be struck at enthusiastically.
Tap-train by touching the snake gently with a hook or paper-towel roll before non-feeding interactions, and open the enclosure with tongs in hand on feeding days.
This is a food-motivated mistake, not aggression, and it is entirely preventable with routine.
A good fit for
First-time snake keepers who want feeding to just work
People put off by ball python fasting stories
Keepers with limited space for a full-size vivarium
Budget-conscious keepers, as snake and setup are cheap
Those wanting a modestly-sized snake, not a large python
Common mistakes to avoid
Overfeeding, because they act starving at every meal
Escapes through tiny gaps; lock every lid and vent
Feeding-response strikes; tap-train and use tongs
Never cohabit, as they readily eat other snakes
Females can lay infertile clutches and risk egg-binding
Most snake worry is about feeding, and most feeding worry is misplaced. Check the guide for this species' normal fast before treating a refusal as illness.
Go now
Open-mouth breathing, bubbles at the nostrils, or an audible whistleGo now. Respiratory infection. Snakes have one functional lung and little reserve.
Now
Cannot right itself, or holds the head and neck in an unnatural twistGo now. Neurological signs are always urgent in a snake.
Now
Today
A regurgitated mealDo not offer food again for at least a fortnight. Check the warm-end temperature today, then call if it happens twice. Usually too cold, handled too soon, or a meal too large. Repeated regurgitation is a different and more serious problem.
Today
Retained eyecaps after a shed, or a ring of stuck shed on the tail tipRaise humidity and provide a damp hide. Call if it is not resolved within a day. Almost always humidity that was too low during the blue phase. A constricting ring costs the tail tip.
Today
Soon
Refusing food for longer than is normal for this speciesLog the refusal and check the species guide. For an adult ball python, a fast of about a month is not in itself a cause for concern, and much longer voluntary fasts are documented. Weigh weekly through it. The weight trend, not the calendar, is what tells you whether a fast matters.
Log it first
This is general guidance for a healthy adult, not a diagnosis. An exotics vet who knows your animal always overrides it — and the time to find one is before you need one.
Can a african house snake eat that?
Reptile diets split hard by species. An insectivore and a grazing tortoise share almost nothing, so check the species guide as well as this list.
Never (15)
AlcoholNo safe amount at any body weight on this site.
never
AvocadoPersin. Fatal to many reptiles.
never
CaffeineCoffee, tea and energy drinks. Cardiac and neurological toxicity at tiny doses for an animal this size.
never
ChocolateTheobromine and caffeine. Small mammals and reptiles cannot clear either.
never
CitrusToo acidic, and it interferes with calcium absorption.
never
Dog or cat foodProtein and vitamin D levels formulated for a mammal. In tortoises it causes irreversible kidney and shell damage.
never
FirefliesLucibufagins. A single firefly has killed adult lizards. This is the most dangerous item on any reptile list and it is the one keepers do not know about.
never
Fish caught from the wildThiaminase and parasite risk for turtles and aquatic species.
never
GarlicSame allium toxicity as onion, and more concentrated by weight.
never
Iceberg lettuceWater with no nutrition. It fills a reptile up in place of food that would have done something.
never
LeekAllium family. Same mechanism as onion and garlic.
never
OnionOrganosulphur compounds damage red blood cells. The whole allium family is out.
never
RhubarbOxalate load high enough to cause acute kidney injury.
never
Salty or seasoned human foodSalt, oil and seasoning. Crisps, chips, seasoned leftovers and processed meat are all out.
never
Wild-caught insectsPesticide residue and parasites, and the identification risk. Captive-bred feeders only.
never
Rare treats (1)
WaxwormsVery fatty. Useful for a underweight animal or for medicating, addictive otherwise. One or two, rarely.
rare treat
Occasional (5)
Bell pepperSafe, low oxalate, and the colour gets a refuser eating. A few small pieces a few times a week.
occasional
Butternut squashWell tolerated and a useful source of vitamin A precursors. Small cubes a few times a week.
occasional
KaleGood calcium, mild goitrogen. Rotate it. Twice a week.
occasional
MealwormsHard chitin shell and a poor calcium ratio. Fine as part of a varied feed, poor as the whole diet. A few, alongside better feeders.
occasional
SpinachOxalates bind dietary calcium, which is the last thing a reptile at risk of metabolic bone disease needs. A very small amount, rarely.
occasional
Everyday foods (6)
Black soldier fly larvaeUnusually high in calcium; one of the few feeders that does not need dusting. Several per feed.
everyday food
Collard greensOne of the best staple greens for herbivorous and omnivorous reptiles. Daily.
everyday food
CricketsA standard feeder. Gut-load them for 24 hours before offering, or you are feeding an empty shell. Sized no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.
everyday food
Dandelion greensExcellent calcium-to-phosphorus ratio and readily taken. Pick away from sprayed ground. Daily, for herbivorous species.
everyday food
Dubia roachesBetter calcium ratio and more meat per insect than crickets, and they cannot climb glass. Sized to the animal.
everyday food
Mustard greensGood calcium ratio; rotate with other greens. Several times a week.
everyday food
That food is not on our list. Reptile diets are narrower than they look — check the species guide, and ask an exotics vet before offering anything unfamiliar.
Dust feeders with a calcium supplement to the schedule in the species guide. A reptile can be eating well and still be starving of calcium.
Setup, monthly, first year and across a whole life, itemised and with the electricity worked out from the actual wattage. Published figures for the same animal disagree by a factor of four, so the calculator shows ranges rather than picking one.
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