Maybe I have a different view because I had snakes from such a young age, but I don't think the species is a big deal as long as you're teaching your son how to handle them and behave around them properly and care for them.
At his age you are going to be doing most of the work anyway and he's going to be mostly standing by and learning (hopefully).
Since I was about 5 me and my dad had:
Corn snakes, Black rat snakes, Ball python, Black mexican king snake, and various other kings, Gopher snake, Pine snakes, Indigo snakes, Garter snakes, Northern water snake, and several more that I can't remember offhand. They all had their own interesting qualities, but I'd have to say my favorite was our mexican king snake. Second favorite our corn snake and third our black rat snake.
I also got to handle and view a lot of species through our breeder, which is really something I recommend if you can find someone in your area that keeps and/or breeds a lot of species (and is of course reputable). That way your son can decide if there's a certain species he really likes. Another good thing to attend if you can find one is a reptile show.
Oh and maybe I'm one of the only ones, but I actually think a corn snake would NOT be the best first snake. I think he would get bored with that pretty quick. Some kind of king snake would be better IMO, they're generally equally docile, and many colors and species to choose from. He may actually decide on one of those over a python if he gets to see how many choices there are.
And this one isn't a snake, but we also had an eastern glass lizard, which are very snake-like. Not something I would recommend if your son wants to handle it a lot, they really do not like being held in the least though they'll learn to tolerate it, but more interactive than a snake, mainly I think because they can actually hear you and learn to listen for your voice.
Ours did enjoy being touched it seemed, as he would crawl over and appear to "ask" for attention, but handling was pretty much off limits.
Not really sure how available glass lizards are at this point as I've not searched for reptiles in quite a long time.
Maybe, but she would probably be equally unimpressed if it came up out of a couch or chair next to her. No matter what kind of snake, if it gets out she's probably gonna find it somewhere unexpected, lol.
At his age you are going to be doing most of the work anyway and he's going to be mostly standing by and learning (hopefully).
Since I was about 5 me and my dad had:
Corn snakes, Black rat snakes, Ball python, Black mexican king snake, and various other kings, Gopher snake, Pine snakes, Indigo snakes, Garter snakes, Northern water snake, and several more that I can't remember offhand. They all had their own interesting qualities, but I'd have to say my favorite was our mexican king snake. Second favorite our corn snake and third our black rat snake.
I also got to handle and view a lot of species through our breeder, which is really something I recommend if you can find someone in your area that keeps and/or breeds a lot of species (and is of course reputable). That way your son can decide if there's a certain species he really likes. Another good thing to attend if you can find one is a reptile show.
Oh and maybe I'm one of the only ones, but I actually think a corn snake would NOT be the best first snake. I think he would get bored with that pretty quick. Some kind of king snake would be better IMO, they're generally equally docile, and many colors and species to choose from. He may actually decide on one of those over a python if he gets to see how many choices there are.
And this one isn't a snake, but we also had an eastern glass lizard, which are very snake-like. Not something I would recommend if your son wants to handle it a lot, they really do not like being held in the least though they'll learn to tolerate it, but more interactive than a snake, mainly I think because they can actually hear you and learn to listen for your voice.
Ours did enjoy being touched it seemed, as he would crawl over and appear to "ask" for attention, but handling was pretty much off limits.
Not really sure how available glass lizards are at this point as I've not searched for reptiles in quite a long time.
Maybe, but she would probably be equally unimpressed if it came up out of a couch or chair next to her. No matter what kind of snake, if it gets out she's probably gonna find it somewhere unexpected, lol.
) rather than bite and are nice heavy bodied yet gentle snakes.
