simple fix to that problem... dont let the baby near the snake
I've lost count of how many "HELP!!! My snake escaped! Help me find it!" threads I've seen over the years.
I spent about 20 years keeping deadly snakes but I likely won't ever do it again because if I get them now I'll want to hang on to them for about 10 years and I plan to have kids before then.
Wouldn’t recommend a Pygmy to a first time keepers.
Much more delicate species and can be very troublesome feeders.
Stimsons are probably the next smallest (and best looking imo). Usually don’t exceed 1-1.2m.
Children’s are probably the cheapest of the lot but more plain in colour. Similar size the Stimsons. Maybe a touch larger- but it would really come down to each individuals
Spotteds are the largest of the group- 1.5m usually. Bit heavier in the body.
ANY animal- be it a dog, cat, mouse, snake... whatever can cause significant harm to young children. NEVER leave them unsupervised and keep an extremely close eye on any and all interactions.
I don’t even know why your niece would come into the picture- she won’t be doing any handling or care of the animal whatsoever- I’d go as far to say that interactions between her and any pets should be little to none.
I don’t care if you have the “sweetest [whatever pet]”- they are all animals and can be unpredictable at times. If you’re not willing to a cope a bite, don’t get an animal. Young children don’t know how to behave around animals either which brings a whole new element of danger there
A 5' Spotted is huge. They very rarely hit 5'.
Price is more or less irrelevant these days; any of them can be purchased for a trivial amount of money unless you're after fancy morphs.
To say a mouse or small snake or "ANY" animal can cause significant harm to young children is just silly. I played with all sorts of animals when I was a young child, I'll let my kids do the same, and when they're young enough to need supervision when interacting with small snakes it's for the snake's safety.
If you don't know why the niece would come into it you probably should stick to reading rather than posting. People have irrational fears, which, while irrational, do exist and need to be addressed, and as I said above, I couldn't even start to count the number of "Oh, ****, my snake escaped, please help!" threads I've seen. The young kid will also be 1, 2, 3 years old in the near future, and kids get into things, which is why I probably won't be keeping deadly snakes any more, despite having no intention of deliberately putting them into contact with those snakes until they're much older. As a toddler I was really good at getting into stuff. These small snakes pose no danger, but it is still a fair enough question to ask, concern to have, and we can explain the situation appropriately.
