How to Budget for a Pet Snake

Snake love couple hug sketch vector illustration. Snake love couple hug sketch engraving vector illustration. T-shirt apparel print design. Scratch board style. WHEN YOU DRAW YOUR SNAKE IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU INCLUDE A YELLOW DOT AT THE FRONT. THIS WILL BE USED AS A SENSOR Step 2: controlling the snake You need to be able to control the snake using the up, down, left and right buttons. The snake must move automatically, as this will make it more similar to the real game. Function used to translate grid coordinates into Scratch screen positions. This function appears in the scripts of sprites that are positioned on the grid such as the snake and apple. The function accepts 2 paramters: gridX and gridY. These are the X and Y coordinates of the snake grid that the object should move to. Typically, snakes need a lot of heat and some may also require humidity. You can heat your snake’s enclosure using lamps, heaters, mats or even rocks. These items may cost anywhere from $20 to $50 at the pet store. Don’t forget to budget for the monthly electricity expense that these items represent. Snake Bedding Costs. As part of the exhibition “Hamster Hipster Handy” we have reprogrammed the mobile game classic “Snake” in a workshop called “Scratch the Snake”. For this the Programming-Basics-Team taught basic understanding of the logic and structure of the game, so participants could playfully learn how to use the graphical programming environment and implement the programming independently.

by Janine DeVault - 7/10/19

When planning to purchase a snake, it’s easy to become fixated on the price of buying one. In reality, the true cost of owning a snake consists of much more than your initial investment. Once you have a snake, you have to feed it, house it, pay its veterinary bills and arrange to cover any other associated expenses. So, how much does a snake cost, really?

This article will reveal some of the most common expenses associated with snake ownership to help you determine whether you’re financially equipped to care for one of these reptiles. As you learn about the expenses associated with caring for a snake, you can begin estimating the monthly cost of maintaining this type of pet.

How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Snake?

The cost to purchase a snake varies depending on the breed. Some breeds of snake are rare and in high demand, which can drive up the purchase price, while others are common, keeping the cost low.

Corn snakes and ball pythons, two of the most inexpensive snakes, can be purchased for as low as $20, simply because they’re common. However, there are certain color variations within these breeds that are rare, meaning those snakes can command higher prices — into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The popular boa constrictor often sells for slightly more, though still under $100 — but, again, rare colors or patterns can drive prices well into the thousands.

Before purchasing a snake, spend some time researching the standard price bracket for the species you are interested in. But remember, just because the initial investment is low, doesn’t necessarily mean that maintaining the creature will be inexpensive. There are still other factors to consider.

Snake Housing Expenses

One of the biggest factors in how much a snake costs is surely the cost of housing him. Not only will you need to purchase an enclosure for your snake, but you’ll also need to place suitable bedding inside and ensure it provides the optimal climate for his species.

How Much Does a Snake Terrarium Cost?

When purchasing a snake, be sure to research how big he will grow —you will need to purchase an enclosure that is large enough. Naturally, the larger the enclosure, the more it will cost. You may wish to first purchase a small terrarium and upgrade to a larger one as your snake grows, but this ultimately creates an added expense, as you will have to purchase multiple terrariums over your snake’s life, rather than just one.

Glass terrariums cost more than plastic ones, but they may also provide a better habitat for your snake. It may be tempting to cut costs here, but don’t forget to weigh the pros and cons of each type of terrarium, as there may be negative repercussions on your snake’s comfort.

Heating Expenses

Once you choose a terrarium for your snake, you need to orchestrate the ideal climate for your snake. Typically, snakes need a lot of heat and some may also require humidity. You can heat your snake’s enclosure using lamps, heaters, mats or even rocks. These items may cost anywhere from $20 to $50 at the pet store. Don’t forget to budget for the monthly electricity expense that these items represent.

Snake Bedding Costs

Comfortable bedding, also known as substrate, will help create a comfortable, safe environment for your snake. There are a myriad of options when it comes to choosing substrate for your snake. Before committing to a certain substrate for your snake, be sure to research the ideal option for your snake’s breed. You can opt for newspaper, sand, coconut fiber or even mulch, among other options. Prices vary for each type of bedding, falling anywhere between $8 and $20 per bag. Of course, the amount you will need depends on the size of your snake’s terrarium.

You will have to replace your snake’s substrate periodically, as it will become dirty over time. As you begin budgeting how much a snake costs, plan to invest in new bedding each month, just to be on the safe side.

Snake Feeding Costs

Fortunately for your budget, feeding a snake is usually inexpensive, though, it will depend largely on the size of your snake. They usually eat rodents such as mice or rats, but a very large snake may eat a rabbit or guinea pig. You can purchase these animals at your local pet store either live or frozen. Frozen mice tend to cost approximately $2 each.

Snakes don’t need to be fed very frequently but they will eat more often when they are younger. When creating your budget, plan to feed your snake twice per week at most, though he will likely only eat once per week.

It’s difficult to say how much a snake costs without knowing exactly which breed of snake you will purchase. As with any pet, owning a snake has a large initial investment, as you must purchase a large number of accessories. In addition to the expenses covered above, you should set aside a small amount of money each month to cover any veterinary expenses that arise. If you find yourself in a bind when it comes to covering your snake’s medical expenses, consider using Scratchpay to break the cost into manageable monthly payments.

Janine DeVault is a pet care writer, animal rescue advocate and former celebrity dog walker. She lives in Mexico with her three rescue pets: Maia, Fozzy and Kesi.

References

This step by step tutorial will demonstrate how to re-create “Space Invaders” using the online version of Scratch.

The Spaceship/Rocket Sprite

Next, we will delete the Cat sprite and create a new Rocket sprite:
We will also resize our Rocketship sprite to 35% of its original size:

The rocketship sprite has 5 costumes but costume 5 is bigger than the other 4 costumes, so we will delete costume 5:

Let’s start coding

Using the Rocketship sprite, let’s add some code.

First we will make sure the “Stars” backdrop is always displayed when the game starts:

Now let’s animate the Rocketship sprite:

Controlling the Rocket ship using the left and right arrow keys

The rocket ship is positioned at the bottom of the screen. The user should be able to slide the rocket ship horizontally to the left or the right using the arrow keys.

The Invader Sprite

Let’s add a new sprite using the “Gobo” sprite from the scratch library:
We will then resize our invader sprite to 40% of its original size:

Let’s add some code to our invader sprite to position and animate the sprite:

Now let’s add some code to make the invader move across the screen. Everytime the sprite reach the edge, it should drop down closer to the rocket ship and change direction (left/right movement).

Adding a Game Over Screen

The games ends when an invader hits the rocket. To implement this we will first need design a Game Over screen/backdrop:

Then we will add some code to our Invader sprite to detect when the invader is touching the rocket ship.

Adding a score variable

Let’s make a new variable called score. We will use this variable to score 1 point when the laser beam hits an invader. To do so we will need to go to the variable section:
Then you will click on the “Make a Variable button”.
Give a name to your variable: score and tick the option “For all sprites”
Make sure your variable is visible (Tick the checkbox next to the variable itself):
Using our Rocket ship sprite we will edit our code as follows to reset the score to 0 when the game starts:

Then we will add some code to our invader sprite:

Let’s add some more invaders

Play Snake Online Full Screen

We will duplicate our invader sprite 10 times:

All we have to do now is re-position each invader sprite one at a time by changing their x and y coordinates in the code:

We now have a fully working game!

Snake Scratching Head