Firstly, please note that everything on this site is my opinion only. Although I've tried my hardest to ensure that what I say is correct there may be some mistakes and these could be harmful to your snake. I accept no responsibility for you and your snake if you follow any of my advice and something bad happens. If you see a mistake please email aaron@webbedfeetuk.com and I'll correct it.
All pictures on this page are copyrighted to their respective owners. Many thanks to Charles Willis, Katie Marshall, Joe Nimeskern & Chris King for giving me pictures of their corns for this page. Click on any image to see a larger version.
The corn snake (Elaphe Guttata) is a brightly coloured constricting (non venomous) species of snake found in the eastern United States. Corn snakes are from the family of snakes called "Colubridae", this is the largest family of snakes in the World and contains about 78% of the snake population. Other colubrids include garter snakes, milk snakes and king snakes. Corn snakes live in a whole range of habitats including woods, rocky terrain, road sides and farm land.
The corn snake is also known as a "red rat snake". They have obtained these names because of their diet (largely mice & rats) and their habitat (often near corn fields).
In the wild corn snakes grow to between 3' and 6'. In captivity you can expect a corn to grow to between 4' and 5'. It will take a corn about 3 years to reach their full adult size. They live for about 15-25 years which strongly depends on how well they are looked after.
Corn snakes are an ovipatous species meaning that they lay eggs. A female will typically lay between 10 and 25 eggs in one clutch
In the wild corn snakes feed on mice, rats and sometimes small lizards. They constrict their prey until it suffocates then swallow it whole. In captivity corn snakes usually eat dead mice. These are bought frozen from pet shops and just need to be thawed out and gently heated in warm water before feeding.
Corn snakes are one of the easiest pets to keep, they are tolerant to temperature, don't require live prey, generally stay in good health, don't grow too big, are not venomous, live well in captivity, they don't smell, they don't make much noise, they require little human attention, they don't eat that often, they are not hard to clean, they generally don't bite, they are tame and friendly, they are very cheap to feed, and they come in a variety of different colours.
Just like a puppy or kitten, snakes are for life. They can live for a very long time and will grow in size and appetite. Before buying a snake you should carefully research into it's needs as an adult and only buy it if you are completely sure you'll be able to give it a nice life in captivity. Although corn snakes only grow to around 4' some of the baby snakes in pet shops can become 18' beasts and are not easily given away at this size. You'd need quite a big vivarium and a lot of dedication to keep a snake like that!
If you're still not convinced just look at the pictures of Suzy, surely you can't resist a cute little face like that?
I can personally recommend two pet shops, firstly Reptiles Plus in Southbourne (01202 421117) and secondly Porton Garden Centre in Salisbury (08707 701011). These are both in the South of the UK. Unfortunately I have no experience of other good stores.
Corn snakes come in many different colours mostly made up of bright reds, oranges and yellows. These can be bread in captivity to remove or retain certain pigments providing hundreds of different colours with lots of different patterns.
You can see a very small sample of the colours of corn snakes on this page. I will probably provide further details at a later date.
Every corn snake owner has a favourite colour type, mine is anerythristic (anery). This is the colour type of Suzy. It results in a black and white looking snake that sometimes gets yellow patches around the head (known as a anery type A rather than an anery type B). At the moment I'm unsure whether Suzy is a type A or B, this is because the yellow will not develop until he's a bit older. The reason that Suzy is black and white is that his red and orange pigment has been bread out of him. You can find wild anery's in Florida.
There are many different styles of vivarium for corn snakes. They can be made to look nice, or cheap and cheerful. Providing the snake has its few basic needs met, they'll all be okay.
The vivarium doesn't need to be too large, so long as the snake is comfortable it'll be fine. As a rule of thumb, corn snakes less that 2' need a 10 gallon vivarium and larger corns need a 20 gallon one. This vivarium must be well ventilated, be escape-proof (no holes in which the snake can escape) and the lid must be securely fastened. Corn snakes are good escapologists and can easily push open a lid. Whether the vivarium is glass or plastic, or whether it is top or front opening makes no difference to the snake, it's just personal preference.
Snakes are cold-blooded (ectothermic) meaning that they cannot regulate their own body temperatures themselves. This means that if they are cold, they'll need to move into a warmer place and visa-versa. It is therefore important that your vivarium is the correct temperature for the snake. The way that this is usually achieved is by heating only one end of the tank.
With small and cheap vivariums a heat mat will suffice. This is placed underneath one end of the tank making it warm. The other end will be room temperature.
For larger vivariums you can get a heater (with thermostat) installed at one end of the vivarium. This will achieve a similar effect. The cool end should be between 21 & 25 deg C and the warm end between 29 & 33 deg C.
Unless instructed to do so by an experienced herpetologist, under no circumstances should you place a heater inside the tank. Otherwise your snake may burn himself.
Snakes are nocturnal and so mostly emerge in the evenings. Therefore it is bad for a snake to have continual light, so try to avoid light heaters. Generally speaking usual UK daylight will be fine for the snake, and just placing him in your living room would suffice. It is important not to keep the vivarium in direct sunlight as this will really heat it up and can seriously harm your snake.
Corn snakes often like to hide, so it is good that every vivarium has a hiding place. This should be just big enough for the snake to coil up in. If you can afford it it's good to have two, one on at heated end of the vivarium, and one on the cooler end. This means that your snake will be able to hide and feel secure at all times. If you do not have a hiding place the corn snake can feel stresses, which is bad for its health. Quite often corn snakes will bury themselves in the wood chips (or other material) on the bottom of the vivarium for added security. Typical hiding places are rocks, pieces of bark (but be careful which ones you use), small boxes and small flowerpots. Everything must be sterilised before putting it in the vivarium.
Sometimes corn snakes like to climb, and so having a branch for them to play with can be good. The best wood to use is that from a fruit tree. The branch should be one and a half times thicker than the snake's body and sterilised properly. To do this it is advisable to put the branch in boiling water for 15 minutes or so, clean it off thoroughly, then freeze it for a few days. This will ensure that all of the bugs living in the wood are dead. Corn snakes can react badly to certain kinds of wood, so it's advisable that you check with an expert before adding branches to your vivarium.
If you look at the pictures of Suzy's new vivarium on my pictures page you will notice that there is a rocky backdrop. This is real and hard and, best of all, homemade so anyone can do it. Here's how ...
Firstly I should say that I did not invent this idea, I found it on a web site ages ago, I cannot find the page now, but all credit to the original author. I have modified the process slightly .
You should note that it will take quite a lot of time and is quite messy, but the result is outstanding and impresses everyone.
You will need:
Polystyrene chunks - I used ceiling tiles as they are easily 'stackable'
Polystyrene glue - this must stick polystyrene to the rear of your vivarium (in my case wood). My local hardware store sold ceiling tile glue, it's a white putty that you spread on, it's meant for sticking polystyrene ceiling tiles to the roof - so worked perfect.
A paint brush
A dremmel with a wire brush attachment. A knife will work, but not be as good and take a lot longer.
Tile cement - this is a fine black powder that comes in sacks like building cement. You mix with water and it sets hard and dark grey.
A vacuum cleaner
Patience - this may take a while and is quite messy
Make sure the back surface of your vivarium is clean and dry, then get your polystyrene and cover the whole surface, it is important not to have any gaps. What I did is use the polystyrene ceiling tiles as these can be cut to the size of my vivarium, and glued in with the polystyrene glue. You can then build up layers using more glue and polystyrene. When you have a basic base layer (about 1" deep), you can add more layers in certain areas, trying to add the protruding areas of rock. I had several varying from 1/2" to 2" When you have created your base leave a week or so to dry.
Next you need to form the rocky look. Some people recommend chemicals or heat to dissolve or melt the plastic, but I found this very tricky and it gave bad results, especially as the glue between the polystyrene didn't dissolve or melt that easy making ridges. What I did is put a wire brush attachment on a dremmel, go outside in the fresh air and gently ensure that all of the protruding rock areas were smooth. It is a good idea to wear goggles at this stage as stuff goes everywhere. When you have made everything smooth, try and make it 'irregular' by adding pits all over the polystyrene. These should vary in shape and size, and even eroding the base works well. You are trying to make it look natural, so it should be as random as possible. Spend an hour or so to do this properly. Don't worry about weak or thin bits, you can strengthen them later.
When done, vacuum all over, rub lightly with a very damp cloth, vacuum again to remove any dust and loose bits.
You can then mix tile cement, you want it slightly thinner than the consistency of toothpaste. Coat the whole backdrop, don't worry if you knock little bits of polystyrene off, these will be hidden later. Coat the whole surface, then wait a couple of days to dry.
With the second coat, make the cement a bit thicker, like toothpaste, and be sure to cover all of the white bits that were missed in the original coat. Cover the whole surface and wait to dry for a few days.
With the final coat, go back to the runnier consistency, go over the whole area hiding any white speckles, make sure you go in all gaps, and at the end dap the whole area to ensure that there are no brush strokes. It should look rough.
Wait to dry, clean with a damp cloth, varnish your vivarium if you need to (only with yacht varnish - and leave several weeks to a couple of months to dry until the odour has completely gone) and hey presto - a great looking vivarium.
Your snake can now climb and hide on the back, and it looks great for us too.
Corn snakes need water, so your vivarium will need a water bowl. This should be cleaned every day or so as corn snakes often crap in it. This should be placed on the cool end of the tank and not over the heater.
There are many different kinds of material that you can put on the bottom of your vivarium including sheets of paper, shredded paper, astroturf and bark. Your local pet shop should have a wide range of these and it is important that you don't go sticking anything in there. Always seek advice first. Personally I use woodchips that I get from the pet shop. This I put about an inch deep (allowing Suzy to bury himself) and I change it weekly. If you buy a natural product it is important to sterilise it first to kill and mites that may harm your snake. I do this by putting the bag in the freezer for a few days before getting it back to room temperature then adding to the vivarium. Under no circumstances should you use sand in your vivarium, this is bad for your snake. Also, snakes react badly to certain kinds of woods such as Cedar (and a lot of people discourage the use of Pine also), so be careful! The most popular substrate seems to be Aspen, a very fine wood shaving which you can buy from pet shops.
Although many corn snakes can be housed together, most breeders do not recommend it! Snakes can stress each other out which can seriously damage their health. Also, if a female gets pregnant too early it can be fatal. If you do house snakes together, I'd recommend seeking professional advice first!
You shouldn't feed snakes in the same vivarium, snakes find it hard to release food from their jaws after they have bitten it, if one snake grabs one end of a mouse, and the another snake grabs the other, they're gonna have a bad time!
Try and place the vivarium somewhere light yet not somewhere that is always busy. If you placed it in a hallway, for example, the people continually moving about may freak your snake out. Direct sunlight is also very bad as it could get dangerously hot in the vivarium.
In captivity corn snakes usually eat mice. These can be bought from pet shops frozen. They should be heated in warm water until they are at about body temperature throughout.
The mouse should then be presented to the snake (I'd recommend using cocktail sticks or something then the snake wont associate your scent with food) and he'll usually strike at it and then swallow it hole. To see Suzy feeding please look at my videos. This is great to watch.
Remember to wash your hands after handling the mice, not only for hygiene, but otherwise your snake may think your hand is food and bite you.
You must also be careful that the snake doesn't it's substrate, this could be very serious. For this reason many herpetologists feed snakes outside of their vivarium.
Snakes usually eat once every 4 to 7 days. As a rule of thumb they shouldn't eat something one and a half times larger than the largest part of their body. It is important not to overfeed a snake as this will shorten it's life time and can lead to bad health. When you get a baby snake you start by feeding it one pinkie (very small mouse) every week, then, as he grows you either feed him two, once a week or one, twice a week. When he is big enough you can move onto different sizes of mice. You should ask your pet shop for more advice. My pinkies cost 35 pence each, and larger mice are up to 75 pence each. You shouldn't ever need to spend more than £1 per week on feeding your snake.
If a snake is too hot, too cold, feeling ill, stressed or about to shed its skin it will not feed. This is normal behaviour and snakes can go weeks without food (although it's not recommended). To try and make your snake feed you can warm your mice up a little more, and pierce the skin so that the snake can smell the blood and brains. You can also try moving the mouse in front of the snake so that it strikes for it. Never leave a mouse in your vivarium for more than 12 hours as it will go off and could harm your snake. If your snake will not feed seek advice from your local pet store.
Corn snakes are very tame and hardly ever bite, but if they do it is important to override your instincts and not to move your hand away quickly. This could break your snake's teeth and do it serious damage. After a few seconds he may let go, if not try putting his head (gently) in his water bowl, he'll need to let go to breath! If you do this be very careful not to drown him.
Snakes have two kinds of bite, one for feeding and one for attack/defence. Providing you do not smell of its food, a corn snake should hardly ever bite you with a "feeding" bite. These are deeper and harder than usual ones and will hurt more. If the snake doesn't let go he'll move his jaw and try and eat you, it is important that you gently remove yourself before he starts trying to swallow you. Before biting you in an attack/defence way a corn snake will usually coil up and be ready to pounce, he may rattle his tale like a rattlesnake. This usually only happens if he is very scared or threatened.
If you are bitten don't be put off and keep handling your corn snake. This way it will learn that you are not a threat and are not food and should stop biting in the future.
As corn snakes are not venomous all you need to do with their bites is wash and disinfect the wound.
In order to grow, corn snakes need to shed their skin. Baby corns may shed every few weeks, whilst adult corns only do it 3 or 4 times a year. Before shedding (ecdysis) occurs the snake will get blueish eyes, this is because they shed the skin on their eyes too. Your snake may stop feeding, become irritable, stay in his hiding place and not be its usual self. About three days after its eyes start to clear the snake will shed its skin by breaking it at the nose and then rubbing against things to peel it pack. It will take about 15 minutes to complete and the sin will be left inside-out in the vivarium. The snake will then look much more colourful and be its usual self once more.
By measuring the shed skins you can monitor the rate of growth of snakes, but you should be aware that the skin stretches slightly as it comes off.
As soon as the skin is removed you should remove it from the vivarium (to stop it smelling) and check that the skins on the snake's eyes has shed as well as the end of the tail. If this hasn't happened seek advice from your local pet store.
During the shedding process it helps if you increase the humidity of your vivarium slightly. To do this put another water bowl on the warmer end of the tank.
To determine the sex of your corn snake you should take it to a professional and get them to probe it. But, especially with small snakes, this can be dangerous.
There is a way that you can tell the sex of a corn yourself by examining the shed skin. Firstly find the vent hole (the bum) which is near the end of the tail. Just below the vent hole the scales will divide into two channels rather than one. If you count all of these scales carefully you can have a good idea of the sex of your corn.
If there are more than 140 scales between the vent hole and the tail, the snake is probably a male. If there are less than 130 it's probably a female and if it's 130 - 140 this method will not work.
This is only a guide and shouldn't really be used if you are breeding your corn snakes.
This must be every herpetologist's worse nightmare, losing your snake. But there are a few things to remember. The snake will try and hide somewhere warm and cosy, it will venture out at night, it will usually stick to the walls of rooms and it still gets hungry.
Tips to find your corn include laying traps. Put noisy paper bags around the walls of your rooms, then sit in them in the dark (silently) around 9 or 10 pm and listen. You can also try putting a dead mouse (try and squeeze some blood out too) somewhere on the floor, and perhaps put a hiding place right next to it, with any luck the snake will get hungry, eat, then sleep. You can also put talcum powder in places (like door openings) so you'll be able to determine which way your snake is moving.
Try not to worry, if it's cold outside your snake will try and stay inside. Check places like bathrooms, airing cupboards, and the room in which it's vivarium is. As well as warm places they also like humidity, so around water would be common.
Snakes have been known to disappear for 2 months at a time, and return without reason, they have been know to even end up inside computers (it's warm and dark).
For further tips follow some of my snake links
Unfortunately I know very little about hibernation or breeding as I'm probably not going to hibernate Suzy and have never reproduced snakes. But there are a lot of good references on my snake links page.
Breeders often classify their snakes in a numerical format such as 1.2.0, 3.0 or 1.0.0. The first number represents the number of male snakes they own, the second the number of female snakes, and the third (which is not always displayed) is the number of unsexed snakes.
For example someone with 2 female and 1 male anerythristic corn snakes as well as 1 unsexed "candy cane" snake may write:
1.2 Anery
0.0.1 Candy Cane
As I have only one male snake I would classify my collection as:
As corn snakes are tame they can be handled often. Many adults are known to sit on their owner's laps whilst they watch television, climb all over their head, or just curl up under a pillow on the sofa. To do this however they need to be handled from young and need to learn that their owners are not going to hurt them.
If you get a new corn snake you should leave it for 4 or 5 days to settle, otherwise it may associate the stress of moving with you, not good. Then you should handle it for short periods (5 mins) every few days. Try not to handle it too often at first. Although you shouldn't move quickly, you also shouldn't poke the snake or hover round it. If you do this it will think that you are a predator assessing its prey. Just put your hand in and pick it up as if it were plastic.
Try and support the whole snake (head to tail) and do not drop it. It is also better to lift the snake up from beneath and not to grab it, let it climb on you rather than you picking it up. Always be gentle and if the snake is having a bad day, leave it alone.
You must also not pick a snake up for 24 (or preferably 48) hours after feeding, or when it is about to shed. This will just annoy it.
When your snake is young and is first handled it will be scared, so it is up to you to let him settle before picking him up again. With time it will get used to you and your scent and will not be as scared. The older and more tame it becomes, the more you can handle it. This process will take time but is essential for taming your corns.
Corn snakes are usually very healthy, yet if they are ill the symptoms may be hard to diagnose. If you believe you snake to be ill, try taking him to a trained herpetologist rather than a vet. Although vets are very good at what they do, very few of them have the experience of a good herpetologist. The store where you purchase you snake would be a good place to start.
Generally speaking, a healthy snake will have a good appetite, if a snake is too hot, too cold or too stressed it will usually stop feeding. However there are a few other pointers that may be of use:
It is usual for a corn snake to remain coiled up in his hiding place for days at a time, corn snakes are secretive and find these sorts of places cosy. This is especially common before shedding. This is usual for a healthy snake.
If a snake loses its colour, and gets blueish eyes, this usually means that it is about to shed its skin. This is also natural.
Snakes shouldn't be wheezing or sneezing. Only one of their lungs work properly and is this is having problems it could be fatal.
There should nothing coming from the snakes mouth or nose, and the throat should not be "puffy" This includes leaking fluid, or a substance resembling cheese.
A snake is generally too thin if you can see its ribs.
The snake should have no open wounds or discoloured scales.
The snake should have no bits of unshed skin, including the eyeballs.
If you pick up a corn snake it shouldn't be limp.
The snake should not have a kinked spine.
A snake shouldn't have ticks or mites
If you require further advice about corn snakes and their keeping, or think something on this page is missing or incorrect, please do not hesitate in emailing aaron@webbedfeetuk.com
Before taking any advice it is good to check with a variety of sources. Further information on most of the above topics can be obtained by following the links on my snake links page.