Corn Snakes (1)

Corn Snakes
(Elaphe Guttata Guttata)
Written by:Bry


CHARACTERISTICS

Corn snakes, also known as red rat snakes are generally calm and good-natured snakes.
They can be somewhat nervous, and jumpy.
But, they will rarely strike unless cornered.
Corns are medium-sized non-venomous snakes that subdue and kill their prey by constriction.
They are mainly nocturnal snakes, preferring to be most active at dusk and early evening.

DESCRIPTION & LIFE SPAN

Normal corn snakes are a reddish-brown snake w/ red dorsal blotches outlined w/ black along their spine.
Due to large breeding volumes in captivity, corn snakes come in all colors and patterns.
Normals are not often seen in captivity because they're usually seen as "ugly".
Certain localities vary in their colorations.
For example, Okeetee locality corn snakes are generally bright orange with red blotches outlined w/ black.
Okeetees are generally considered the most beautiful naturally-colored corn snakes.
Another locality is the Miami phase corn snake.
These are generally light to dark gray w/ orange blotches w/ a thin black outline.
Corn snakes are slender snakes which average 4-5' in length, with males often reaching the higher end of the spectrum than females.
Under optimal conditions, corns can live at least 15-20 years in captivity.

DIFFICULTY

Corn snakes are easy-to-keep snakes that are forgiving in keeper mistakes.
Many agree that corns are the best choice for beginning reptile/snake keepers.
However, corns are escape artists, as are most snakes. So, be sure to have a cage w/ securely-locking doors or lid.

RANGE & STATUS IN THE WILD

Corn snakes range in the southern and central eastern states of the United States. The range spans as far as south-central New Jersey to Tennessee and Louisiana. Large numbers still exist in the wild, however, wild populations are dwindling due to destruction of habitat.

Housing

Corn Snakes, or Elaphe Guttata Guttata, are a mid-sized species of colubrids.
Corns reach lengths of 4'-5'.
Keep this size in consideration when choosing a cage. A cage's width should be 1/2 the length of your corn and the cage's depth should be 2/3 their length.
For example, an adult 4' corn snake would require a minimum cage size of 2' wide by 18"-2' deep.
Corn snakes are semi-arboreal, preferring to spend time on the ground rather than climb.
But, they will climb if given the opportunity.
An enclosure approx. 12" in height would suffice. However, corn snakes are active snakes, so you may want to opt for larger enclosures, a 20 gal. tank is bare minimum for an adult.

Baby corns can be kept in 10 gal. glass aquariums. It is up to you to purchase a larger enclosure every time your corn snake outgrows the older one.
It would be more economical to buy an enclosure that will suit an adult size corn snake for a hatchling and allow them to grow up in such an enclosure.
However, snakes love small spaces, large spaces, especially those w/ no cover stress out small snakes and may cause them to refuse food.
Keep in mind when considering the entry to the cage. Overhead entryways, such as in glass tanks work well, but they may mistake you for a predator coming from above.
This is why moving slowly and deliberately, as well as hide boxes for the snake are important.

Furniture

Corn snakes are secretive animals, for this reason, you will need to provide at least two hide boxes in their cage for their security.
You can either get half-log hide boxes from the pet store, or make it from boxes such as Kleenex boxes or cereal boxes (with the bag removed).
Just be creative when providing a place to hide. You don’t want to provide a hide box too large, or the corn snake will still not feel secure in the box.
They should be able to coil up and touch at least two sides of the hide box.
This makes them feel comfortable when they can feel their surroundings.
If you make hides from boxes around the home, remember that they like small entrances so that they don’t feel like they can be seen when they’re trying to hide.
You’ll need to provide a heat gradient to allow the corn snake to thermo regulate.
I’ll explain that in the heating section below. But, you’ll want at least one hide box on the warm side and the cool side of the cage.
This way, the corn snake can warm up or cool off and remain hidden. Don’t force them to choose between hiding and changing their body temperature.
You should also provide a hide box that can be made from an old plastic butter container with a hole cut in the bottom or sides and turned upside-down. Again, the hide box should be small enough for the corn snake to curl up in and feel secure, but large enough for it to fit its entire body in.
Add about ½ inch of moss into the cup.
Use a sprayer to spray water regularly to make sure the moss is moist, but not damp.
The purpose of this box is to allow the corn snake a humid retreat, and the humidity inside the will help the corn snake with its shed.
One is usually needed (I usually put them in the center of the cage), but it always helps to put at least one humid hide on both sides of the cage as well.

Obviously, a water bowl is a necessity since all living things need water.
The bowl should be heavy like crock bowls or ceramic bowls found in pet stores used as food or water bowls for dogs, cats, etc.
Make sure the bowl is small enough for the corn snake to curl up in completely, but not so large that it’ll drown in the bowl. For a baby corn snake, a bowl about 3-4 inches in diameter 2 inches deep will suffice.
You will want to upgrade the bowls as the corn snake outgrows each one. The bowl should be filled about halfway, if the bowl is kept full, displacement from the snake coiling inside the bowl will cause the water to overflow.
Don’t be surprised if the corn snake defecates into the water bowl. If this happens, clean out the water bowl immediately and replace it with fresh clean water.

You might also want to add climbing branches to the cage to allow the corn a chance to get some exercise. Make sure it is NOT cedar, redwood, or pine, since these are fatal to reptiles. If you get wild-caught wood, you will want to treat it for mites and other parasites that could hurt your corn snake, or destroy your house, i.e. termites.
First, strip off loose bark and all leaves and undesired twigs.
Second, soak in bleach/water solution (1/2 cup bleach per gal of water) for 24 hours.
Next, rinse the wood thoroughly and soak in frequently refreshed fresh water for 24 hours to remove the bleach from the wood.
Dry the wood in the sun for 2-3 days, keeping it away from direct contact with the ground to reduce the chance of it being re-infested.
Or, strip the smaller pieces of wood as stated above, then 'bake' it in an oven for 2-3 hours at 200-250°F (93-121°C).

Corn Snakes (2)


Substrate

The debate on what substrate to use for reptiles is always an ongoing debate. The general consensus for these substrates are as follows:

Newspaper - pros: allows for easy cleaning, cheap, safe and practical, your snake can hide under these cons:doesn’t look natural and appealing, not a good absorbent of waste fluids, when wet, fluids cause the ink to be come wet, and possibly stick to your corn giving it a dirty look, color ink has been suspected to be toxic when wet

Old cotton bed sheets - pros: allows for easy cleaning, cheap, safe and practical, your snake can hide under these, good absorbent of waste fluids, can be thrown into the washer and re-used cons:looks appealing, but not natural

Aspen shavings - pros: spot cleaning of wastes is easy, fairly cheap, safe, corns love to burrow, and aspen is fairly dense, which allows the corn to form tunnels under the substrate, provides much security for your corn, looks natural and appealing, absorbs waste fluids, and seems to help cover up the smell of wastes cons: can cause mouth rot if ingested during feeding, feeding outside of the enclosure easily prevents this


AVOID cedar, redwood, or pine at all costs because they are toxic to reptiles. The fumes from cedar and redwood cause respiratory infections that will kill them. Pine is toxic when ingested.

Feeding

Corn snakes are primarily rodent feeders, usually not needing anything other than mice their entire lives. Corn snakes subdue and kill their prey by means of constriction. They grab the prey with their mouths, then coil them with their bodies, and use their muscles to squeeze the prey.
The more the prey struggles, the more the snake squeezes. This is done until the mouse dies, then the snake proceeds to swallow the mouse.
Constriction is a fairly quick process; it usually doesn’t need to take more than 5 minutes to kill the mice.
Snakes sometimes will not bother to constrict live pinky/fuzzy mice, or pre-killed mice because they are not seen as a danger.
When selecting prey, they should be equals to, or slightly thicker than the corn snake at its widest girth.
As the snake grows, you’ll need to upgrade the size of the prey item.
Young corn snakes eat pinky mice; adults will be eating several large adult mice, or even young, just-weaned rats. After eating just one item, if the snake appears hungry and still in hunt mode, give it an additional similarly sized item. You’ll recognize hunt mode by constantly moving after completely swallowing the prey item and flicking its tongue indicate it’s searching for another one.
Do the same if the snake still seems hungry after 2 prey items. If the snake can easily eat 3 prey items of similar size, and still seems hungry, give it a larger size prey item at the next feeding.

The thrill of watching the snake strike, coil, kill, and swallow its prey is quite fascinating to watch, I’ll admit that much. But, it’s not too thrilling to watch your snake get bitten by the rodent. Vet bills to treat the bites are even less thrilling. What I’m getting at here is, you should NEVER feed your snake live. Feeding pinky or fuzzy mice/rats live is fine because they present no danger to the snake. But, if it’s old enough to open its eyes, it’s old enough to have teeth and do some damage with a bite.


My suggestion is feed the snake frozen/thawed or pre-killed mice. There are several methods to pre-kill mice. It may be hard, emotionally, for you to kill a mouse, but done quickly and humanely, it’s much more humane to the mouse than to have it endure constriction. It’s also much more humane to the snake to prevent it from getting bitten. How do you pre-kill a mouse?

There are several methods to get it over with quickly. One way is to drop the mouse in an old pillowcase you never intend to use again and whack the mouse hard on a table or hard surface. One good whack usually kills the mouse on impact. Sometimes this can get a little bit bloody (nose), but not very often. Rats that are too large for corn snakes can take more whacks (2-3), but corns can’t eat these, so we won’t discuss them further. There is the method of using carbon dioxide or CO2 to asphyxiate the mice/rats. Some consider this the most humane method, but probably the most expensive. I’m not sure exactly how it’s done, as I’ve never seen this method used. These may seem gruesome and inhumane, but they're much less painful to both the snake and the mouse in the long run.

You can also buy frozen/thawed mice or rats either from a pet/reptile store or mail-order in bulk. You won't have to kill these, and they're fairly easy to store in the freezer, and take them out when it's time for the snakes to eat. Sometimes they may try to sneak a sick mouse by you, so check for tumors and pass these up. To thaw the mice out, get a container full of very warm (not hot) water. Hot water will cook the mice and burn the snake. Drop the mice in for 2-5 minutes then take them out. Hold them for a few seconds, if the mice stay warm, dry them off and feed them. If not, put them back in the water to warm up some more. If a snake refuses it, try giving it to another snake that is large enough. If both refuse, maybe the mouse is freezer burnt and has no appeal to the snakes. If the mouse has been thawed but has been refused by your snakes, don't re-freeze it, just throw it out.

DO NOT throw a live animal into the freezer. The cold crystallizes the cells in the body, and bursts them while the animal is still alive. As you can imagine, this is long and painful death. Just because you don’t watch it happening doesn’t mean it’s humane. To get an idea of what this is like, get a bucket and fill it halfway with ice, then fill the bucket with water. Put your arm in there, I guarantee you will not be able to stand the pain much longer than a few seconds. Your cells won’t burst, but this gives you an idea of what they would be forced to endure until their death. I cannot think of a more inhumane way to kill an animal.

Heating

Corn snakes are cold-blooded animals.
This means the temperature surrounding them directly affects their body temperature unlike humans, whose warm blood keeps their body temperatures at an even 98.6°F.
Thus, they need to thermo regulate by moving from place to place to adjust their body temperature.
For example, if they feel they need to warm up, they’ll move into the sunlight where it’s warmer and bask.
When they need to cool off, they’ll just move into the shade where the temperatures are cooler or head for the water.
The range of the corn snakes spans from the southeastern states as far west as Louisiana and Tennessee, and as far north as southern New Jersey.
The southern parts of this range stay quite warm most of the year, the northern parts are quite warm during the spring and summer seasons, but turn cool in autumn and winter.
The humidity in this range is somewhat moderate.
It’s best to imitate that environment as closely as possible for your corn snake. They need the heat to help digest their food.
The daytime basking spot directly under the light or on top of the pad should be around 89°F, the warm side of the cage around the basking spot should be around 75-85°F.
The heat source should be at one end of the cage to provide a gradient so the corn snake can move to both sides of the cage to thermo regulate. The cool side of the cage should be around 70-80°F. At night, the temps should drop around 5-10 degrees. (70-75f but never below 70)
The best way to provide the basking spot is with a heat lamp, a regular incandescent household bulb will do.
You can also use an under-tank heating pad from the pet store, or a human heating pad from Wal-Mart or other large discount stores.
The heating pad should take up only 1/3 of the width of the cage to allow the snake to move on and off the area above the heating pad. To allow the temperature changes, what you can do is have both the heating pad and bulb on during the daytime, then at night, turn off the bulb but leave the heating pad on.
It’s important to make sure the bulb and pad are on the same side of the cage, or the snake will never have a gradient to benefit from.

At night, you can use the black incandescent bulbs for heat and your visibility.
Also, don’t use fluorescent black lights because these can hurt your corn’s eyes.
Try staring at one for a few seconds then blinking, there’s an annoying shadow where the light was that doesn’t go away for a few seconds.
Now imagine what it’s like if you can’t blink.
Also, don’t use any bright lights in the cage at night because this will throw off your corn snake, and they won’t know when to sleep.
In turn, this will cause stress from not being able to sleep under bright light. Make sure there is a screen barrier so that the corn snakes cannot touch the bulbs or the pads and burn themselves. As for humidity, it should be kept around 50-60%.