Care Sheet for Corn SnakesAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 3.70 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 10/18/2005 |
Main Category: | Snakes |
Sub Category: | Corn Snakes |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Lozzer |
Years Experience: | 3 to 5 Years |
Species: | Corn snake |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | N/A |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Knowing the sex of corns is an essential first step in effort to breed them.It can be determined with varying degrees of accuracy in many different ways,the most basic of which is simply putting them together and observing which ones actually mate.This will demonstrate with 100% certainty,but doesn’t allow any future planning of pairings.Besides,most corns are acquired as juveniles one or more years ahead of time they will hopefully be used in reproduction,so judging the sex of them is advance is necessity.A successful breeder must personally master one or more methods of sexing snakes.
It’s not hard to judge the sex of adult corns by the relative proportions of the base of their tails.Males tails run thicker for the first couple of inches just past the vent.Whereas females’tail bases taper quickly,starting right past that point. |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | 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 wood chips that I get from the pet shop. This I put about an inch deep and I change it weekly. If you buy a natural product it is important to sterilize 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.
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. |
Lighting and UVB: | N/A |
Temperatures and Humidity: | 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.
|
Heating and Equipment: | A heat mat . This is placed underneath one end of the tank making it warm. The other end will be room temperature |
Caging Provided: | 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. |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | 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. 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 behavior 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.
|
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | |
Maintenance: | Water changed every 1-2 days.And spot clean everyday too. |
Some Words on this Species: | 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.
Corn snake have to be my most favorite snake as there cute and come in many different types of colour.And their very easy to care for. |
How Members Rated
This Care Sheet | Rate This Care Sheet
Please keep all comments constructive to Corn snake husbandry methods and care. Any degrading, sarcastic, or disrespectful comments will be removed. |
Total Members Rating: 30
| 1 |  ( 3 ) |
| 2 |  ( 1 ) |
| 3 | ( 1 ) |
| 4 | ( 7 ) |
| 5 | ( 15 ) |
|
|
