Corn Snakes make wonderful pets for beginners. This care guide will help you to look after your Corn Snake properly. Please do not copy this text and put it elsewhere without my permission but you may use it as a reference!.

I am presuming that this snake that you are buying is being bought from the pet store. If not, the handling and maybe the eating section may be wrong. Please seek advice on how to handle snakes caught in the wild, elsewhere (in my snake specialist, there is a section on handling and feeding).

Selection of your snake

Healthy snakes are alert. It will watch all movement in and near its cage, and its eyes will be bright and clear. Beware of sluggish, unresponsive specimens.

Examine the snake's skin carefully, especially the spaces under the scales, for this is where ticks and mites are often hiding. Snake ticks are big, appearing as bumps protruding from beneath the scales. Mites are tiny and bright red, like grains of paprika. Avoid any snake with these external parasites (see snake specialist for more information).

Look at the snout and mouth. Any red or swollen areas indicate possible mouth rot, and curing this is often a long and difficult process, so avoid any snakes so infected.

Always ask the shop owner (persons who look after the snakes) if the snake has been eating and when did it last eat. Pet shops sometimes starve the snakes to make them seem slimmer.

If your snake has passed these tests then it is probably a good, healthy snake. Internal problems such as intestinal worms are hard to tell but usually some of the external problems will occur.

Handling your snake

The handling of snakes requires a firm but gentle touch, but after a while you will get used to it.

First, enter the room slowly and let the snake see that you are in the room. Never appear out of anywhere and grab the snake!! Reach in slowly and grasp the mid-body gently. Always remember to support the midsection of the snake since it is the heaviest! The snake should coil around your fingers (or arm for larger snakes) and can then be picked up. Remember that even tame snakes may bite you if you smell like "dinner". If you have been handling the snakes food (rodents I presume), the smell of the rodent may excite the snake into striking. Always wash your hands with mild soap before and after handling your snake.

After a while, the owner and the snake will have gotten used to the handling. Snakes will relish on your body heat and may stay there for hours on end!

Please do not take a Corn snake and stuff it into someone's face. Most people go into hysterics! This is a very stressful thing for the snake.

Housing your snake

The Corn snake is easily housed. The easiest cage to obtain is an all-glass aquarium, available from most pet shops. The tank should be at least twice as long as the snake and as high as 1/2 the snakes length. Always remember to give extra room to allow the snake to grow!

The cage should be placed away from windows or any other drafty areas, as an inadvertent chill is detrimental to all herptiles, which may also cause respiratory infections in snakes. Porches and garages temperatures change dramatically, so place the tank somewhere where the temperature will remain fairly stable.

Snakes are active and agile, and can squeeze through incredibly small spaces. The cage MUST have a tight fitting lid!! Clips and lock (other devices welcome) must be used to secure the lid. The cage must be well ventilated with metal mesh screening. Don't use window screening, as the mesh is too thin and snakes usually rub their noses raw. For all but the smallest species, 1/4-inch mesh is ideal.

Now, what goes inside of the cage (excluding the snake)? The cage needs some substrate that is easy to dispose of and clean. The snake will periodically defecate, so you want to be able to clean the substrate quickly, to discourage bacteria and fungi, plus to keep the cage smelling clean. The easiest to clean and to get hold of is newspaper. Unfortunately, it doesn't look very appealing. Many snake keepers will point you towards using Astroturf or other types on indoor/outdoor plastic carpeting. Corncob bedding is also used, is cheap, absorbent and disposable. Sand is not a very good substrate. If you use it, remember that it does require some extra work to keep clean. There are many different types available. I would advise either Astroturf or Corncob.

When the snake defecates, remove the corncob and a few centimeters around it. Replace with clean corncob. This also applies to sand. If you are using Astroturf, you have to remove the snake and bedding. Thoroughly clean out the Astroturf and allow for at least one day to dry. People who use Astroturf usually have two sheets so that when one is busy being cleaned the other one is being used.

The décor should be simple, to facilitate cleaning. You can put some flat rocks for hiding purposes, also make sure that you include wood branches to let the Corn Snake climb since they are slightly arboreal. If you find rocks and branches from outside, soak in hot water and scrub them (don't forget to use a mild soap) because going after such trouble selecting a parasite free snake you don't want to introduce other parasites!

I would advise you to never put live plants in the snake's cage. You will have enough trouble looking after the snake and you don't want to look after a plant too, plus snakes usually crawl over and squash them.

Snakes also need someplace to "get away from it all". Yes, they need a hiding place! You can cut a shoebox down to size and make a hole in one of the sides. Cut the box (or whatever) so that the snake can fit tightly into it (to make it feel safe), it should be able to touch all the sides. Please don't forget to clean it out every now and then!! It would also be a good idea if you can use a rock on the other side of the tank as another hiding place.

The water bowl should be heavy enough so that the snake cannot lift it up to make it spill. The snake should NOT be allowed to fit under it. The bowl shouldn't be too big because snakes like to bathe (which isn't so bad) but some will make it a habit. After a while they will become chilled, catch pneumonia, or develop fungal infections. Monitor the water level, and give the snake clean, fresh water every two or three days. Before you feed your snake, give it clean water and then feed it. A Corn snake consumes a large amount of water after eating its prey.

I clean my tank out once a month, scrub it with hot water and a detergent, and let it dry completely and then put the snake back in.

Light and Heating

Snakes are "cold-blooded" creatures, an unfortunate term indeed, since the blood of an active snake may be as warm or even warmer than your own! Reptiles control their own temperature, which means that they move between hot and cold spaces to maintain an average internal temperature (known as thermoregulators). We use this knowledge to our advantage when planning the lighting and heating system. What I mean is that one side of the tank must be warm and the other side will be cool and the distance between them will be somewhat in-between. At one end of the tank, place an incandescent lamp (about a 40 to 60 watt light bulb works well) out side of the cage just above the mesh top. Directly below, inside the cage, should be a large flat rock used as a basking surface. NEVER use a hot rock because snakes lie on them and get burnt badly, they don't know until it is too late and because it is not natural to receive heat from below (see Snake Specialist under Heating). A better alternative to a hot rock is a underground heater or heating pad. Place this under a part of the tank. I leave mine on during the night when its cold and in winter leave it on during the day as well if its really cold.

At the other end of the tank place the hiding box, well away from the heated source. Using a thermometer, you should find that the temperature over the heated area should be around 28 degrees C and inside the hiding box 23 degrees C. Now your snake can easily regulate its temperature by moving back and forth between the cool and warm spots.

For Corn snakes, ten to twelve hours of lighting per day is sufficient. Timers are great for helping keep the heating sources on a regular schedule. At night you should let the temperature drop at least 3-4 degrees C, this is healthy for a snake since it is what happens in the wild! Snakes often suffer heat stress if you don't do this, this can kill the male's sperm.

Feeding your snake

We already know that snakes don't use food to warm their bodies, so a snake needs less food than a mammal of the same size. But we also know that a snake's blood is far from cold, and it does take food to maintain activity, so don't underestimate the amount of food your Corn snake needs. Corn snakes may not take their prey either because the temperature in the tank is too cold or to hot or if there is not a sufficient hiding place.

How often to feed a snake? Well, it depends on the snake's size. A small Corn snake is usually more active than a larger one, and will tend to take small meals frequently. A large snake will be less active so it will take larger meals less frequently.

You should keep track of how often your snake defecates. When a snake voids waste it has more or less completely digested its last meal. Soon you know your snake's individual feeding schedule, and timing feedings will be second nature.

I have found that if you have purchased a juvenile or captured a wild Corn snake, put a live Pinky mouse in the tank in the evening, switch off the lights and cover the tank with a towel during the night, and try not to disturb it for the first couple of feedings. Corn snake babies get "put off" eating if you sit there and watch them eat. They will refuse to eat if you are there because you are just a predator to them and they are most vulnerable when they are constricting the Pinky (or older mice). After a while you may start watching the snake. Remember not to move!!

Now, for the debate for feeding live or dead rodents. I give my Corn snakes live Pinky mice or Fuzzies. I find it more natural! You may want to give your Corn snakes dead (properly thawed) adult mice. I would NEVER give my snake a live (adult) mouse and just leave it there. I usually knock the mouse out first so that there is no danger of hurting the snake. I achieve this by (not too hard) hitting it over the head. Reluctant lab mice often bite and badly injure snakes. It's completely up to you. The snake really doesn't mind. I suppose that the type (alive or dead) of mouse that is mostly available is the one that you should opt for.

Remember to leave the snake alone for at least 3 days to let it digests the rodent. If you disturb it, it will regurgitate its meal. If you watch the snake after it has eaten the rodent, the snake will retreat to the warm side of the tank to digest its meal.

Never feed rodents that are too large for the snake to fit into its mouth. They usually dislocate their jaws in order to swallow the prey. Feed items no more than 1 1/2 to 2 times the width of the snake's head.

The Conclusion

Corn snakes make wonderful pets for beginners. My first snake was a Corn snake. They are easy to care for and easy to get feeding. I would be neglectant if I did not mention the topics of collecting and conservation. Collecting wild snakes is generally to be discouraged; there are plenty in pet stores!! Also make sure that you are allowed to keep Corn snakes in your area and remember to only take ONE snake to start with.

I have not spoken about the different types of Corn snakes, like the "Amelanistic" Corn, "Snow" Corn snake or "Ghost" Corn. I have not dealt with them as such; all that I know is that they do not like bright lights. They can be kept the same way as normal Corn snakes though.

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