Corn Snake Review

Overall Rating

Clean
Can be cheap, depending on morph
Many morphs- color and pattern
Enjoy human contact
Do not grow too big- 4ft max.
Not venomous
Very nice looking
Interesting
Fairly Low maintenance- feeding only needed about once a week
Health problems uncommon and often treatable yourself (shedding problems, for example)

Can be expensive, depending on morph
You must feed them mice (frozen ones from pet shops are fine, in fact live feeding is illegal in the UK)
Illegal in some places (not UK), San Fransisco for example
Escape very possible
Habitat can gets costly as the snake grows older

I have a young, male, classic motley corn snake and he makes a great pet! He is very interesting and low maintenance. Corns love human contact and so are a good first pet for kids and certainly the best first snake for anyone.

Corns, like all snakes, can be costly to keep. Here is the full setup list for an adult

- Large Vivarium (tank) £50+
- Heat mat £12-£20
- Thermostat £30+
- Substrate for floor of tank about £2 for each full clean
- Hides, at least 2, £5+
- Water bowl £2-5
- Branch for climbing (DO NOT collect your own, buy) £5-£15
- Thermometer £5 Max.
Well over a hundred pounds min.
Feeding is not expensive. You can buy 10 mice for about £7 the lot and you only need to feed 1 or 2 a week so that's 5- 10 weeks for £7
Snakes themselves, depending on the breed, can range from £15 to hundreds of pounds for a hatching. I, personally like the normal corns most and they're the cheapest. The one i have cost me £50 but he was only worth £20. The breeder delivered him for £30. I put a 5/10 rating simply because the value can range from 0-10
Baby corns can be kept in much cheaper accommodation, small fish tanks are perfect, so you don't need to worry about a larger tank with a better setup until your snake is at least a yearling.

OBTAINING A CORN SNAKE

There are a number of ways you could obtain a corn snake.

- Any Americans reading, corns are native to the USA so you could catch a wild young one. However, they may have trouble adapting to captivity and you will need to check local laws first. I do not recommend this.

- You could visit an exotic pet shop that stocks them. This is the best thing to do as you can look at and examine your possible new pets but there may not be an exotic pet shop in your area.

- You could post a classified ad in a newspaper, as a flier in you pet shop or on the internet on a forum (i recommend www.reptileforums.co.uk for classifieds)


HOUSING

Young corn snakes can be kept in small SECURE fish tanks and must not, at this point, be kept in anything large as they will be scared of small spaces. The floor should be covered in a substrate like chipped bark or newspaper. NO SAND OR OTHER POWDERS; they cause breathing problems. There should be a heat mat under one side controlled by a thermostat and there should be a water bowl in the cold side. Hides should also be provided. Ideally, there should be three, one on the cold side, one on the hot side and one in the middle. Lastly, there should be something to climb on.

The proper setup for an adult is the same, just bigger. A proper vivarium is needed at this point.

FEEDING

Hatchings must be started on pinkies- week old mice. In the UK, it is the law that these must be dead when fed to your snake. In fact, no vertebrate may be fed to another animal live in the UK. Elsewhere still do not live feed. It is very very cruel and unnecessary.
There are two ways of feeding dead-
- Buying frozen and defrosting (VERY VERY recommended, most pets shops stock these and the mice were gassed humanely)

- Buying live and killing at home. I wouldn't do this as it is unnecessary, thawed frozen ones are fine.

DO NOT LIVE FEED.

To defrost, lay mouse between two sheets of paper towel/ kitchen paper and leave for a few hours. Check it is defrosted by rubbing it gently between your fingers to see if it is defrosted through, then put in water at 37*C for a few minutes before feeding.

DO NOT LIVE FEED

To feed, remove your snake from it's enclosure and place on a clean surface. Hold the mouse with feeding tongs and wiggle in front of your snake. It'll hopefully strike. Replace it in the enclosure before it has completely finished swallowing and leave it for at least 3 days, until the lumps gone. If you disturb snakes during this period they WILL regurgitate their meal.

DO NOT LIVE FEED

Increase the size of your snakes meal from 1 pinkies to 2 pinkies to 1 fuzzie to 2 fuzzies etc if they become hungry after their meal. The way to tell this is by looking at how active they are after a feed. If they go straight to their hide, they are full but if they look around for a bit first, increase the size next time.


SHEDDING

Every now and again, you snake will outgrow his old skin and when this happens, his eyes will go cloudy. Start misting the vivarium with a spray bottle twice daily at this point. After a couple of days, your snakes eyes will be normal again but his skin will be darker. Keep misting twice daily. Finally, a couple of days after that you will find a skin (which i like to laminate) which you can measure to find the length of your snake. No hold your snake and enjoy it's beautiful colors (they are best just after a shed).

If you can commit to your snake and want one, buy one, they are great. I'd recommend them to ANYONE not scared by them or upset by dead mice.

Enjoy your corn snake! :)