Care Sheet for Corn SnakesAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 0 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 02/16/2007 |
Main Category: | Snakes |
Sub Category: | Corn Snakes |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Draventhewitch |
Years Experience: | 1 to 2 Years |
Species: | Corn Snakes |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | This Care Sheet will Cover all Breeds of Corn Snakes |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Sexing can be done using a method called popping but i use the method of probing. if you are interested in learning more about this methods do some research and find a few videos. |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | You can use many different things for your substrate like: Newspaper, reptile carpet, aspen, reptile bark. cedar, cypress, corn cob, and sand substrates should not be used with corn snakes. Cedar and cypress can be toxic to your snake, sand can impacted in the belly scales of your snake, and corn cob can cause tissue damage and is not visible to the human eye so you wont even know anything is wrong with your snake . if you use a wood substrate you should always remove your snake from the cage and place in a box or extra feeding tank so that your snake does not ingest any of the substrate while eating. i also think that it helps with them not mistaking your hand for food as well. i use aspen reptile bedding for most all of my snakes. they really like to burrow in the shredded aspen.
You should place a water bowl in the middle or on the warm side of your tank to aid in keeping your humidity higher. the water bowl should also be big enough for your snake to fit its whole body in. i also like to make a water side(if possible) on about 6 or 7 in of one side of the tank and then move your light a little more towards the middle of the enclosure. |
Lighting and UVB: | Heating lights can be used for extra heat and supply day and night lighting. a UV bulb is not a must but it does help build up the calcium deposits in your snake.so i would recommend a UV bulb and i use a UV bulb with almost all of my snakes. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | The temp in the enclosure should be at 85 on the warm side and 75 on the cool side. i like to keep a 45%- 60% humidity to aid in the shedding process as well. if problems occur during shedding and pieces of the old shed are still on your corn you should soak your snake in luke warm ( same temp as a baby bottle) for about 20-30 mins then wet a paper towel with luke warm water and let the snake crawl through the towel and the remaining shed should easily come off. make sure that the eye caps come off in the shed and the head as well as the tail because shed stuck on the tail can cause pieces of the tail to fall off!!! |
Heating and Equipment: | I would recommend a UTH which is a under tank heater place it on one half of the under side of the tank. you can also use basking heat bulbs to keep the temp up. i use a UTH and basking bulbs to keep my tanks at 85 and 75. i use a 100w white bulb during the day and a 75w red bulb at night and it keeps my tank the right temps and i believe they enjoy it. the UTH should be covering only one half of the enclosure. |
Caging Provided: | A 10 gal tank is fine for a corn up to the first year and after your corn is a year i would suggest moving to a 30 or 40 gal which will be fine for your corn for the rest of its life( 30 gal for a male and a 40 gal for a female). i keep all of my adults in 50 gal wooden enclosures because i have found that they breed easier if they are keep in a little bigger enclosure. you should place two hides in the enclosure, one on the warm side and one on the cool side. water bowl anywhere from middle of enclosure to the warm side.
corns enjoy climbing so it is also a good idea to put some fake plants and vines in the enclosure for them to climb on. |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Corn snakes are carnivorous so they eat mice. a hatchling would start eating a day old pinkie ( a mouse that is one day old) every 5-7 days and keep feeding snake every 5-7 day till your snakes has stopped growing as fast. you can up if feeding amount and the feeding size from pinkies to fuzzy to hoppers and final to adults mice. an adult corn snake will eat 1 or 2 adult mice every 7- 14 days. if corn snakes are under feed it can cause many problems and can even cause your snake to die. if your corn will not eat you should wait 5 day and try again. if it still refuses to eat keep trying the 5 day method. if snake goes a month with out feeding it should be taken to a local herp vet. Over feed snakes can become obese as well. obesity can also cause your snake to live a shorter life as well as under feeding can. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | I like to use spray on reptile vita spray once a week and i also like to use calcium injections on the mice before i feed. Again the UV bulb does help build up the calcium deposits as well. |
Maintenance: | Droppings should be removed as soon as they are seen. water should be changed once a day. if you are using aspen bedding completely replace bedding every month and a half. if using reptile carpet you should replace the carpet every time droppings are found or every 3 or 4 days which ever comes first. newspaper should be replaced the same as the reptile carpet.
corn snake should be handled once a day till the snake is used to you handling them. then you should handle them at least three times a week, for at least 30 mins each time. snakes that are not handled enough will be hyper when they do final get out and will try the escape more than normal. under handling can also cause your snake to be a little nippy , but most corns that are handled regularly usually never show any sign of wanting to bite. although you should expect to get bit at least once because you will usually do something that it doesn’t like. but i have yet to get bit by any of my snakes and i now have 10(knock on wood).
YOU MUST CAN THE SIZE OF YOUR SNAKE ENCLOSURE AS IT GROWS!!! THEY DO NOT GROW TO THEIR ENCLOSURE SIZE, THEY GROW NORMAL SIZE AND WILL BE VERY STRESSED IF NOT IN A BIG ENOUGH ENCLOSURE!!! |
Some Words on this Species: | you should know that corn snakes live from 10 to 15 years but some have been recorded as old as 20+ years. so you must be able to make a long commitment with this animal. a corn snake is a great starter snake and are great with kids but should always be supervised by an adult while handling a snake. children should also be taught correct ways to handle a snake as well. good luck and i hope i helped you out.
Blessed Be!!! |
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