Corn Snake Care Sheet!
A normal adult Corn Snake.
Corn snakes are a great species for both new and experienced keepers a like because they are a small, active and generally a calm and gentle member of the Colubridae family. Corn snakes originate from Southern and Eastern America and they come in a variety of both colour and pattern mutations known as morphs to suit all tastes. A directory of some Corn snake morphs can be found here.
Scientific Name: pantherophis guttatus guttatus
Previously Corn snakes used to be classed as elaphe guttata guttata.
Life Span: 15-20 years.
Adult Size: 4-6ft.
However a 6ft Corn snake is quite rare, it is a lot more common to see a 4-5ft adult. Although 4-5ft can sound quite long because the Corn snake is quite a slim Snake it often seems smaller.
Housing: There are a couple of housing options available, although one may be better than the other depending on the size of your Corn snake.
Hatchlings will thrive in a 9ltr Really Useful Box for the first 6-8 months of their life. After this your Corn Snake can move in to its adult enclosure, this can either be an 84ltr Really Useful Box but ideally they would be more suited to a 3ftx2ftx2ft vivarium.
Please remember to keep all enclosures out of direct sunlight because it will cause the greenhouse effect and the enclosure to over heat. Your snake cannot escape the intense heat and it can end up killing or permanently harming your Corn snake.
Temperature: Hot spot 29°C/84°F. Cool end 21°C/70°F.
Heating: Snakes are cold-blooded, this means that they cannot regulate their own body heat like we do and require an external heat source in order to survive. In the wild this would be the heat emitted from the sun. However, in captivity you have to provide the external heat source for your Corn snake. There are a variety of ways to do this with pro's and con's for each.
One of the three ways you can heat your enclosure is by using a Heat Mat. A heat mat is best used with Really Useful Box setups or Faunariums not vivariums in our opinion. The heat mat needs to be placed under one side of the Really Useful Box or Faunarium so that it covers around one third or at the most, half of the enclosure. The heat mat must be plugged into a mat thermostat or on/off thermostat this will control the temperature that the heat mat gets to but its always best to set and monitor the thermostat by a digital thermometer rather than the dial on the thermostat.
However, the downfall to using a heat mat is that it will mainly heat only the surface it is placed under.
The second way to heat your enclosure would be by using a Heat Bulb. These can be used with an average household bulb holder and this form of heating is mainly used within vivariums and will increase the ambient temperature of the vivarium as well as provide a basking spot for your Corn snake. You must have a bulb guard placed over your bulb in order to prevent the snake coming in to contact with the heat bulb and getting burnt. Your heat bulb must be controlled by a dimmer thermostat and again it is best to set and monitor the thermostat by a digital thermometer.
The problem with having a heat bulb is that it also produces light, so during the night it can become a disturbance for the animal and yourself, if your Corn snakes vivarium is in the same room, you sleep in.
The problem with having a heat bulb is that it also produces light, so during the night it can become a disturbance for the animal and yourself, if your Corn snakes vivarium is in the same room, you sleep in.
The third and final way that you can heat your enclosure is by a Ceramic Bulb. These emit no light and the bulbs can reach extreme temperatures and therefore should only be used with a ceramic bulb holder and they will also require a ceramic bulb guard to prevent your Corn snake coming into contact with it and getting harmed. To control the temperatures of a ceramic bulb you must use pulse proportional thermostat, set and monitored by a digital thermometer.
The downsides to using a ceramic bulb is that they don't emit light and the bulbs get extremely hot.
We use these in all of our adult snake enclosures and even some of our R.U.B. enclosures.
The downsides to using a ceramic bulb is that they don't emit light and the bulbs get extremely hot.
We use these in all of our adult snake enclosures and even some of our R.U.B. enclosures.
Enclosure decoration: There are many ways you can decorate your enclosure, whether it be a R.U.B. or a Vivarium. The simple way to decorate your enclosure is to layer the floor surface with tissue or newspaper, this is easy to clean up and replace when the snake has defecated. If you are looking to give your enclosure a bit more of a naturalistic look to it then you can add a mixture of cypress mulch and coco-fibre. As well as the substrate you can also add some fake reptile safe plants, branches, cork bark and leaves. Which ever way you choose to keep your Corn snake, both methods will require the snake to have a hide in both the hot and cold end of the enclosure, however, the more coverage and hiding places you have the more secure your Corn snake will feel.
A water bowl is required on the cool end of the enclosure, this should be big enough for the snake to curl inside in order to bathe. The water bowl will also provide the enclosure with humidity which for Corn snakes should be around room humidity. If your Corn snake begins to experience stuck/retained sheds it may mean that your humidity is too low, so a little spray of water within the enclosure when your snake starts to come up for a shed will help.
Feeding: When feeding your Corn snake the general rule that people follow is that the prey item should be a little bit bigger than the largest part of its body, this would leave the snake with a slight lump once it has ate.
We will feed hatchlings every five days until the snake moves onto a larger prey item. We then move feeding to every 7-10 days, once they reach adulthood we offer prey items to the Corn snake every two weeks. Adult females that have recently laid a clutch of eggs will be fed slightly more often until they are back to their previous condition before laying, these meals will be smaller but more frequent.
All our snakes are fed on frozen-thawed rodents.
Corn snake hatchlings will start on Pinkies (new born mice) and slowly move up to Fuzzies (mice with fur just growing) and then eventually small mice, medium mice and finally large mice.
Its advised to wait at least 24-48 hours after feeding before handling your Corn snake.
Shedding: When your corn snake begins the shedding process its natural colours will begin to dull. The next clue that it has begun the shedding cycle is that its eyes will go blue/cloudy, this is when the two layers of skin are separating. After this is completed your Corn snakes eyes will appear to have gone back to normal, depending on the age of the snake, it will then shed its old skin 3-7 days later.
Your Corn snake may not feed while it is going through the shedding process but some may, this can however cause complications when the snake comes to finally shedding its skin. So it is recommended to wait until after your snake has shed to feed.
Enigma Reptiles thoughts on keeping Corn Snakes: Corn snakes are a brilliant snake species for both the experienced and beginner keeper. They will rarely give aggressive bites unless it is part of a feeding response (meaning they have mistaken you for food) and they are generally a pleasant species to handle. They can make a great family pet that is active at both night and day. It's hard to go wrong with this species, they will rarely have feeding issues and are easy to breed if that's your plans.