July 29, 2012
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Corn Snakes
The book I read to research this post was Corn Snakes by Lance Jepson which is an excellent book which I bought from my local petshop. I only bought this book because I thought it would be interesting and don’t intend buying a snake although I do have a leopard gecko. Corn Snakes are found in the USA and they are relatively easy to tame. They are called corn snakes partly because they like being in the huge vats corn is stored in and where mice are plentiful which they eat and also due to the markings on their skin which resemble corn. They are nocturnal and although some people think it’s optional whether or not to have lighting. It’s probably a good idea as they can manufacture vitamin D from the light. You should have a mesh cover over the light so as protect the snake from getting burnt. You also need a heater and again the snake needs to be protected from getting burnt by this. They need quite a large vivarium as the males can grow to 4 feet in length. There is a similiar species which can be kept as a pet which is shorter. They like young mice to eat but also they will take young chicks which are still in the egg, baby rats, hoppers and mealworms. You have to be careful the food isn’t too big for them to digest although they can eat anything up to 1 1/2 times the size of their girdle. There jaws can separate allowing to swallow big things. It takes them quite a long time to digest food and if you feed too often they can become obese. You should feed every 10 days. Note pregnant and growing corn snakes need to be fed a little bit more often. If you have several corn snakes separate them before feeding them as its not unknown for 2 snakes to bite the same piece of food and one snake to swallow the other. Don’t forget their teeth grow backwards and once they bite it’s difficult to let go.
