Corn Snake Care Sheet

by **xvickyx** Mon May 17, 2010 8:03 am

General
Corn Snakes (Elaphe guttata guttata) are regarded as one of the best beginner snakes, due to their docile temperament and manageable adult size.

There are many CB (Captive Breed) corns snakes available from pet stores or private breeders; they come in a variety of different colours (morphs) and patterns.
Corn snakes size averages between 3 1/2ft and 5ft. It has been said that some have reached 6ft, but this is very rare.

Captive Corn snakes have the potential to live for over 18 years; records exist of Corns over 22 years of age.

Diet:
The diet for Corn Snakes includes:

Rats (Rat Pups, Weaner)

Mice (Pinkies, Fuzzy, Small, Medium, Large & Jumbo)

As your snake grows in size then the food they are being offered should also increase. As a general rule of thumb Corn snakes so should not be offered food any wider than the widest point of their body.

A hatching Corn Snakes should be fed 1 pinkie every 5-6 days and adults should be fed adult mice once every 7-10 days.

Do not handle your snake for 48 hours after feeding, as they can regurgitate their food, which is harmful to them, if your snake does regurgitate its food, try to feed him again in 5-7 days time.

Housing:
Hatching Corn Snakes should be kept in an appropriately sized RUB (Really Useful Box) or Exo Terra Faunarium (I would recommend the large size) as it has been known for them to stop feeding if they are put into too large areas/vivariums straight away.

Adult Corn snakes require a minimum size 36”x 18”x18” (L x W x H) vivarium. This will comfortably house a single adult for life. Of course the bigger is always better. I house my single corn snake in a 3ft x 2ft x 2ft vivarium.

Inside the Vivarium you require a water bowl for your snake to drink from and also to be able to soak in, so make sure this is large enough for your snake and is heavy so it cannot be tipped over. Water needs replacing daily.

Snakes also require somewhere for them to hide. You can use commercially made hides or construct your own out of cardboard or old flowerpots, you should place one in the cool end and one in the hot end of the vivarium so your snake has a choice.

Substrate
There are many types of substrates that can be used for corn snakes. You can use bark chips, beech chips, kitchen roll and newspaper. The most common substrate used is Aspen as its easy to replace and the snakes can burrow through it, also it looks very appealing.

When feeding your snake you should remove him for the vivarium, as they can ingest the substrate with the feed, which can cause impaction problems, or even death. I move Picollo to a plastic RUB on newspaper when feeding.

Temperature and humidity:
Snakes require a temperature gradient, as they need to thermoregulate (warm themselves up). The warm end of the enclosure should be kept at around 80F. The cool end of the enclosure should be around 75F. The temperature gradient ratio should stay the same at night but drop by approximately 5 degrees. Thermometers should be placed at either end of the viv to ensure temperatures are correct.

Please do make sure you use a reliable thermostat for your heatmat or bulb, as they can overheat causing harm to your snake, there are many types of thermostats available, I recommend a Habistat one.

Vicky Farrell