Corn Snakes: Care, Breeding, and Living With Them
84General Corn Snake Care
So, you have taken a step into the world of Colubrids and purchased a corn snake! These are one of the most basic snakes that you could imagine, they don't take too much work to maintain a healthy, and happy snake. These are great snakes for beginners and I would advise them to anyone looking to own a snake.
Now Corn Snakes are part of the Colubrid family, which is a pretty big family, and extremely diverse. Really, it breaks down to the type of teeth they have! In fact its the biggest family of snakes out there. Corn's are amazingly easy to take care of. All they really need is a tank, light and the proper bedding and supplies for the tank itself.
A good rule of thumb is to have a tank that is at least the leangth of your snake. You want them to be able to stretch out and enjoy their home. In the cage it's important to have a water bowl thats big enough for the snake to soak in. When your snake gets a bit larger, it's pretty convenient to just pick up a plastic dog bowl. You want to make sure that your snake has lots of places to burrow or hide. Usually you can pick up a nice bark hideaway at any pet store.
NOTE!!!: Do NOT put any wood from your backyard in with your snake, they could be infested with fungus or insects that can hurt, and possibly kill your snake!
Now, an important thing to remember when you are picking out your cage for your snake, is to make sure that you have the proper ventilation, and the proper setup to make sure that your snakes' environment is at the right temperature. Terraniums are always a good bet, and a heat lamp will allow you to have a cooler side of the tank for your snake to sleep in. Make sure there's a hide-away on each side.
Feeding Your Corn Snake
Feeding is the next big thing to understand. A snake is able to take in food as wide as their widest point on their body. Anymore, gives the snake the possibility of injury. I have seen too many horror stories of snake who broke their jaws trying to swallow food that was too big. So just remember, the smaller the better. You also never want to feed your snake when they are in the process of shedding, this can cause serious injury to the scales.
It's also important to make the decision early on to live feed or frozen feed. Live feed comes with a certain risk, and no real positives. The snake will become scarred, and possibly seriously injured in it's fight for food. I always advise people to feed their snakes frozen. Just make sure that the food is fully defrosted before feeding it to your snake!! If your snake digests a mouse that hasn't been fully defrosted, it could kill it. I personally find the best method to defrost a mouse is to place them directly under a heat lamp. Not on your cage though! You don't want your snake to get overly excited before its time to eat. I normally let the mouse defrost for 4-6 hours, depending on the size.
Now as far as how much to feed them, that's a touchy subject. Snakes usually will eat until they explode. No not literally! But the point is, you don't want to overfeed your snake by any means. I find myself feeding my female, who is very large for a corn, one small rat a week. My male corn snake eats 2 large mice a week. They are fed on a single day, rather then spread out over time. It's usually a little easier on their digestive system, and it gives them more time to rest and digest throughout the week.
There is a very common practice of doubling the food intake of your snake to make it grow larger, faster. I strongly recommend you not to do this. It is very dangerous for your snake, and it could seriously hurt it. They need time to process and digest what they have eaten, and too much food just doesn't allow that.
Cohabitating Corn Snakes
This is somewhat of an argued upon subject. Colubrids are often cannibals, but like I said earlier, there are many variations inside of this family. I want to stress that if you have two snakes from the same clutch, or just from the same parents, you do not want them to be in the same tank together without first having them professionally probed. If you confirm through this method that they are of different sexes you'll want to separate them. Inbreeding is dangerous for the future of not only your clutch, but the breed of the snake. I'll touch more on breeding your snakes a little later.
Be aware, Corn Snakes, though not often cannibals, can become cannibalistic if the right precautions are not taken. You need to feed them separately in a cage other then the one that they live in. You need to keep a regular feeding schedule, making sure that both snakes are fed at the same time, never having a hungry snake with a snake that has just ate and now smells like food.
Make sure that your tank is large enough, and has enough hiding areas where the snakes are not stuck with one another. You never really want to keep more then two snakes in the same cage. Be careful to make sure that the size of the tank fits the size of both of your snakes. I'd say for two adult corn snakes you're looking at a fairly large tank.
If you are introducing an adult corn snake into the cage of another adult for the first time, be sure that their sizes are comparable. Make sure both snakes have recently eaten in the last 24 hours so they are more calm. Have the two snakes meet on mutual ground where the tank does not smell of either. Watch them carefully for the first 48 hours and be ready to break up a snake ball if they become violent. If this happens, do not try again.
If the introduction is a success, make sure that you still check in on them often to make sure that no one has gotten upset. After about a month you can relax a little bit more, it is likely that they have adjusted to another snake and will not become violent.
Breeding Your Corn Snake
This is something that has been talked about a lot, but there really isn't much science to it. Just like anything else, they have been doing it in the wild for thousands of years, they have it down pretty well at this point.
Now corn snakes usually need to go through a form of hibernation, called brumation, prior to breeding. Though this really isn't always the case as I'm sure a lot of you have found. So here's some step by step information as far as the breeding process goes.
The process starts long before the breeding. You need to prepare your snake for brumation. Around late October, double your snakes' food intake. Do this untill about mid November, and then stop feeding. Give them about two weeks with no food before you reduce the temperature down to around 55 degrees. The snakes may become restless when you do this, looking for a good hiding spot, so make sure that you give them plenty of places to hide.
You don't want to really bother your snake much during this time.
It's not until about March that you want to start waking them up sort of speak. You want to take your time with this. Some people do it over the course of 2-3 days, I prefer to do it gradually over the week. The reason for this is because you want to give them time to kick their immune system back in to be able to fight against anything that might wake up with them, as well as giving it more of a natural rise in temperatures as it is in the wild.
Once things are warmed up, you can start feeding. Start slow and steady though. Small meals. Once a week. No more. I know there's that guilty feeling that they haven't ate in too long, but don't worry in April things are back to normal! A male will shed around the the end of March or beginning of April if he's ready to mate, so that's definitely something to watch for.
Once your female sheds, it's time to mate! You only have about a month before you miss your chance and she simply becomes gravid with infertile eggs also known as slugs. This is also the time to stop feeding your snakes. If you do not cohabitate your snakes, this is the time to introduce them. You want to do it for a few days a week. I seen some people have their snakes together every other day, some people for a few days at a shot. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference in this method.
Younger snakes can make a mess of the tank in their games of tag before breeding. Don't panic, it's normal. Though I want to stress, it is dangerous to breed corn snakes younger then 2-3 years old. You could loose your female.
Once your snake is gravid, you need to separate the male, regardless on if you cohabitate or not, he will stress the female out too much during this time risking the life of the male, female, and the eggs.
Once you recognize that the snake is Gravid, you need to put a hide away into the tank that will offer her the security and the conditions that she needs. I usually use a Tupperware container for the use of a lid on the top to check on her, but really the choice is up to you. You want to make sure that there is a hole for her to go in and out of the container, though about a week after becoming visibly gravid, she really wont leave the tub often. Make sure that you put about an inch or two of moss inside of this container as well. You want to make sure that the moss is moist, but not too wet or else the eggs and the mother become at risk of fungus. I prefer to just use Verniculite because it holds the moisture best, and its what you will eventually use in the incubator anyways.
She may continue to eat small meals during this time, but don't be surprised if your snake refuses.
Once your snake lays her eggs it can be up to 10 weeks after laying them that the eggs will hatch. Still though, once your mother has laid her eggs, you need to separate her form them and remove the eggs and place them in an incubator. Make sure that the Verniculite stays moist for the best chance and healthy eggs. Be careful in the transport. The eggs cling together, and removing them often breaks them apart, killing the tiny embryos inside. Make sure not to put them upside down, this will smother and drown the embryo.
Now if any of the infertile eggs start to mold, gently remove them. There is a lot of different techniques to do this, but I would consult a professional before attempting it for the first time. The shells of the fertile eggs should feel dry, and like hard leather. The infertile eggs are often wet feeling.
You want to keep the eggs at a steady 80 degrees. Now there is a lot of information out there about variation of the temperatures producing different morphs and different ratios of sexes, but as a beginner you really don't want to play with that. As you get more experienced, and do the proper research, you can take a shot at it then.
Once the eggs hatch, you will have on average between 10-24 hatchlings to care for. DO NOT FEED THEM UNTIL THEIR FIRST SHEDDING. This is a very dangerous thing to do and it will kill the hatchlings. Once they shed for the first time, its time to start the feeding!
I want to make one last note on the hatchlings, and it's unfortunately a thing that a lot of first time snake owners don't realize. On average, 25% of the hatchlings will not survive past three months. These are typically the hatchlings that refuse to eat, and need to be force fed. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this, but it is an unfortunate fact that I feel you should all be aware of. This does not mean that if you have a hatchling that is not eating, not to try your hardest, but it does mean that you should not become to attached to a hatchling such as this.
Finding the Appropriate Homes for your Hatchlings
Those of you who have planned the breeding, most likely already know of all the outlets for the offspring. Those of you who have the "surprise clutches" most likely are watching around thirty pinkies a week disappear into hungry mouths and have no idea what to do with them.
There's a lot of outlets out there, but probably the easiest is finding out if there's an Animal Expo or a Reptile Fair in your area. If there is, it is pretty easy to wholesale the clutch to a breeder there who will sell them with his clutches.
Pet stores are also a good place to go. Most chain stores will not purchase the hatchlings, but it is pretty common for smaller stores to at least buy a few. Pull out your phone book and make some calls!
If all else fails, you can always place an ad in a local newspaper advertising the hatchlings.
In all cases, mention the morphs of your snakes. It will increase the amount of phone calls you get that are collectors looking for a snake you don't have.
If you have any questions, or you want to know about something that I didn't cover, feel free to either request a hub, or just ask in the comments below. I'll try and answer it as soon as possible!
vote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (6)
- Funny
- Awesome (5)
- Beautiful
- Interesting (1)
CommentsLoading...
Okay...thanks for the great info.
hello is thier any chance you could help us ive got a corn snake whos about 7 months old and is two foot he is being fed 3/4 pinkes a week and i would like to know if he is the right size?
thanks could you email me on cameronburns93@hotmail.co.uk
much appreiated
i bought a baby corn snake 4 months ago, so its about 5-6 months old now. i have been feeding it 1 baby pinkie every weekend. when can i start feeding it a pinkie the next size up ? i have seen one and it is alot biggger than the baby pinkie. or should i feed it 2 baby pinkies every week?
my email is aaronhood@live.com. hope to hear from you soon
i bought a baby corn snake 4 months ago, so its about 5-6 months old now. i have been feeding it 1 baby pinkie every weekend. when can i start feeding it a pinkie the next size up ? i have seen one and it is alot biggger than the baby pinkie. or should i feed it 2 baby pinkies every week?
my email is aaronhood@live.com. hope to hear from you soon
Hey Mud Dog,
I have two corns living together(Both about 3 1/2 foot.), recently one of them has not eaten for a couple of weeks so I offered the mouse to the other one two weeks running. (He'd already had one adult mouse already.)
He's now sitting in his water bowl, very lethargic. He's usually active even after eating.
Do you think I've overfead him?
Should I leave him for a couple of weeks before feeding him again?
I'm a bit worried about him.
Cheers, Dave
I've bred my corns this year and I have over 25 hatchlings, some are very stubborn and not eating. its been abour 2 and a half months now and I am really starting to get worried, how to I force feed the hatchlings? I am not attached to them, but I would like to try everything before I just give up. So My question is: How do I force feed hatclings?
PLEASE SEND ANSWER TO cute_chick20000@hotmail.com (that is my email address)
hi. if you dont go through brumation, do i feed my female more fuzzies to gain some weight for the eggs? She is a year old now. I heard that the youngest to breed is 10 months old. So i need some more information so i can breed my corn snake. Thanks. You can answer at my email. sandoneaton@yahoo.com
I forget to say that i feed mine 3 fuzzies every 10 days. So if need to feed her more, should i feed her one between the 10 day. like 1 fuzzy between the 10 days? thanks email is above in my other comment.
sandon-
Age is not a perfect measure for when to breed corns because they grow at different rates.
If you want to breed, the female needs to be at least 3 feet long. If your snake hasn't even moved up to full sized mice yet then she's probably not big enough.
Sorry I left this out: the general rule for breeding is 3 years old, 3 feet long, and 300 grams.
Hi, i have two corns living together. Recently one of them has started to regurgitate his meals. Im not too worried at the moment because its only been two consecutive weeks, i have been reading a bit about it and i am going to wait 2 weeks before feeding her and then feed her a small pinky (normally i feed her fuzzies). Could you give me any tips on regurgitating, and i defrost my rodents in warm water for 2-3 minutes, is this a problem ?
i have 2 femail cornsnakes 1 of them has some infirtal egg in her how do i help her and what have i got to do plezzz help
haw do i know that shes having babbys
Hi I'm a new snake owner and I have a snow corn that's a female about a year old and she has only shed once I feed her 2pinkies a weak but she is still pretty small
How long after the female lays her eggs does the male have to be kept out of the cage to assure that he does not mate her again? Do all the eggs have to be removed and put in an incubator? My female had 11 eggs this am and 5 were not attached to the rest of the clutch. Both snakes were fed this pm and currently the female is outside the egg box and the male is in the box. will he keep them warm/ Will she take care of them if he is not in the tank to stress her? Any suggestions?
do the eggs have to be seperated
sorry i didnt mean to hit the post comment but when i said do they have 2 b seperated i meant like not touching but still in the same incubator.and what temp does the mother of these eggs cage have 2 b at?
hi there
does any body know how long and thick a three year old female corn snake is ment to be? i am not sure with mine and i haven't been able to find a snake size scale to monitor and check these things out, if any body knows, please let me know.
thank you.
I have a 2 year old female (I think she's a female) cornsnake and I'd love to get a male. What happens if she rejects him? And how exactly do I introduce them? Can't I just put him into her tank and supervise them?
Hi Mud Dog, can you please tell me how I go about convincing my mum to buy me another cornsnake for christmas????
Hello Mud Dog!!! I have a two foot long corn snake (unknown age) and I feed her 1 fuzzie a week, I got her somewhere around a year ago and she was one foot long then, so my question is: is she too small or too large?
Hi again Mud Dog, well I have another question, I read and printed out a care chart at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chris.ric/index.htm, and part of it said (in the breeding section) that you can breed two corns (for the first time) that have NOT been bred before without seasoning them. So do you think thats true or did I misunderstand him/her? Either way, I would really appreciate it if you would answer both of my questions soon. Thanks,
Isabelle
PS: also you can email me at horseloveriz@yahoo.com ;D
Hello. I have been keeping snakes now for well over 10 years, but I am very distressed about my one female...
I did not have her from birth, & I am not sure how, when, or what happened, but the person I got her from(she was about 4years) told me she had broken her tail earlier in life, but it hasnot given her any trouble, that he can see. The first year I had her, she laid eggs, & they all hatched(14 of them!)but after that, she didnt keep her food down. she kept puking it out(for about 4months!), & we had to slowly, feed her little bits, untill she was strong enough again to digest her normal amounts, like re-abilitating an anorexic person. She laid eggs again the year after that, & the year that passed now, but non hatched(my male is 22years old mind you) she luckily didnt vomit up her food again either. But, sorry, back to my worry, her tail is broken/bent right on top of her anus, & I noticed that after her last batch of eggs, its making a sort of puffiness, or like swolen area just infront of it. How will I know If this is caused by an egg that got stuck? without putting her thru the whole ordeal of draging het to the vet? & is there any way to solve this problem(if it is a stuck egg)from home?She is still her actice self, & it doesnt seem to be bothering her at all, she still swims, eats, craps, climbs like she use to. Please help.
Isabelle!
All true, as long as they have not been bred or winter previous. Once they have been bred then they well need to be wintered to breed again. Also you once you have removed the eggs to an incubator tell her shed her skin & she should breed again. Always make sure the female as enough fat reserves.
For your small corn: it tends to extend longevity when slowing growth in snakes but if you intend to breed you will need to feed the snake up if it’s a female as the growth dramatically slows down at the age of 3 yours
Sorry: I’ll post that again as it didn’t sound right lol
All true, as long as they have never been bred or winter previously. Once they have been bred then they well need to be wintered to breed the following year. Also: if you have removed the eggs to an incubator, wait for the female to shed her skin and she should breed again. Always make sure the female as enough fat reserves.
For your small corn: it tends to extend longevity when slowing growth down in snakes. If it’s a female and you intend to breed her then you will need to feed her up as growth dramatically slows down after the age of 3 yours.
hiya man..can i introduce my corn snakes if female is smaller??my male is about 4.5feet, albino female 3.5feet.
What would happen if someone fed their corn snake an egg? Not a chicken egg because that might be to big, but like if you bought one somewhere. Do you know? Please leave a comment.
Egg eating corn snake lol
Something I've never tried.
Yellow rat snakes love egg's, They are known as a chicken snake in some arrears as they will raid chicken pen for for young chicks & egg's .. I have fed some of mine on pigeon egg's.
I found a baby corn snake with a broken tail will it survive?
I have a corn snake he's 11 yrs old and I've never had a problem with him eating. He's always been a pig. But he hasn't eaten for 3 weeks now. I also have noticed that he's staying on the cooler side of the tank rather than the warm side. Should I be concerned?
how do i know when to stop playing with my snake if its time to shed?
If you have any questions about caring for your corn snake including the breeding and hatching, seeing as the owner stopped posting, look me up on facebook. In the search bar on facebook type in:
Mrs.Moonlight@hotmail.ca
My corn is about a little over 7 weeks old...... What is the best temp for them in the day time and at night.... Woul appritiate an answer.....
Ps good site. Found it very insiteful thanks
If I were to breed my Amel male and a Normal female, would the young yield a mix between the two morphs or something in between the two?
What do I do if my snae does not eat one time because this last feeding he did not want to eat so I put him back in his cave and I put the rat in there and he ate it but would not eat the other he is barley eating fuzzys
Hi there, I was just curios what the size of a 9 month old female corn should be?
what if we don't whont to breed our snake
I have a baby corn snake about 5 months old its measures 1 ft 2in that I bought 2 weeks ago, I've tried feeding it but it won't eat I'm very worried its me first snake and I don't want nothing to happen to it
ni i just bought a 2 year old corn snake does it have any fungus on it i am prone to fungus ear probkems would any contack with it give my any fungus please respond to mtgr2288@yahoo.com..bye
Hi I've just recently gotten a corn snake hatchling, I've had him since christmas eve of 2011 and have been feeding him two pinkies a week and haven't had any problems with him regurgitating. But two weeks ago he regurged so I waited a week to feed him and he's done the same thing for this feeding which was this tuesday. I'm really worried and don't know if this means something is wrong with him. I really would like your imput so if you could please email me at biancagsmith0318@gmail.com thank you
Where did you get this information about breeding siblings together being dangerous?! This is completely untrue and is infact the way that a lot of the different morphs were created! Ever heard of selective line breeding? Maybe you should look it up ;) Also, your (mis)information regarding the feeding of baby corns whilst technically correct, ie don't feed them until their first shed is due to undigested yolk still in their stomachs. It is not dangerous to feed them before they shed, just unlikely that they will eat due them not being hungry. Please do not give information to people who need it if you do not know the facts and where you are unsure then please double check. Knowing the facts is important to progress in this hobby. Thanks
hi hope someone could help here just after a bit of advice really i have a corn and a rat that have grown up together, there around 3 yrs old now and have begun to start chaceing each other around the tank, the rat is always on top chaceing the corn, then they start kind of what looks like shocking each other they both jump as throuhg they just been hit with eletric???? the rat is happy as ever eatting and stuff but the corn has gone off its food?? any ideas??? HELP PLEASE!!! adietonks1979@hotmail.com or facebook me at adietonks easy to find. thanks
my snake is a baby and is 2 months and is uboyt 1 foot whut shude i feed it?
Ok so I got 2 corn snakes back in October/November and it's now almost May. I have a red one and I had a pink one. The pink one never ate correctly and only ate about 4-5 times I had it. It died, so I took it back in to where I got it and I got another one. Its grey. Now my questions are...my red one was always plump and looked good. The grey one is a little bit larger. I kept them on the same feeding schedule.
A few times after getting the grey one, I fed them both and they both regurgitated. I waited a week and a half and fed them again. They did the same thing. I looked online and it said the temp might be to much. So I turned the heating lamp off. I fed again and the grey one ate and kept it down. The red one ate and regurgitated it. I tried again and he didn't want it. He ended up shedding and he showed signs he was hungry. So again, I fed him. He ate but about 2 minutes later regurgitated. I try waiting a bit like it says but now he's not even interested. I tried force feeding and he latches on like he wants it but pulls back. I can't get him to eat. I tried again last night and ended up giving it to my grey one. He ate it and was fine. The red one is now thin like the pink one was. I cracked an egg and beat it some to mix it together and gave him some. He ate it and seemed to enjoy it. I just want him to have someeeee nutrition. What can I do? Whats wrong with him?
Help please! I'm sorry its so long but its the best way to explain it. Someone please email me at elexisbball@aim.com. Please please please. I need help! Thanks!
I have a 9 month old corn snake that eats pinkies and he hasn't eaten in 4 weeks. He doesn't even seem interested in food. I've tried to put the food in a container with him but nothing, also I tried to buy a live pinkie and he was actually scared of it from what I can tell. I don't think he is losing weight but I can't be to sure. How can I tell if his weight is to low? thanks
Hi I have 2 corn snakes of about 5 months old how do I know when to give them the next mouse size or can I feed them 2 of them
I have a corn snake and a rat snake in a tank together, they never fight and get on really well, I got my corn snake first but ever since the rat snake joined they spend all their time curled up in their hide together, their temperature is perfect and the tank is more than big enough, they are both eating and shedding well, is this normal behaviour? My corn snake was really active before the Rat snake came along
Hi this might be a question you have already answered but I need to know for myself!
I feed my snake a week ago a medium sized rat pup, my cousin said that it would be ok as he got snakes himself and he feed them that size before for my snake age and size, so I went ahead and feed him.
Now I wish I didn't.
First I defrosted it for two hours and then warmed it for ten minutes, when I took him out of viv he was fine, then when I put him into his feeding viv and gave the rat pup, he stuck for it which was normal, but then it look like he was struggling with it but he carried on swallowing but after two minutes I began to worry.... Then he regurgitated it, I put him back into his viv and waited two days and feed him small rat pup which he didn't want or to even sniff which is unusually for him. I feed him today a small fuzzy which he struck for aggressively and then drop it a sniff it and then ate it. But I gave him another small fuzzy as I didn't have a medium mouse, he didn't want to strike for it so I letter it in the viv and he then began to sniff, nudge and then began to eat it form behind first. But then he regurgitated it and didn't want to know it.
Do you think that he could have a problem with his jaw or could he have done something internal to him.
Please could you send email to Steven.wood37@btinternet.com as i am worried for my best mate.
Thanks
Regards Steven wood










nicko guzman 3 years ago
How does a corn snake break its jaw.They usually give up an extra large meal and their jaws can dislocate since the jaws are not connected