cornsnake as pet ???

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gowersponger

Settler
Oct 28, 2009
585
0
swansea
my 2 boys are wanting a corn snake and since they mentioned it to me iam thinking its a good idear to :eek: the missus isn't :red:.
any way we can get round her lol. have any of you folk any experience ?? many thanks . iam hopeing I can have a viv with a heat mat under it and a office style lamp now and again . ive spent a lot of time reseching but so many people say so many difrrent things:confused:
 

Paddytray

Settler
Jul 11, 2012
887
0
46
basingstoke
Other than mice in the fridge and being religious with feeding time / defrost time for mice also they are cool simple pets . My friend had 2 for years

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Marmite

Life Member
Feb 20, 2012
284
1
Gloucestershire
Just saw this post and thought I'd pass it over to SWMBO as she used to look after one at work.

Corn snakes in general are fab pets. If you handle them often they become very tame and I believe enjoy the attention but they tend to shire away from tapping on glass and being poked! They also need to be left alone when they have turned blue (are ready to shed a skin) as their eye sight is impaired and they scare easier. Our 4 year old learned quickly how to handle Heidi and we never had a problem..though when the snake was the size of a shoe string she was an excellent escape artist and enjoyed the freedom to roam. We would find her curled up in drawers, behind cabinets and once even in a box of tissues left on a high shelf!!! (It took hours to find her!)
Heidi was housed in a 2 1/2' viv with a heat pad at the back, a polystyrene/foam mat underneath and a bulb built into the lid. The heat mat was on a timer so it was never forgotten to be put on, the light we switched on in the morning & turned off at night. In the tank we had a layer of bark chips & a large tunnel of bark to hide under & help whilst shedding her skin. A water trough so she could drink (that's fantastic to watch!) and to bathe in when small. On occasions of getting her out we would fill the sink about an inch with water & she loved moving through that! A side opening viv is better than one that has a door on top if you have a choice, these usually lock too which helps with 'parent control'.
As corn snakes eat mice/rats of varying size, and in Britain it is illegal to feed live ones, it does mean having a tub of frozen 'food' in your home freezer this may not be appreciate by all members of your family! A sealed lidded box should not cause any problems!!! One thing I would advise to purchase is a pair of forceps or tweezers for holding thawed mice.
I never used to use them but once I tested the defrosted mouse & held it in my fingers dangling it by its tail. I guess it was still a little chilly and my nice warm fingers smelling of food were a better option!!! It was nothing more than 4 pin ****** but it was a shock for both of us! Saying that this was the only occasion anyone was bitten and was more down to my rushing feeding time than an aggressive snake.
All in all I would totally recommend having a corn snake as a member of your family. They are fascinating to watch and care for. I know this is a bit lengthy, but hope my experience helps.
 

daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,453
513
South Wales
Not trying to put you off but one thing to bear in mind is the lifespan of reptiles. I got my first lizard when I was 12 and still have her 20 years later. Easiest pet in the world to look after though so I'm not complaining.
 

davidpingu

Forager
Nov 3, 2012
132
1
Cwmbran
Obviously the replies you've already had probably tell you everything you need to know but for the sake of confirmation I thought I'd just say that as a former owner I agree with all of the above.

They are very gentle but owning two it was surprising just how much they differed in "personality". Our first was the firm favourite. It was the coral sort of colour I believe they call it. Fairly "boring" by some owners standard but also cheaper. She had an absolutely wonderful temperament and never once bit, even when our local vet visibly hurt her when having to remove the tip of the tail.

It's worth mentioning what happened I think so you can avoid the same issue. She managed to shed all of her skin except maybe the last half an inch of the tail. This went unnoticed for too long unfortunately and resulted in constricting the end of the tail to the point where it died and the vet gave it a bit of a pull.

The other thing I want to confirm is the escape part. They WILL escape given half the chance and they are a very active snake. Unfortunately for us that meant she escaped one night, never to be found again. My only theory is she got out and the cold eventually killed her or perhaps a cat or something. I was really gutted though, she was lovely.

We had another corn at the time too, a male albino. We bought him with the intention to breed with the female as you can get some fantastic colour variations but we didn't bond with him the same way so eventually sold him on. He was much more skittish and bit the wife once too, although as said their teeth are very fine.

Just to throw in a bit of a variable, take a look as the ball/royal python too. Again, very well natured. Never bit but very different personality wise. Was much slower with movement and not quite so active as the corn which is constantly on the move. The python use to quite often curl up on my chest whilst I watched TV!

When you mention a Python people often imagine a big huge 20ft thing but they are nothing like that. Normally they won't get as long as an adult corn but will get a bit more girthy.

Final tip with the frozen mice....

Rather than waiting for one to defrost on the side, just put one in a sandwich bag from the freezer and dip it in to a bowl or mug of boiling hot water for a couple minutes. It instantly defrosts and is nice and warm to the snake. Irresistible! :)
 
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lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
had my corn snake about 3 years now, got him as what looked like a little worm for 20 pound from e reptile show/dealer.

awesome pets, easy to look after, cost very little to look after, they do live a long time though....

mice are not so hard to get hold of, just ask the local pet stores more than you think have a freezer out the back, or can order them in for you. to use them just put them in a mug of hot water to defrost. buy some scorpion tongs to feed with, they are just like giant tweasers and it makes life a little easier.

my advise is not to use substrate, sand wood chips etc etc, it can cause problems when/if they ingest it when feeding, we just use layers of kitchen roll, toilet roll and kitchen roll tubes for him to hide in and any other cardboard tubes we can get hold of, he also has his water bowl and a nice big rock we sterilised before putting it in the house, easiest way is in the oven, just make sure its clean and not wet or it could crack/explode in your oven and you dont want that....

go for it mate, you wont regret it....:):):):)
 

daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,453
513
South Wales
It's worth mentioning what happened I think so you can avoid the same issue. She managed to shed all of her skin except maybe the last half an inch of the tail. This went unnoticed for too long unfortunately and resulted in constricting the end of the tail to the point where it died and the vet gave it a bit of a pull.

2 very important points here actually. I had the same problem with my lizard's feet and she lost a couple of toes. The other point is to find out where your nearest vet is that actually deals with exotic pets. Mine is miles away and means I need to take half a day off work when I have to go there.
 

Gav Bristol

Member
Jan 31, 2014
16
0
Bristol
I had a brazillian rainbow boa for years, snakes make great pets, just make sure you handle it a lot when it is small so it get's used to being handled, last thing you want is for it to get big and keep striking at you lol, also make sure you feed it with forceps and not your hands! If you keep feeding it with your hand, it will associate the scent of your hand with food, which for obvious reasons is not ideal lol, as for what substrate to use with a corn snake no needing a very humid enviorment id use woodchips bought from your local pet store, when he starts to shed you might want to add some sphagnum moss, this can also be purchased at your local pet store, this suff retains water great and under the lamp creates lots of humidity to help the snake shed. as snakes are cold blodded you want a warm end of the vivarium and a cooler end (put the water bowl in the cool end) the warm end should contain the bulb and the heat mat, the heat mat should also be connected to a temperature controller so you can regulate the temp, in the summer the heat mat should suffice on it's own, as for the bulb snakes like to curl up around them and burn themselves, so a protection cage around it is necessacary in my opinion, when the snake is small they can fit through the gaps in some of them, i got around this by rigging up some netting from a cheap small fishing net (like the ones kids use to try catch tadpoles and the like) inside the cage, also make sure you have cover for the snake to hide under in the vivarium, if the snake stops eating for a while, it may be getting ready to shed so don't panic as this can happen! just leave it a week and try again! The best way i found to defrost the mice ready for eating, was to boil the kettle and poor the water into a cup then leave the mouse in there for a while.

Hope this helps, I also used to keep tarantulas if you ever decide to get one for a pet, can help there to

Gav :)
 
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gowersponger

Settler
Oct 28, 2009
585
0
swansea
I wont thank you all individually but thank you all very much some really good advice there . well we went and picked our corn snake up yesterday he is the orange and red colour he came with a viv that was fitted with a normall household 60 watt light bulb which I thought was quite strange but they said hes always just had that with no heat matt . hes about 4 year old and looks healthy but all that was in the viv was one hide so ive been out today and bought some fake foliage and another hide along with some cork bark and a heat bulb . I went to 2 different reptile shops and they both told me completely diffrent things so ive decided to just keep the 40watt heat bulb on through out the day and turn it of at night I will see how it goes I will be feeding him hes mouse on sat night that should be fun . both my boys have handled him well and he seems great . I may upload a video of him on here next week . thanks again for all the advice .
 

lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
dude really glad you got your new family member, and respect to you for not just getting a brand new shiny snake and giving an older snake a good home....:):):):)

i hope you enjoy your new family member and he you for many years......;)
 

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