Oooh, it's a corn snake!

Hevach

I posted a reptile thread a few months ago, and I know there were several pretty well informed corn snake owners on here, hoping to get some of their attention.

Over their suggestions in that thread, I went with leopard geckoes as my first reptile (don't regret it one bit, fantastic little guys), but I'm still fascinated with snakes in general, and the opportunity came up today to get a very small corn snake for free. I didn't take the offer yet, but I'm strongly considering it. My main questions:

1. The guy's tiny, like the size of a shoelace. I know snakes are stretchy, but can they really swallow a pinkie mouse when they're this tiny? What do they eat when they're babies?

I mainly ask becuase he hasn't eaten since they got him. I want to chalk this up to stress, being in a small, unheated plastic cage with no substrate, but could it be that they're not offering the right food?
2. What's the growth rate? How big of an enclosure and how soon should I plan? In my last thread I think somebody said they can get four feet, but this guy's maybe four inches on a good day. Long term housing isn't an issue at all for me. I know they don't require absolutely huge accomodations and I have lots of size options on hand up to 4'x1.5', but he's piled in a small 4"x8" little plastic box right now, and that has to go, .
3. Biggest question: Heat. What kind of lamp do you use? How warm should their basking area be, do they need to be misted, or access to a moist hide like my geckos?

J

Hi there.

I've been keeping snakes for several years now and have many friends who have been keeping them for even longer, so I'll give you my advice on what I would do in your situation and you can take from it what you like.

Firstly yes Leopard geckos are great. I have two myself. Very inquisitive little creatures

Now to move onto your corn snake, it sounds (from the size, the not eating etc) that its a newly hatched one. Now they can be easy or buggers to get feeding. And yes they can handle a small pinkie mouse even at that size. Don't worry about that. Snakes can eat anything up to 1.5 (sometimes twice) their girth so a pinkie won't be a problem for the little guy/girl.

And the reasons the little one isn't eating is probably its still very young. Where did they get him/her from? How long have these people had it? How long have they been offering food? How are they offering food? In some cases little baby snakes need a bit of coercing to start feeding. I would try offering it a thoroughly defrosted warmed up pinkie on some tongs first.If that doesn't work you can try defrosting a pinkie warming it up and rubbing it on one of your geckos (this is called scenting). Sometimes that works. Another good way if that fails is to get a little waxworm tub (I'm sure whoever you buy your livefood for you geckos from should know what I'm on about - generally little yellow or green circular tubs with breathing holes in the top). Simply place the little guy/girl in there with a defrosted pinkie (inside their normal tub - don't want any escapes!) and leave them overnight. Usually the "Oh god, oh god its touching me, ITS TOUCHING ME!" will get the corn to eat the pinkie, just to make it go away. Its amazing how simply that works and can used on much older snakes too. I had a male Honduran Milksnake who went off his food for a couple of months and thats how I got him eating again. He eats everytime now, so long as I leave the mouse under his hide and leave him alone. Not all snakes are strike feeders. Some do just prefer you to leave it in with them overnight.

Now as to the size of his tub, I know people may be horrified by the snall size but actually its not bad at all for such a small snake. I'll let you in on a secret, snakes don't -like- alot of space. They tend to get jumpy and territorial. They feel safer in smaller spaces. Now I'm not saying don't give them any space but when they are young, slightly cramped spaces is not necessarily a bad thing. Once they are feeding reliably and regularly then you move them up a size.
I don't know if you get Really Useful Boxes over there but if not, just google them and you'll see what I'm talking about. Myself and alot of breeders over the pond here, tend to use these for hatchlings are they are very secure and come in a great range of sizes. All you need to do is punch small air holes in at varying places around the box to let in airflow. You can also use those plastic food containers with the locking lids as those will come in sizes small enough for this little guy/girl. But I definately recommend a clip lid box whilst they are so small. vivariums are great but corns are notorious for escaping whilst little. I know it doesn't look as nice but until the little one is bigger I'd keep him/her in a plastic box (sounds cruel I know but if you have proper hides and decorations, they can look pretty good. Check out http://www.reptileforums.co.uk this is a great place to read up about reptiles.). Then when he/she is bigger move him up to a vivarium. Corn snakes can get up to 6ft long for big ones and a 4 foot viv when he/she is much bigger would be brilliant. For now, with the plastic boxes I'd heat with a heat mat ON a thermostat. You don't want to fry the little critter. This thread should help answer alot of questions and perhaps go into corn care in a bit more depth. There are several different care sheets hanging around on that site and in google too so don't be afraid to look about. http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snake-care-sheets/287814-corn-snake-care-sheet-basic.html

Lastly if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm always open to talking to fellow reptile keepers

Nova_C

J's advice is all good, so I'll just relate some of my experiences with my corn Cerberus.

I have him in a 30 gallon aquarium, although corns can live comfortably in a 20 gallon for their entire lives. I have a mesh cover with clips that lock down and when Cerberus was about six months old, he managed to escape while the cover was locked. Somehow he managed to squeeze through the tiny gaps in the corners of the mesh. It's amazing what they can get through.

One of the things you can try to encourage feeding is to cut open a thawed, warmed pinky to help trigger the feeding response. If you're allowed live feeders where you live, occasionally that's the only way a snake will eat (Although I don't really recommend it, live feeders is a whole different can of worms).

Another great forum is www.cornsnakes.com. Kathy Love, who wrote the book on Cornsnakes you see in pet stores, is a regular there.

The Black Hunter

Feeding any animal a live meal is dangerous, this is much less a scolding or contradiction of Nova's ideas as it is general education. Hell its not even really relevant.

but even just a mouse can get one nasty bite in which causes lots of trouble.

As far as feeding it goes, warm it up a little, and jitter it like it's alive.