Who has a corn snake?

Question

What is the biggest size it grows and do they bite? Are they easy to handle? This would really be appreciated. (P.S. What do they eat?)
Thanks,
Kaisy

Answer 1

My Dad had one for years, but it was "on the payroll" so to speak. It lived in our barn and ate rats, mice, and would kill the poisonous snakes that tried to wander through. Basically, it had an endless supply of food out there. I know for a fact that his got to be about 6 feet in length. It may have gotten longer, but I remember when he caught it out in our yard, I was about 12 years old, and it was about 2 feet long maybe. The next time I saw it, I was 18 years old, and it was every bit of 6 feet, but keep in mind, that snake was eating GOOD. Dad never fed it anything. If it had ran out of food, it would have left the barn, but it never did. It finally died a few years ago, so if they have a place they like, they'll stay there and grow quite big. Will they bite? Absolutely. After all, they're snakes. But their first option is to get away from you as quickly as possible. You won't get bit by one if you aren't messing with it or handling it. But yes, there's always a chance they will bite you. Dad was/is pretty good at handling snakes, but he would pick that corn snake up sometimes to move it to another part of the barn, and it bit him at least once (once it got so long that Dad couldn't easily control him while he moved him).

Answer 2

I answered your feeding questions at your other question page, but can answer the other ones for you. Snakes can and will bite if provoked, but cornsnakes have a reputation of being among the most mellow of snakes, very seldom biting. Bites almost always occur when the snake is startled, so let them know you're coming and don't sneak up on them. Bites also occur during feeding time because snakes have a brain about the size of a pea and tend to get a bit stupid when they smell food. Fortunately their teeth are quite small and all you get for your trouble is an interesting pattern of tiny little pricks in the shape of the snake's bite. (It's kinda cool, actually, in a weird way.) Corns only grow to about four feet in length, and about as big around as a hot dog. Once they're accustomed to you they become very docile & easy to handle, though getting them to that point can take a bit of patience & TLC (tender loving care).

Answer 3

Most corns will grow to about 3-4 ft.
They are very easy to handle and won't usually bite, you noticed I said "won't usually bite" because they are wild animals. But for the most part they are very calm. They are great snakes to have first because of their temperament, very easy to learn with, and not aggressive. Another great snake to learn with is a Ball Python,
also not aggressive. That was my first snake, and I still have
her. Just remember, if any snake bites, it's always your fault.
They are doing what comes naturally for them. Protecting themselves. If you are planning to raise a snake I would first suggest that you research them first, and make VERY SURE you're ready for the responsibility. I've been raising snake now for 7 yrs and heard of terrible stories of how people treat the snakes. They thought they could take care of them, then find out that it's more than they could handle, especially once they've been bit. And oh yeah, they eat mice and rats. NOTHING ELSE.

Answer 4

I used to have a couple of them. They get up to 5 feet in length and are usually pretty tame and stay that way. As for easy to handle, they can be. Sometimes they'll just curl up under your shirt, other times they will crawl all over the place. As for what they eat, either mice or small rats (depending on the size of the snake). And I know it may sound horrible but you should knock the rodent unconcious so that it doesn't bite the snake. I lost one of my snakes to a bite that later became infected.

Answer 5

I have a corn, a caramel. Corns are generally very docile, but as they are living creatures with independent minds, one can never say that your snake will be docile. You get the odd bad-tempered corn, just as you will find bad-tempered labradors. My corn is extremely temperental, but it's not really fair to judge by him as he was abused by a previous owner and as such is very nervous of people.

Corns are generally very good snakes for beginners. Most will feed readily on dead (frozen/thawed) mice; in fact, it's not recommended to feed live as live mice can injure or even kill the snake and in some areas, it's pretty much illegal to feed live prey to another animal.

As for handling; cornsnakes are, in general, calm and easy to handle although babies will often squirm and nip as they aren't yet accustomed to humans. Most lose this defensiveness as they mature, although not all. And as previously said, it varies from animal to animal; some corns tame down in a week, some tame down in six months, and some never tame down at all. It's all a bit of a lottery.

If getting bitten bothers you, don't let it put you off getting a snake. My cornsnake has bitten me three times, and it honestly doesn't hurt. Doesn't even bleed. Even an adult snake latching on isn't that bad. I was once bitten and constricted by a five-foot adult which hung on for a good five minutes. Once he was off, the small scratch marks stung and bled for around ten minutes. The marks were gone within a week. Absolutely nothing to worry about. Stung a tad, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near bad enough to put me off handling snakes again. In fact, getting bitten can make you more confident because the first bite is always the worst - once you've been bitten, you realise it's not so bad and don't fear it so much.

Hope that helped. ;-)

Answer 6

i have one and a rat snake they make great pets and can get over 5 feet they eat mice dead(frozen/thawed) or alive. Any animal with teeth can bite if you dont handle him enough or are rough he will bite

Answer 7

I dont have one

Answer 8

kellogs has all of them