I got home from school and my dad told me he found a snake. He didnt want to pick it up because he wasnt sure if it was venoumus. Well I went over and picked him up. It looks like a corn snake but im not sure. On his stomach he has what looks like black checker boxes. He is really nice looking and his pattern is red outlined by black. Then in his red he has faded oranges. I am going to post pics in like 10 mins. The batteries are almost finished charging. But from what I am describing..what do ya think? And do corn snakes have a belly with black checker square thingys. lol...I have 9 ball pythons some Im not a newb so snakes. But Ive never had a corn so im not sure. Thanks...pics coming in a little while.
Here are the pics of him. This is his stomach. It is very very very blurry which is why I put a link. It kinda gives you an idea of what I mean with the balck checkered belly. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Roc...ke/IMG_1266.jpg He is in a hatchling bin in a baby rack. The temp on the hot side is 85-86 and the cool side is 78-80. I have a water bowl in there and a cave for the hide. I am using paper towel as a substrate. Sound sutable for a corn if he is one? Also, how do you sex them? Is it the same as a ball python with probing or is there another way? Later on we are heading to the petstore. Should I get a 10 or 20 gallon? He is only a baby. So what do ya think, corn? If not, what? Thanks Joe
Yup.... looks like a nice normal corn to me, good find... and yeah, they do have that checkered belly on them....
Ya!!!! We are keeping him now that we know hes a corn! Since hes so little, should we feed him mice pinkies? If not, what? Also, does the setup I have now seem fine or do I need some changes? And what about sexing? Probing? Or is there a different way? Thanks Oscar!
temps sound fine, go for a 20 gallon if you are getting a tank, make sure the lid is well fitted, they are escape artists. Papertowel will do for a substrate, but these guys like to burrow and hide so I would use a wood shaving substrat, make sure its not cedar or some other aromatic shavings as they can irritate the snake. Pinkies are fine.... just try him with one to start, as a wild snake he might have the gorge reaction. Snakes, specially wild caught, sometimes eat more than they can really handle.... Sexing, probing is best, but get someone who knows what they are doing to do it of course... Also, make sure its water dish is big enough for him to get into, not all corns like it, but most of mine do, they take baths or soaks from time to time...
Thanks Oscar!! We are going to get him sexed thursday. Our really good friends (Steve and Andria) own a petshop where we get our food for our ball pythons and all of our supplies from. Steve knows what he is doing. He used to breed a lot of colubrids but now just breeds ball pythons and beardies. We called them to see if they had any 20 gallons and they are all out. He is ordering one for us and we should be getting it next wed or thurs. He's just a baby so im guessing a hatchling bin will do fine for him for a week. Also, the water bowl is big enough for him to get in. What is the avg size they reach? Both length and weight? How long will that take? Thanks again Oscar!!
my adults are around 4-5 feet in length, no idea on weight, never weighed them...lol.... should reach adulthood in a year or so.... and no problem, I am by no means a pro on corns, but am more than happy to share what I do know... Just for an idea of scale, that rock it around 6 inchs long by 4 inchs wide. I keep a rock in with them as well, forgot to mention that, I find they like to rub against it while in shed.... He's a male Anery Motley, you can see a wee piece of my snow in the lower right corner there as well, corns are a lot of fun cause you can get soooooo many different morphs!
Wow! Your two are beautiful!!! How much was your snow and Anery? How many do you have? Do you breed them? What is your favorite kind of morph? I hope they arent addictive like ball pythons are. lol I may wind up getting a morph at the reptile show if they are cheap. I am also getting a male ghost and male het albino (ball pythons). I only plan on keeping 2 corns at most because we are breeding ball pythons but I hope I dont end up getting more. lol Only because of the food. And what kind of bedding is that? Thanks again. I really appreciate it!
That corn you found is awesome. It looks like Oscar is using aspen bedding. You're lucky to have found one so nice. I wish I lived in Florida, then I could find some snakes too. Where I live, all we really have are Rattlers and Bull snakes.
Thanks Matt! I thought that was aspen. Thats what I use for the ball pythons. Should of known. Duh! Thanks again!
Yeah, aspen is highly recommended for corns. Most of the people who post on this forum use it as a substrate. I like coconut bark better, but it doesn't matter what you use. I just showed my girlfriend the picture of your corn and she loves it too.
Thanks Matt and your girlfriend! Funny thing is...we have both aspen and coconut bark! So should I use the coconut bark instead?
Corns will fully mature in about two years, and will probably keep growing for another year or so. My largest male is almost 1,200g and is over 5' in length. He's a Reverse Okeetee and is one of our MANY morphs: As far as favorite morph, it's tough, but I definately enjoy the various workings with Bloodreds and Lavenders. I also like anything with a genetic pattern mutation (i.e Motley and Stripe).
Feed him 1 mouse pinky every 4 days. My Corn went up in mouse size about every 1.5 to 2 months. He was on 2 pinkies every 4 days by the time he was 16 inches. I house mine on aspen shavings.
Aspen or coconut bark, it's really up to you. I think that coconut bark looks better, but it's hard to find poo in it sometimes (instead of taking 4 seconds to find it, it takes 20 seconds). Both are easy to burrow in and corns definitely like to tunnel.
And with power feeding you risk your snake regurgitating which puts you way behind as you then have to build your snake back up to the meal size you were on. We feed our corn every 7 days or there abouts, sometimes 6 sometimes 8 depending on my schedule and my sisters. Which ever day we can both be there.
Hmm.... my corn was 15 inches and 4 months when I got him at the beginning of December last year. I fed him every 4 days until late April when I changed to every 5 days. I changed to every 6 days in September. He went up in mouse size every month and half or so. My snake is 15 months and a little over 3 feet long and is not overweight. His last meal was a 4.5 inch long rat (not including the tail). I feed him every 6 days like this. He has never regurged either. How do you determine if that is "power feeding"? Or that feeding a young snake every 4 days is "power feeding"? In fact, what is "power feeding"? How do you define it?
