Corn snake: the best snake for beginners

Who it?

The corn snake is a small, non-venomous snake native to North America. For beginner terrariumists, maize is just a godsend. And here are just some of the benefits:

• has a calm disposition, non-aggressive
• grows small in size (usually 1-1,3 meters)
• has a good appetite
• sheds all her life
• does not require special skills and knowledge when maintaining
• relatively low price.

How to contain?

Keeping a maize snake, or as it is also popularly called gutata, is not at all difficult. As with any living creatures, warmth and food are needed, and snakes are no exception in this regard. For them, the usual room temperature of 25-26 degrees is enough, and at the warm-up point 30-32 degrees.

As for the terrarium, much depends on the size of the snake itself. If the snake is small 20-25 cm, then I prefer to keep such snakes in plastic containers with artificial horizontal ventilation. This is done so that the snake can quickly find food.

The advantage of professional terrariums is the ability to install the necessary lamps (incandescent and ultraviolet) and drinkers. Speaking of drinkers. In the house of maize, it must be. Usually in the house of a snake, a drinking bowl and a bathing bowl are one. If the water is regularly changed, then this combination is quite natural for the snake.

Not superfluous in the corn snake terrarium, there will be snags and stones. This is necessary so that the snake rubs against them during molting.

And one more important tip. Whatever house you choose for your snake, make sure that all lids close very tightly, ideally snap into place. If a small snake runs away, then it will be almost impossible to find it even in an apartment!

What to feed?

Feeding an adult maize snake is not a problem. I went to the pet store once a month, bought a mouse or a small rat, gave it to my pet, and you can forget about nutrition for the next 3-4 weeks.

But with small or small snakes, in terms of nutrition, you will have to tinker a little. The fact is that babies and adolescents of maize feed on a newborn mouse or “naked”. It is so inherent in nature that almost all snakes feed on rodents and nothing can be done about it.

How to tame?

Everything else is just the pleasure of communicating with maize. If you do not take the kitten in your hands, then it will also be wild. He will bite, scratch and yell with a good obscenity. It’s the same with snakes. With time, any snake can be tamed. In the case of the corn snake, taming is very fast. Take the snake in your arms two or three times, and it will become tame for you for the rest of your life.

What is the price? And how long does it live?

Corn snakes have long been bred in Russia, so the price for them is one of the lowest among the prices for snakes. The cost of babies is 5-7 thousand rubles. Officially, snakes live 9-10 years, although it has been proven that these snakes live much longer in artificial conditions.