New Owner

Hey everyone, I was given a corn snake by a friend of mine, it's three years old and I hope it doesn't grow anymoer, its actually a lot bigger than I orinally thought. So I have basic questions that I haven't really found on any care sheets. Like, for one, I haven't held the snake because when it was brought to me we fed it so I have left it alone so it could digest etc. But when I do hold it how will it react to me holding it, like I'm afraid it will bite me lol. That and she said she had been feeding it live mice and I've read on the boards its not a good idea, so I adressed this to the previous owner and she said "its too hard to feed it dead mice because you have to make it get excited about it" so if someone can clear all this up for me I'd really appreciate it. Thank you!

Corn snakes are usually pretty docile snakes and rarely bite. How did the snake react when your friend handled it? Although the first few times you handle it your snake may be a bit nervous because it is unfamiliar with you, it will probably soon behave basically the same with you as it did with your friend. That is assuming that your friend handled the snake on at least a somewhat regular basis, and treated it well.

As to the feeding... many snakes will crawl up to a thawed rodent that is simply lying there and start to eat it. When you are first converting a snake to frozen thawed, you may have to wiggle the mouse around to get your snake interested, as your snake is accustomed to live prey. Also make sure that the mouse is not just thawed to room temperature, but it slightly warm when you feed it. Most snakes take frozen-thawed prey pretty easily, but it may sometimes take a little while to get an adult that's been eating live its whole life switched over to f/t. If you have any trouble getting your snake switched to frozen/thawed food, you can come back here for more tips, or search for past posts on the same topic. In the end you'll be glad you switched over though, it's much safer and cheaper to feed frozen/thawed!

The snake, at 3 years old, is probably pretty much done growing. However, snakes never really completely stop growing. After they're a couple years old, though, their growth rate slows down a whole lot. Once you get more comfortable with your new snake, you probably won't be so worried about its size anyway.

Well thank you so much for replying. She didn't handle it she claimed it was being "weird" and was it afraid it might bite her, but she assured me that it had never bitten her before, she even confessed at some times she had gone 3 weeks or more without feeding it, also she had no heat source on one side of tank as the care sheets say, I just assumed she did. and the snake seems fairly dirty, the water dish is deep but not very wide. So I'm just going to give it some time do digest the mouse before I attempt to bathe it. Anyway I hope I'll give the snake a better home than she did

It sounds like you are off to a good start, and I think you'll provide a much better home to the snake than your friend did. Since the snake was never really handled, it may be more nervous than I thought about being handled. I would give it about a week without any handling to get used to its new environment.

Then you can start handling the snake. I know you may be a bit nervous, but remember that the snake is way more scared of you than you are of it! Since it's not used to handling, at first you may just want to take it out for 5 minutes at a time, once a day, except when it's digesting. You should probably also give him/her a break from handling when it's in shed. You certainly don't need to handle a snake every day, but I recommend this for "taming" purposes (getting her used to being handled, and teaching her to trust you). Just be calm and gentle with him/her, and probably everything will go fine.

Thank you so much for being so helpful with me, I'm planning on posting a picture up of my snake in the gallery forum (once i think up a name) so check by there some time so you can check him/her out. Once angain, thank you so much for helping me, i really appreciate it!

Personally i think you should just grab that snake and start playing with it! The vast majority of corns are extremely docile and accept handling with very little fuss BUT the trick with handling corns is doing it in a way that makes the snake feel comfortable and safe. There are plenty of posts on these forums about handling snakes, but as a rough guide, pick it it gently, support its weight, especially in the middle of the animal, and dont make and sudden moves. The snake will make its own movements and basically all you have to do is respond to them in the right way to keep it happy. You`ll soon learn its body language and i very much doubt you`ll be bitten!
Right , now to think about names hehehe..
What colour morph is your snake? I named my snow corn Chione after the greek goddess of snow... perhaps that might give you an idea of where to start
Good luck and have fun with your new pet

Congrats on owning a corn! They are great creatures! Give the snake a about 24-48 hours after feeding and handle him! You probably picked up that their scientific name means deerskin, and that's excactly what they feel like, it's marvelous especially when he's been on the warm side of you enclosure!

It's sad that it wasn't kept well, but the fact that you are on the forums can make the snake sleep safer at night!

Go to http://www.users.tpg.com.au/godridge/jayelinda/kadreilia/shela/kname.htm

for some really funky names. Mines called Hayan, which means Tornado, because of his constriction!

Enjoy your child, because that's what they become, and may peace be your journey and consnakes your ride!

thanks everybody, and thanks for the names but i was thinking of naming it after something more personal..so i'm stuck between three names: dori (door ee), after my favorite character from a movie; jax, after my favorite NBA player (bobby jackson); grohl, after my hero (david grohl) but grohl just sorta sounds funny lol anyway let me know what you think...oh and i don't know the sex of it so it doesn't matter to me if its a boy name or a girl name lol