Mean Adult Corn

Originally Posted by SnakeNbake

If I don't post again, it probably means he took me out in a blaze of glory.

You'll forever be in our hearts. We corn people never forget a fallen comrade!

But you'll be ok. Your plan sounds good. Skip the bath. I think you both are going to be fine.

Good for you to get the snake away from the negligent owner.
I'm guessing the snake is just scared, it doesn't sound like he got handled much. I bet he's bluffing to keep the big scary predator (you) from gobbling him up. Also he probably associates the tank lid opening with being fed, a conditioned response which you can break if you are willing to handle him some. Take the chance of being bitten. Most snake owners have been, it doesn't hurt much, it's mostly a psychological thing you should try to overcome since you are now a snake owner.
Put on the gloves like everyone says and handle him a little, I think when he realizes you are not out to get him he will calm down. Corns are known as good pet snakes because of their calm dispositions, though there are some exceptions.
Congrats on your new pet and kudos on the rescue

Even a wild caught corn usually is pretty docile. You did not say how long you have had this snake. However, I don't think this is a case of him just settling in for a few days as he probably doesn't even know he's in a new environment since he's still in his old tank. If he is being aggressive and not just defensive, he may have actually been abused. If that's the case, you will have a long road in rehabilitating him

I agree with the vet visit recommendation. If he turns out to be healthy, then you can start socializing him. I would take it slow though. Rather than yank him out of his viv to feed him, I would put a smaller sterilite tub in his viv with him and wait for him to crawl in with the prey. Once he's done that you can put the lid on the tub, remove it from the viv, and clean his viv. Kind of a modified "hot" handling. Since he's used to eating in his viv, he should take to this routine.

Once he's used to eating in the sterilite tub and being handling via the tub. He will become less aggressive/defensive and you can try handling him. However if he continues to hate being handled, I would just treat him as a hot (as described above) and enjoy your new acquisition from afar.

I also would reassure you that the worst corn bite isn't any worse than an average cat scratch. I admit I've only experienced five or six snake bites in my lifetime and they have been from medium size snakes less than four feet long. So if any of you out there feel that I should be advocating more caution, please jump in.

I just feel that even among ourselves we still have a snake phobia...a primal fear of being bitten. I used to jump back six feet when my three foot king would strike at me. I was 30 years old before I reconciled what I knew with what I felt. I'm 57 now and when one of my snakes tries to bite me, I feel like such a bully, forcing my 100,000 grams on this 300 gram snake.

Sorry for the wandering reply, but I feel so bad for both the snake and the new owner when handling ends up being so stressful. I'm sure you will be able to work it out with the new guy.

Sounds like you have a pretty good plan...and an even better attitude. I'm liking the humour...

Keep up the good work, and your new pet will come around. I'm guessing if the guy didn't have the time and energy to clean the cage or properly feed this snake, it was probably "beneath" him to go out of his way enough to physically abuse it, too. You probably just have a snake that has never been handled and is associating the opening of the lid with both food and predation. Show you him you won't hurt him and feed him outside his enclosure, and you should be OK.

All the suggestions are great!

I'm a newbie. I have had my adult corn "Luna" for about a month now. When I first saw her, her owner (and our friend, Stephen H.), opened the lid of her tub and distracted her first by using a turkey baster (he dangled the tip near her head), and then he lifted her up from another direction with his free hand. She was fine. He says that sometimes they think they are going to be fed, so that's why they sometimes are aggressive. Maybe your corn wasn't fed frequently enough either, so he is waiting for that mouse! Just another angle.

At any rate, I have never had a problem lifting Luna out of her tank and I don't use a distraction. She is a "mouse killer" when she's fed, has to be sure to kill that dead mouse! I love handling her. I hope your boy will come around with your patient handling.

Update: Well I got the new tank set up and was cowering in fear over the idea of picking up Killer Vonkillsalot to move him into it. So I put on two...yes, two pairs of gloves and took the lid off the tank.

The following commentary is graphic and not suitable for all ages. Viewer discretion is advised.......

I have never seen anything move as fast as that snake did. He struck me three times before my hand was even close to him. I kept trying to calm him with soothing phrases like, "Why must you treat me as if I killed your mother....and ate her lifeless body...in front of you...while laughing in your direction?" When I picked him up I was hoping it would be magical like meeting a unicorn...that could sing. Instead it was more like a scene from Jaws and I wasn't the one with all the pointy teeth. Whoever said their bite doesn't really do any damage, you owe me two bucks for new gloves because he not only damaged them, he sent them to live with Jesus.

Oddly enough, he became really docile after putting several puncture holes in me. Perhaps it was just from being out of the tank, or because of my ninja like skills in keeping him from gnawing off my face, but he stopped biting. I'm pretty sure he'd have kept on clawing me if he could though. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure I saw him roll his eyes at me when I showed him his new pool to hang out in when he's not too busy sleeping or trying to maim me.

We've made some progress and he has a new habitat now so we're doing alright under the circumstances. Next up, a trip to the vet and then the store to get more gloves. I sure hope they sell them in bulk.

Thank you all for the advice and support.

Well done! It took a few months for my bitey rat snake to calm down, Just carry on this way and you'll be fine (I used cloth gardening gloves for the first couple of months though)

On your new tank setup, you need 2 hides, one for the cool side and one for the warm side. And a UTH needs something to regulate it, either a thermostat or a lamp dimmer. Last mot impotrtant item is a digital thermometer with a probe. Put the probe directly on the glass right over the UTH under the substrate so you can measure the hottest temp. Adjust thermostat or dimmer to a temp of 85 at the UTH.

An unregulated UTH will get to over 120 degrees which can burn and possibly kill the snake.

Forgot to add...

Digital Indoor/Outdoor thermometer $9 WalMart
Lamp Dimmer $9 WalMart or...
ZooMed 500R thermostat 19.99 plus ship reptilesupply.com

Excellent news! When are you going to feed him?

Nanci