Classroom Corn: Moving her on weekends?

I will be introducing my corn snake to my first grade students within the next week or so.

The plan was to keep her at school during weekends and bring her home over long breaks, but I've come to love this reptile so dang much that I'd rather have her home on weekends when I can handle her than stuck in my classroom with no interaction.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to accomplish this. Is it best to leave her over weekends, or would moving her into a "school" terrarium vs "home" terrarium be okay? What about keeping her at school for a couple weeks and home for a couple weeks?

I could always beg my husband to let me buy another, of course...

Thank you for all opinions!

Is this an adult corn?
Is your classroom locked on weekends

We keep our class pet reptiles home most weekends during the winter mainly because of continual heating system failures at the school. None have gone to school since X-mas break because of the extreme cold ( hit -20 this weekend).

I'm thankful to have another educator to reply!

She is still a baby, purchased a little over a month ago from a pet chain so I'm not sure as to her age. She's 15" long, 15.5g if that helps.

I'm in West Texas so our temps don't get nearly that bad (-20... yikes!) but even with heating pad and timed day lamp, I was also concerned it would be cold on weekends. My door does lock.

How do you transport your reptiles? Do you have permanent terrariums in both locations, or do you keep them in tubs, etc. on weekends at home?

My domestic partner, Pam, is the educator with Teacher's Pet Reptiles. I'm the reptile keeper and breeder in the relationship. Most of the reptiles are in tubs in racks. We transport in a tub that allows no light in but has air holes. This year the permanent class pet is a leopard gecko. All others, like our 4 foot Tegus, are only at school for the day during the fall and spring.
In general with young small snakes, I prefer to keep the stress level at minimum. If transporting is to stressful for your snake it will let you know by going off feed.
Pam and I are always glad to see other educators using reptiles as class pets. It's funny that after all these years she has never had a child that was scared BUT most teachers wont enter her room haha...

Wow! That is so cool! It's very nice to "meet" you!

Thank you for the input. This is my first reptile to own and I'm so happy to introduce the snake to my kids. I only had a couple seem squeamish but they're also highly curious! My principal told me there's no way she was coming into my room now... I told her that was the point.

Gliss, the corn snake, is a fantastic eater so it'll be very easy to see if she's stressed. I like the idea of maybe bringing her up once or twice a week -- maybe as a Friday reward. She will probably stay up here more regularly towards the end of the year when we begin our study on animals and reptiles.

Thank you again for your help!

Yes, Pam's reward for being good for the week would be to bring in Teddy the Tegu, Blue the blue tongue skink and other reptiles and amphibians on Fridays!
It's sad how education in public schools has become so "robotic" now so it's nice to see you going outside the box with a classroom snake.

Your welcome!

Could you schedule feeding day to be a Friday after the kids leave that way you would have the normal 48hr waiting time down to a science


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Great news! I ended up taking Gliss to my classroom today for a visit. I bought a medium-size travel container and fixed it up -- and she did great! Even with 20 eager kiddos and being handled more than she is used to, she was alert and active.

Since we handled her in the morning, I thought it'd be fine to try and feed tonight since it's her day anyway, and she took to that pinkie without any issues! She's currently chowin' down.

I will take her up once or twice a week while it's still cold, but after Spring Break it should be warm enough that I can take her full setup and feel comfortable leaving her overnight (although I'll miss my evening times with her, lol).

Why don’t you buy a baby corn for school so that way the kids can watch it grow
And take it home in the holidays
That’s what I’d do
Pat Good luck


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Evening .. just thought I'd stop by and say hello .. I too am an educator who has their own pets .. some of which I take to school for education purposes .. but we also have our own critters at school in various animal rooms .. we are a high school and animal and marine sciences are part of our curriculum ... vocational school. We do have a reptile and amphibian room with various critters and they stay there year round as we have students, student workers, teachers, and farm forepersons which take great pride in caring for them amongst other critters. I can definitely see the concern in Maine if you have heat issues within your school .. spent and spend lots of time in the great state.. in Texas I'd be more concerned with being sure a corn didn't get too warm .. I never worry about mine on the cool end ... but they get restless if too warm during summer so I keep them cool and within a proper temperature gradient.
Best of luck with your little corn .. they make great pets and very nice education animals ... just had my freshmen this morning taking notes while the corn. hognose, and ball python kept them company .. amongst others! Critters teach students so many lessons .. education as it should be!

If you want to have your baby at home with you on the weekend, you could set up a 10 gallon Critter Cage (sliding locking lid) at home. I'd take her to school Monday, put her in her viv. Feed at school Tuesday. Take home Friday.

You want to make sure she doesn't get too hot or too cold, or escape, when you transport her. To transport a hatchling I would use a deli cup with holes, put inside a small Sterilite CD holder container (with the latching lid, and the handle- it's about 8" square, but you could also use a Gladware plastic container, with holes punched in the lid with a hole punch). I'd also order a Phase 22 phase change material pack from Josh's Frogs. In the winter, warm it up in 90F water. In the summer, keep it frozen, then take it to school with you for the trip home. I'd put the PCM panel and the snake in deli in other container in a lunch box type container, with a zipper. I move snakes around short distances like this all the time and they are safe, secure, and temperature controlled.