Laid back corn or about to croak?

[charlie1]

When I selected my normal I picked a snake that was not striking, rattling its tail or try to musk me and one that was calm while being handled. So far he has not tried to bite or anything in fact it is the opposite. He is almost to calm when I hold him like he might be sick. When I first go to pick him up he tries to hide or get away but as soon as he realizes he is not about to be eaten he just curls around my fingers and sits there. He even stretched his neck out the other day and laid his head on my palm. I am not used to this my former snake was never still in my hand and I read that corns are not either. So my question is did I just get a really calm snake that is comfortable with me or do you think the lack of activity while he is being held might be a sign of illness?

The snake eats and craps fine. His vent is clear so is his mouth and nostrils. His scales are nice smooth and shinny. His heated side above the sub under his hide is 81 am and 85 in the afternoon. there is a hide on the cool side. It never gets below 68 in the room.

 

[Nanci]

I think you got a really calm snake.

 

[charlie1]

I think you got a really calm snake.

It is odd. I have only had him for I guess 3 weeks now. When I first held him he would move around constantly. Now every time I hold him he moves around less and less. I even wonder if he is going to sleep because his breathing is the usual constant puffs then they get shallow. If I poke him he jerks and looks at me goes back to the usual breathing and then it gets shallow again. He moves around his viv fine and he was out and about this morning but instead of immediately running away when I approached his viv he just looked at me for a minute then slithered to the cool side and curled up in between his logs. It did not help me any that yesterday I went to the book store and found a book on snakes. In it I read about some horrible disease where they bloat up and might take as much as two years to die. I guess I am being paranoid.

 

[Nanci]

Well, you could always take him to a vet for a check-up. The disease you read about may have been crypto, in which the stomach swells and becomes palpable. If you have a young snake, I think the chances of him having crypto are extremely unlikely.

 

[pridecity]

My snake Mouse is really calm too. If you search my name, you'll find a thread called "Meet Mouse" and I think I describe her behavior a little bit. Mouse was gravid when I bought her and she laid a dozen eggs. Even being gravid and new, she doesn't seem to mind when the cat or dogs go by her tank (which is currently on the floor). She didn't even flinch when my puppy decided to taste her or when I kept trying to count eggs, though she did keep sucking in her belly and messing me up.

The worst part about her was that when I found the eggs, she was wrapped around them and it took me several minutes to get her to leave them. She lays still when I have her out (though she may just be tired from laying). She is smart though. She made two holes in the box I brought her home in and ended up figuring out the zipper of my purse. Hence the name.

Anyway, I think you're might just be really calm. Which is good right?

 

[charlie1]

My snake Mouse is really calm too. If you search my name, you'll find a thread called "Meet Mouse" and I think I describe her behavior a little bit. Mouse was gravid when I bought her and she laid a dozen eggs. Even being gravid and new, she doesn't seem to mind when the cat or dogs go by her tank (which is currently on the floor). She didn't even flinch when my puppy decided to taste her or when I kept trying to count eggs, though she did keep sucking in her belly and messing me up.

The worst part about her was that when I found the eggs, she was wrapped around them and it took me several minutes to get her to leave them. She lays still when I have her out (though she may just be tired from laying). She is smart though. She made two holes in the box I brought her home in and ended up figuring out the zipper of my purse. Hence the name.

Anyway, I think you're might just be really calm. Which is good right?

Being calm is definitely what I wanted since my three kids are very young and I do not want them to be afraid of snakes. Your observation about your snake's intelligence is interesting because my corn also seems more astute than my king snake ever did. He has already figured out his viv despite the fact he is only a baby and the viv is a 20gal. He also seems to already know me. If I am sitting in the floor with my three kids supervising them while they try to hold him he constantly tries to get back into my hand. If I try to hand him to one of my kids he will wrap his tail around my finger and he will not let go unless I remove him.

 

[Dreamsnake]

Your snake reminds me of my own snake Nim. She like to play bracelet and will cuddle my wrist for a long time without moving. I think she likes my pulse. She even prefers to be hand fed.
Now I did have a snake who died. He was more energetic of the two and would try to escape when I held him. We think he was a bad pick from the start. He was a clumsy snake and his body kinked.

 

[Miqote]

Pineapple is a very calm snake. He doesn't try to bolt when I scoop him up, and he will just hang out in my hand for awhile when I pick him up. He is also a very "calm" eater.. he will just gently take a pinky and eat it slowly.. lol.

Sprinkle on the other hand will writhe wildly when I go to pick her up, and squeeze my hand. When it's dinner time, I've had her flip around and snap at the pinky before I've even set her in the bin, she is quite an aggressive eater.

Based on my snakes.. I'd say they can definitely have GREATLY different personalities. More so then I would have expected!

 

[Stormy]

alex is very calm as well. When I first got her it was go go go. But now she knows me and after doing a little bit of exploring she is content to sit in my hands, and she is still pretty small, 22 grams when I got her in feb and 50 grams as of a few days ago.

 

[Caryl]

They're all individuals, just as any other creature. Most are perfectly calm about human interaction and some of them actively seek it - or at least seek to get out of the viv - by coming to a familiar hand. Intelligence is such a hard thing to quantify, but I'm certain that there are individual variances in corns just as in any species.

Charlie1, it sounds like you chose well since you wanted a calm animal with your kids. Your snake sounds perfectly healthy, and you're blessed with an especially gentle creature. Enjoy! And welcome to the wonderful world of corn snakes.

 

[ShenziSixaxis]

Bit of a bump on this, but I think if your corn is falling asleep, it's very used to you, relaxed, happy and healthy. The two sides of my desk I let my normal corn cruise on have places for her to hide in when she wants a break, and when she's done she'll come back out and either explore or try getting somewhere where she knows I'm not going to let her go. However, a few weeks ago, she curled up under a piece of paper, and when I moved it she didn't move, but she was breathing; so I moved my hand over her and only until I poked her did she move. So, she fell asleep on the desk under a minimal hide (considering there was a polident tube box there too she could have crawled into) in broad daylight next to me typing away on my laptop.

That's a happy and relaxed snake, to me.