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our wild caught

ashleynicole

New member
so were not sure if this was somebody's escaped pet or a truly wild corn. But my husband picked this little guy up almost a year ago from someones porch (someone who did not want it there! lol) and he was so pretty and docile we decided to keep him. Now we catch wild corns and yellow ratsnakes around here all the time so we are not ones to keep everything we find and I would be open to POLITE opinions on keeping wild caught corns.

he hasn't struck at us which ive found odd because the last wild caught corn I picked up would literally latch on to me and gnaw. however he DOES musk occasionally and I've never had a corn snake musk me. kingsnakes on the other hand.... so it makes me wonder if it might have some king snake blood as well because he will rattle his tail when we open the cage. of course ive had the wild yellow rat snakes rattle and musk when catching them so maybe its normal.

Anyway let me know what you guys think. I dont know how to sex them so I am just assuming male for the time being.
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Here are my 'polite' thoughts. I think if you catch a wild corn and wish to keep it for your personal pet, go right ahead. Why not? I think all of our corns came out of the wild. Look at the 'Okeetee' and the Palmetto.
Your corn looks like a wild or normal variety. Maybe Miami type...but I am very, very novice.
As far as musking and biting, I have two here that bite me multiple times every second they get. One pegs my face and tries her best to nail me. It is funny now because she is a hatchling but I have no idea what I am going to do with her if she continues to do this when she gets larger. Both of them were captive bred and hatched.
Enjoy your sweet and beautiful corn.
 
Actually now that I think of it, the fact that the corn is domestic is one of the reasons I wanted this snake. If one of mine escapes to the great beyond, they are native to this area...minimal to no impact on the environment. Pythons and others, just look at South Florida. What a mess.
 
I've collected scores of corns and kept them as pets. Really, they are no different from captive animals, other than being a bit flighty.
 
the colors are the main reason we kept this one. They were just stunning. And he is the most docile wild ive caught except for the musking but like I said our king snake musks a lot lol. im gonna get him sexed next repticon we go to.

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I would be thrilled to find a wild one. I only find Rattlesnakes and Cotton Mouths. They don't make me happy.
 
One of mine is a wild caught. Never even hinted at a strike. Is the most mellow snake I've ever had, doesn't dart away or try and escape just crawls all over me.

I caught a yellow rat last week and he never tried to strike at me, I was amazed how calm he was. I kept him in a tub for about 30 minutes so I could show my dad, and when I went to release him I reached right in the tub and picked him up, would have thought he had been handled a 100 times before.

Nice looking corn. Where are you at in FL? How big is he now?
 
He looks like a pure corn to me. I don't think corns and kings interbreed in the wild.

Personally, I don't care for collecting animals out of the wild to keep, but seeing as corn snakes are not endangered or anything, it doesn't bother me as much as other species. I also might feel differently if we had wild corn snakes in my area! :)
 
that picture was from today actually. I think my husband found him actually maybe 6-8 months ago.

we live in central Florida ever heard of the villages? im about an hour from orland maybe an hour and a half from tampa.

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oh I dont live in the villages I live in a town nearby. and I don't have to worry about sinkholes. we rent :)

actually kind of serves them right in the villages... they are draining all of the natural water sources and building cracker jack box homes on swamp land... and then complain when they have snakes and gators on their property. I used to work in the ER at the hospital there and a Lady got a dry bite from some sort of pitviper because she was walking in tall grass looking for her softball and she said they should've made sure there were no snakes in the tall grass... seriously. I told her she was lucky it was a dry bite and she better be careful in any dense grass or bushes in Florida because it was the snakes home first.

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He looks like a pure corn to me. I don't think corns and kings interbreed in the wild.
I've never heard of it. Corns are on the their menu.
Personally, I don't care for collecting animals out of the wild to keep, but seeing as corn snakes are not endangered or anything, it doesn't bother me as much as other species. I also might feel differently if we had wild corn snakes in my area! :)

I bet you would! I could collect all summer and not come close to catching as many as the DOR corns I see on my way out herping. One thing I miss about living farther east was all the corns. It's mostly black rats at this elevation.
 
He looks like a pure corn to me. I don't think corns and kings interbreed in the wild.

Personally, I don't care for collecting animals out of the wild to keep, but seeing as corn snakes are not endangered or anything, it doesn't bother me as much as other species. I also might feel differently if we had wild corn snakes in my area! :)

I agree in the respect that I don't generally keep animals out of the wild. We generally catch and release mostly to keep people from killing them. A lot of people know we like reptiles so will call us to get them out of their homes or yard.

I brought home a juvie black racer from work a few years ago and let him go in our back yard. we border a state park so were in an ideal area to release in. ive also rescued and released baby squirrels from time to time and other small wildlife that we're allowed to of course (can't touch some things like gopher tortoises for example).

But my husband says this snake has the good life now. lol. and I cant argue with him. I do worry about parasites. although we kept him on paper towel in the beginning and have never noticed anything unusual in his stools or anything.

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The biggest risk of internal parasites would be nematodes, which can't be seen in the stool. A vet (or you, if you have a microscope), can do a flotation, and look for eggs. Treatment them is simple. FWIW, I had one CB snake show nematode eggs, so it's not *only* from eating wild prey.
 
I would assume nematodes can be treated with Fenbendazole just like aquariums?

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I honestly had considered treating the wild caught preemptively with fenbendazole it is nice and broad spectrum and has an extremely high safety margin. I just never got around to it and he never showed any illness. I would think by 6-8 months something would show. although I've still kept him separate from my other snakes and always wash my hands after handling.

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I never treat any animal for parasites I don't know they have.
 
I never treat any animal for parasites I don't know they have.

where do you live?


Here in Florida it is absolutely necessary for year round routine worming of cats and dogs. Even my indoor only cats are wormed every 3 months because I can track in eggs from anywhere in the environment. And my dog goes outside to do his business several times a day so he is wormed every 2 months. (although monthly is reccomended).

Now my snakes don't go crawling around outside, I might sit and hold them but for the most part wash hands before and after and they are fed frozen thawed so I wouldn't worry about them picking anything up. I do take my bearded dragon outside on a leash and he runs around the house but I haven't wormed him although even the herp vet reccomended routine worming of reptiles the one time I went years ago. (when my ball python had scale rot)

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