Our Corn Snake Care Recommendations

Snake Shopping List

◊ Tank or Terrarium (we recommend front opening) and Locks

◊ Under tank heat mat

◊ Thermostat (BN Link on Amazon is good)

◊ Aspen Bedding

◊ Water Dish

◊ Two Hides (or more)

◊ Branches to climb on

◊ Fake leaves for hiding (lots!)

◊ Appropriate Sized Food

◊ Harbor Freight Temperature gun

◊ Tongs

Corn Snake Environment and Temperatures Requirements

Corn snakes need to have a range of temperatures from one side to the other which enables to the snake to regulate its temperature as needed.

Warm Side: 80-85°F

Cool side: 75-80°F

Many corn snake keepers use heat pads under the tank or a White light heat lamps. We highly recommend a under tank heat mat. Plug your lamp or heat mat into a thermostat so you can dial it down if it gets too hot. A lamp or mat should be placed on the extreme left or right of the enclosure to create the desired gradient. This gradient can be easily measured by using a temperature gun. Corn snakes thrive between 65-75% average humidity. Keep track of humidity levels with a hygrometer. Do NOT use the ones with sticky as snakes might get stuck to them. We recommend the Exo Terra Hygrometer, with the probe placed in the middle of the enclosure. You should not have to mist the enclosure. Having a water bowl a snake can climb in and out of will help them with their sheds.

Feeding Your Snake and Heating Your Snake’s Food

Please follow the feeding instructions listed on this guide. If your pet skips eating once or twice while getting settled in that wouldn’t be too worrisome as some eat right away and others take a bit to get settled. Not all snakes grow at the same rate, so the rule of thumb is to offer prey items only a little larger than the snake is at its widest point. You do not have to move your snake to a tub to eat. Moving your snake will make it less likely to eat! You can leave the prey in the enclosure overnight for your baby.

Heating your Snake’s Food

  • Warm up a mug of water to hot but not boiling (Like you are making a nearly too warm to drink mug of hot cocoa).

  • Place Frozen food in the water and let it thaw out.

  • Once it looks thawed, take out of water and place on paper towel.

  • Check the temp with a temp gun. If it is around 80-85* you can feed to your snake. You might have to let it cool back down to 80-85*.

  • Using tongs, place in with snake. (Snakes may not always take it from tongs).

If the snake doesn't eat as soon as you place the food in the enclosure, you can leave the food in overnight and check the next day if it has been eaten.

Click picture to go to where you can order this mug.

 

FAQ: When to Move up in Prey Size

When feeding your corn snake the prey item should be about 1.25 or 1.5 times larger than the thickest part of the body. You should see a noticeable food belly when the snake eats the prey item (this goes for Live or Frozen Thawed prey). When you no longer see a decently sized bump, it’s time to move up. There are times that the next size up might still be too large, you can also feed two small pinkies instead of a large pinkie if you have a few left over. (Or do what we did and get another snake that eats that size. lol!).

All of our corn snakes come with a care guide that will tell you what size prey item the snake is currently eating.

Prey Sizes

Small Pinkies= 1-2 grams

Large pinkies= 3-4 grams

Fuzzy mice= 4-6 grams

Hopper or Small= 7-11 grams

Adult mouse= various sizes depending on size of adult corn snake

  • We get frozen rodents from A-List Animals (Cincinnati, OH), Bilby’s Ballroom (Owensville, OH or Middletown, OH locations), or online Rodent Pro or Polar Rodent.

Handling

It is recommended to wait about a week before handling. Young snakes are squirmy but with handling for about 15-20 minutes at a time, and doing that often, they’ll warm up to handling. Hatchlings are fast and squirmy! It is important to not handle him right after he eats to avoid regurgitation. You should see a bump from his prey- when that goes down (as he digests) you’re ok to handle your snake again. That’s usually about a day or so after. If he ever regurgitates his food, just wait a bit longer (example skipping the next feed and just wait until the one after). Also do not handle if the snake’s eyes have turned opaque or cloudy. This means that your snake is preparing to shed its skin and can’t see well, making them jumpy and possibly more likely to bite.