Obviously, with any animal, there are a lot of opinions and recommendations as to their overall care. As an owner of corn snakes what are your most important observations or guideliness? I've found several internet sellers of corn snakes and would consider going that route when purchasing one.

Sites:

South Mountain Reptiles - Offering over 100 varieties of corn snakes

Corn Snakes for Sale at MoReptiles

Corn Snakes for Sale at JoniGarcia.com

Thank you.

Welcome to HC! I've never ordered one from an online source, so I can't really comment on that, but cornsnakes are wonderful snakes! The care sheet pretty much tells all the important guidelines and can be found here:

Cornsnake Caresheet (Pantherophis guttatus) - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

In my own experience, the biggest thing to watch for was that the enclosure wasn't too dry as the corn approached a shed. They don't require a high humidity, but I found if I misted a couple of times when I knew they were going to shed, their sheds would be perfect every time.

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~Juliane~

Thank you for the caresheet. Your help is appreciated.

My current cage is a 29-gallon Zilla Critter Cage. It has a lockable, sliding top.
Its specs are: L: 30.00  W: 12.00  H: 18.00

Would this be suitable for a corn snake?

Sure it would, especially while your snake is still not full grown! I had mine in 20 long Critter Cages, and the 29 gallon is the same length and width as the ones I had. The 29 is just taller, which doesn't matter because corns don't really climb (and you wouldn't want to have a high branch in there because they tend to fall off things that are high). My daughter had a 40 gallon for her cornsnake, but I don't believe it's absolutely necessary to have one so large. If you liked though, you could always get a bigger one later on...

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~Juliane~

A cage that size will suffice for a corn for its entire life.
The most important aspect of keeping a corn is a secure cage. If there is a way out, they will find it.
As Juliane stated they are not fussy as to humidity. That right there puts them a step over Ball pythons as a first snake.
I have never ordered online either. I prefer expos to buy from breeders and to be able to see, handle and personally inspect my perspective purchase.
I have never heard of the other 2 but South Mountain has been in business quite a while.
You might also check out Kathy Love's Corn Snakes 4. She is considered the Queen of cornsnakes, has a very good reputation and is the author of "The Cornsnake Manual"

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Thanks, Merlin. Kathy Love has a great selection of corn snakes. It will be difficult to decide on which color/pattern I like best. I plan on going to a pet store first to see one up close. That should help.

Yes, that's what I remember you telling me back when I was getting my own corn snakes. My daughter only had the 40 gallon for Spectre because she spent her own money to get it, and she wanted him to have "lots of room to slither around" . Jack and Sally did just fine in my 20 longs, and I know they would have been fine their whole lives in those tanks (if I had been able to keep them ).

Kathy Love's Cornsnake Manual is really good. I liked it better than any other cornsnake book I found out there...

I wanted to mention one other very important thing about having a snake...it's important to feed your snake frozen/thawed food as opposed to live. It's very easy to do....I used to just thaw the frozen prey in warm water until it was the right temperature, and the snakes took it every time without a problem (well, except for Spectre, who would occasionally fast for several weeks at a time for no apparent reason...but he always got hungry again eventually). Anyway, frozen/thawed food is totally safe for your snake, whereas live prey can actually severely injure a snake, sometimes fatally.

That's why we ended up having three corns...there are just so many beautiful varieties! We had a normal, an Okeetee, and an anerythristic type A, and all were just gorgeous snakes!

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~Juliane~

corns make great starter snakes or just a great snake for anyone looking into having a snake. i also agree on feeding frozen thawed mice. its just better not to risk a bite that could get infected or scare the snake into not eating. both of my corns do well in their 20 long enclosures. it also helps to mist them when they go into shed or provide them with a moist hide so they have just a little more humidity to make the process easier. they're pretty easy to keep and i'm glad a corn was my first snake. i also have the Cornsnake Manual. i bought it after buying my first corn.

as for color morphs, thats why I have two as well. there are so many beautiful morphs out there. my first corn was a Snow and my second was an Anery. i think its neat because they are so different from each other, the Snow being pink and white as a baby then as he grew he got white and light peachy colored with orange on the sides of his face and the Anery being black and grey when he was a baby and turning to a dark brownish and grey with yellow on the sides of his face. its great to see how they're colors change as they age.

i think you'll definitely enjoy your corn when you get one. i'm glad your doing some research work before buying. good luck!

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

Any one of those care sheets would work out. The first one would obviously be the top choice. Don Soderberg is a top notch breeder and one could not do better

After researching a ton, I've ordered an amber corn snake from Don Soderberg of South Mountain Reptiles. He's been very informative and assures me that my snake will be b-e-a-utiful. It'll arrive next Wednesday the 20th. In the meantime I'll be setting up its new home. Once it's settled in I'll post some pics. Here's a couple of pictures from South Mountain's site showing what an amber can look like as an adult.

Attached Images

	Amber adult.jpg (28.0 KB, 5 views)
	Amber adult corn.jpg (31.4 KB, 7 views)