Michelle's Candied Corns​ - Colorful Quality Cornsnakes
Basic Care and Keeping of Corn Snakes and Other Colubrids
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Corn snakes are one of the easiest reptiles to care for, unfortunately, many of them suffer in captivity because of bad husbandry advice keepers may have recieved. The majority of large chain pet stores provide a general care guide, but most of these care guides are flawed and lead to the corn snake failing to thrive in its new home. By following this caresheet, your snake is more likely to thrive in your home.
Setting Up Your Snake's New Home
Cornsnakes, like all snakes, are solitary. You will need a separate enclosure for each individual you have. Your enclosure needs to be equivalent to, or larger than, a 20 gallon long fish tank. We recommend Zilla Critter cages if you prefer to keep your snake in a tank. The majority of the snakes we keep are housed in rack systems in plastic sweater boxes. These provide great habitats for those keeping many snakes, or for those on a budget. Baby snakes can be kept in smaller tubs or cages until they outgrow the setup.
You should have your snake's home set up and running for at least a week before getting him. This will ensure that your thermostat, thermometers, and heating pad are all working properly. Having everything set up and working in advance will help prevent any possible mistakes that may risk your new friend's health.
Substrate
There are several different types of substrate available for you to use for your corn snake. Aspen bedding is by far the most popular and most recommended. Aspen shavings will allow for your snake to burrow, hide, and it also aborbs moisture well, helping keep the cage cleaner.
Other substrates that are acceptable are paper towels, butcher paper, newspaper, carefresh, and other non-toxic paper products.
AVOID PINE, CEDAR, SAND, KITTY LITTER, ETC
Pine and cedar both contain toxic oils that will slowly poison your snake. These must be avoided at all costs!
Sand is not a natural substrate for cornsnakes or kingsnakes. It is very likely for sand to irritate the sensitive scales on the snakes, but it also does a poor job of absorbing waste or spilled water.
Kitty litter is opposite of sand, it absorbs so much moisture that snakes often suffer from severe dehydration.
Heating
By far, an under tank heater is the most recommend, and safest way to heat your corn snake's enclosure. Reptiles are ectothermic, meaning that they depend on environmental conditions to regulate their internal conditions. Heating is important to help your snakes digest, and it is a required piece of your husbandry.
You can purchase under tank heaters for reptiles at your local petstore. A good guideline is for the under tank heater to cover about 1/3 to 1/2 the bottom of the cage. Place the heater on the OUTSIDE of the glass. Usually, it is best to attach the under tank heater with electrical duct tape instead of the adhesive they come with, this way, you have the ability to move the heater to another cage if you need to.
Once you have your heater secured to your cage, you will want to attach the thermostat. A thermostat is a device which will regulate the temperature, and you must have one, other wise the heating pad will get too hot and can cause severe burns or death to your snake. The thermostat will have a probe that you can attach to the inside of the cage, over the middle of the under tank heater. Set the thermostat to 85 degrees and plug in the heating pad. Next, place the probe to your digital thermometer next to the thermostat probe and monitor your temperature.
The little dial thermometers sold at petstores are inaccurate and should not be used. Always use a digital thermomter.
Your warm side temperature should stay around 85, but never get over 90 degrees. The "cool" side temperature does not matter too much, as long as the warm side temperature remains consistent. Depending on the type of thermostat you have, you may see the temperature vary several degrees. The ideal cool side temperature is in the mid 70s.
If you choose to use a lamp instead of the recommended under tank heater, you must be extremely cautious that the snake cannot touch the area around the light, and also that the temperatures remain consistent. You will also have to be very careful that your humidity does not drop too low and cause problems with your snake.
Humidity
Corn snakes do well with moderate humidity. Their cages do not need to be sprayed down daily, or kept moist. Hygrometers can be bought at a garden center and you will want the humidity to stay around 50%. The easiest way to tell if you have to boost your humidity is with your snake. When a snake's eyes turn "blue" or pale, they are about to shed their skin. If the skin does not come off in one solid piece, the humidity is too low. If you examine your snake after a shed and you see skin remaining on the animal, your humidity is too low. You will also need to soak your snake in room temeperature water to remove any stuck skin immediately. You should never leave your snake with stuck skin!
Hides
Make sure your snake has at the very minimum two hiding houses. Ideally, there should be many places for your snakes to hide, and also some ground cover like empty paper towel tubes, or fake plants. Provide your snake with a water bowl in a corner on the cool side. Snakes generally will cruise the edges of their cages, and having a water bowl in the corner will ensure that your snake finds the water.
