A good number of snakes do this, including Gopher Snakes, I have never personally observed it in Corn snakes but there make up would lead me to believe they to do it. When this method is used in the wild the tail will be shaking in leaves and or other debris and effectively sounds like a rattle and scare of would be predators. It is my opinion that snakes can since fear. In my research I have personally observed several time if you reach in a cage and are clearly afraid chances are you will be bit. However if you just reach in with no problem chances are you will not get bit. I have personally seen this happen with many snakes in the wild, CB and supposedly tame snakes. They are just like birds, If you show your fear they will take advantage of it. The best method for a picky biter I have found is for larger species such as Boas and Pythons is to were a leather glove, I use a pair of Structure fire fighting gloves, those may or may not be available to you but a pair of leather gardening gloves should suffice, For smaller snakes such as young Corns, Gophers, Kings so on and so forth just look away, Honestly, note your snakes position, remove the lid, look away as you reach in to pick it up. Most of the time its not the though that scares you its when you see your snake coil up as you reach for it. So long as you can not see that because you are looking away then that helps out a great deal.
My Research and Collection

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