Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I'm the mom of 2 boys (9 and almost 12), and having seen their interest in snakes, I am considering getting one as a pet. I haven't kept reptiles since my high school and college days. Back then our collection included 2 Great Basin Gopher snakes, a Sinaloan Milk snake, 2 Burmese pythons, a Ball python, 2 common boas, a Kenyan sand boa, and a Florida kingsnake. These all stayed with my parents when I left home. They have one of the Burmese still, but the others have either died (after 25 years) or been given to new homes.

The kids got to hold a California king at the zoo recently and seem interested in snakes in general. The ready availability of frozen food animals has caused me to consider getting a snake once again. I would prefer to get one of the easier to care for species, and was thinking of either a corn snake or a king snake. I haven't ever kept corns, so aside from the research I've been doing about them, I have no practical experience with them. They are beautiful snakes though!

I really enjoyed our Florida king, and he was always a great eater and had a good temperament. I think he tagged me once when I moved my hand in front of the hide too fast. My own fault! California kings seem to have a decent temperament as well, although I like the look of the Florida or Brooks kings myself. The kids always ooh and aah over the Californias at PetSmart when we go there.

So, I know this is the corn snake forum, but which of the two would be best to start off with, or does it just come down to preference? How often do young kings tend to musk? Mine was acquired as an adult, so I've never dealt with hatchling kings, although our Sinaloan was a baby when we got it. He was a bit nervy though, and I want something the kids can handle without worrying too much about regurgitation or stressing the snake out.

Are corns good snakes to handle? Will they calm down and let you hold them, or do they want to race off at top speed all the time? I'd be housing the snake in a 29 gallon aquarium that I have. Is an undertank heater sufficient, or should we have a light for basking as well? Also, I live in Colorado and it's very dry here. Our humidity is often below 25%, especially in the winter. Will this be an issue? I plan on providing a water dish big enough for the snake to soak if it wants to, and will also mist the cage if it's getting ready to shed.

Do corns always want to brumate (sp?), or is that something you only need to worry about if you want to breed them? How active are they? It's always more fun to have a pet you can see instead of one that decides to hide under the substrate all the time.

I think either a corn or a king would work for us. I'm just having trouble making up my mind. Every time I think a beautiful okeetee corn would be just the thing, I see a nice pic of a Florida king. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Well I'll start with saying you can't go wrong with either one. Go with the one that you and the kids like best. Corns is just a matter of picking which morph you like best. I tend to like natural corns best. I have a huge okeetee that is dog tame. A beloved pet, as well as one of my animals that I do native species presentations. I also keep a variety of other corns as well. Great snakes. Love em.
Kingsnakes are a great choice also. I have florida and Eastern kings, and they are my personal favorites. I think on average they tend to be much more calm, less likely to musk, and are just good, tractable snakes. They are the largest of the kingsnakes, and are much more stout then some of your other common kings.
I think cal. kings can be a little more musky/defensive on average as hatchlings compared to the easterns and florida kings. Also, if you want something smaller then corns and the larger kings, check out the Thayeri kingsnakes. Come in a ton of colors, very calm, and stay at around the 30-36 inch range. Good luck with your decision.

You have some gorgeous snakes there. Nice pics!

>>You have some gorgeous snakes there. Nice pics!

First, corns are excellent snakes, as are kings. Care for kings and corns is very simple, and pretty much identical, so it really is just about your preference.

But I wanted to make a point about the temperaments of king snakes. I have noticed that people who live on the east coast sometimes have trouble with California kings. They say they're flightly, they bite, and musk. But people on the west coast say they're fine, and that the east coast kings (Florida, eastern, black, etc.) are the flighty ones. Point being, it may at least partly have to do with the climate. You mentioned that where you live the humidity gets pretty low, just like in Caliornia, so if your inclination is toward kings you might want to think about Cal kings.

However, in my personal experience corns probably bite less frequently.

Just wanted to toss my 2 cents in.

My first snake is an albino corn and he, like the other respondant, dog tame - I did buy him at about 24 inches long. The other corn was bought about the same size from a petstore as fairly aggressive and unsellable, but he calmed down within a week.

My young radiated ratsnake does race around alot and doesn't like to be chased but once caught is also calm.

My Prairie Kingsnake is a hatchling and strikes, musks, and tries to race away every chance he gets.

By far, I trust the albino corn the most, he wraps around my head and neck and I mean NEVER has so much as rattled a tail, struck, or done anything. I love the appetite and attitude of young corns - they will just wrap around your finger and be content to sit there for hours. I have 2 boys and the albino corn is the only one I trust around the children.

I think a lot is snake dependent and about how you raise them, but if you look through a lot of the cornsnake and kingsnake forums - search aggression or other such keywords in the archives - you might get a better impression as to the problems/issues with both kind that are brought up most often.

No matter what, I will probably always be partial to corns because of having nothing but good (if limited) experience so far.

I only started acquiring snakes about a year ago. Right now I have 10 corns and one Emoryi rat. I haven't had any experience with Kings, so my input it strictly about corns. 9 of the corns I have were born in 05' or 06', and the 10th being a subadult.

I can honestly say I have never been bitten or even struck at by ANY of my snakes. They are very tame, the only exception is an occasional tail rattle from my 06' creamsicle. As soon as I pick him up he's fine though. I have alot of nieces and nephews and have no problem with them holding any of my snakes. My Emoryi rat is a little nervous but also has never struck at me.

I also want to mention that not all of my snakes were handpicked. So even the ones I ordered and had shipped ended up being well mannered. lol

Of course there are exceptions. I don't want this to sound like
all corns are tame, but I think the ratio of calm to aggressive is pretty good.

Like I said, I have no experience with Kings, so take my 2 cents for what it's worth. Good luck with whatever you choose!!

John

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I am planning on getting a corn snake. Now I just need to decide what color. It's hard to pick only one with so many beautiful varieties to choose from. I like the bold reds and oranges the most, rather than the pale ones. I can see how a corn snake collection can rapidly grow with "I'll take one of these, and one of those, and ooh, isn't that one pretty!". =)

Either choice would have been great. Can't go wrong with a corn. And if you like bright red & orange, check out a Sunglow or Sunglow motley cornsnake. Here's my 06 male I just picked up a while back from SMR. They look awesome as babies, and get even better as adults.

If you like the bright orange and reds. His Abbotts are amazing!!

I've kept a heck of a lot of corns. As far as kings go, I've kept easterns, blacks, Floridas, Californias, deserts and Mexicans. I think corns are a far better choice if you're worried about being bitten.

It's not that kings are "mean" as much as it is they have a very strong feeding response. This means they'll bite, but not necessarily out of aggression. It's especially bad if you keep other snakes, because it you've been handling a corn and then pick up a king, you could be asking for trouble.

The finest of the kings (from a pet standpoint) is the Mexican Black King - they are (in my experience) less likely to mistake you as a food item than the other kings I mentioned. But you really can't go wrong with a corn - there's a reason why they're the most widely-kept colubrid.

Tim

Third Eye