Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a college student and a teacher of mine is trying to get rid of her step-son’s adult corn snake. She wanted to release it in the wild – in 12 degree weather here in Connecticut! I told her to try to find a home for it. She turned to me and asked if I would take the snake – either to keep myself or to find a new home. She says the snake is tame, but is severely neglected. She also says it is eating live mice. She said it’s in the 20 inch range – which would make sense with the lack of food. Although, I imagine it is bigger than that.

She says he got it from a pet-store, so I am assuming it is captive bred – but I do not know.

My questions are a) should I take the animal – I do not do well with aggressive snakes.? I have not met it but she says it is tame. If I commit to taking it and she is wrong – I am not going to be happy. b) I do not like feeding live. Can an adult corn be trained to eat frozen? c) If I want to find a home for him/her – where do I look?

Any thoughts are greatly welcomed!

Well, you certainly sound interested in taking this snake on. First off, at 20 inches, it sounds far from being adult, maybe a yearling. Age is the factor. Who old is the snake? Secondly, do you think your teacher would lie about it being tame to get you to take it? Maybe you should just trust her, unless you have reason to believe she is lying. Last, most corns do take f/t, its just some are only offered live. HOWEVER, I have had an adult female that would not take f/t unless wiggled, so this doesnt ALWAYs hold true. If you take it and don't want it, then try giving it away to someone who may. You can check with your local herpetological society.

Where in CT do you live? Make sure she doesn't release that snake! It'll definitely die with the cold we've been having (for once!)I also live in CT...funny to finally find someone else who does! I'm fairly certain a corn snake can be switched over readily to F/T, but this snake is also an adult...my corn is still a baby so I can't really answer that question. If you cannot take the snake, I'd try advertising in the Bargain News, or else find a reptile rescue (though I'm not sure if there are many around here).
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0.1 ball python (Kilimanjaro)
1.0 amel corn snake (Houdini)
0.0.1 leopard gecko (Charlie)
1.1 cats (Kitty & Milo)
0.1 mouse (Creepers)

Personally i've switched alot of "live-only" feeders to f/t....but it takes time....if the snake is neglected, it might take a f/t,just to have something...
just my 2 cents
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CD
Corns(Adults)
1.0 Snow
0.1 Banded Motley het Amel
0.1 Blizzard het Anery A
Corns(Sub-adult)
1.0 Bloodred het Pewter
1.0 Anerythristic

>>I am a college student and a teacher of mine is trying to get rid of her step-son’s adult corn snake. She wanted to release it in the wild – in 12 degree weather here in Connecticut! I told her to try to find a home for it. She turned to me and asked if I would take the snake – either to keep myself or to find a new home. She says the snake is tame, but is severely neglected. She also says it is eating live mice. She said it’s in the 20 inch range – which would make sense with the lack of food. Although, I imagine it is bigger than that.
>>
>>She says he got it from a pet-store, so I am assuming it is captive bred – but I do not know.
>>
>>My questions are a) should I take the animal – I do not do well with aggressive snakes.? I have not met it but she says it is tame. If I commit to taking it and she is wrong – I am not going to be happy. b) I do not like feeding live. Can an adult corn be trained to eat frozen? c) If I want to find a home for him/her – where do I look?
>>
>>Any thoughts are greatly welcomed!

Ok if you are interested in the snake why not give it a try.
I think you will be glad you did.
We are all obviously glad we got into corn snakes.
We love 'em.
I would have no reason to doubt the fact that it is tame.
Most are.
If it is a little nervous or "flighty" that is easy to remidy with a little patience and regular handling.
As far as the feeding goes. It is usually pretty easy to switch corns from live to frozen/thawed.
A little trick I have used to switch corns over is to simply go about three weeks without feeding them anything then offer them a nice, warm, freshly thawed mouse. This is with snakes that have been showing a good healthy feeding response.
It is usually that simple.

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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Boy, she said it was neglected before,.....then she wants to turn it loose in the middle of the winter in Connecticut!!!,yes, I'd say it's a safe bet that it was neglected!!. .........Please do like the others mentioned,... if you have reservations about owning it, I'm sure with little effort, there is someone near you, or maybe at work that would love to take it off your hands.......You seem like a very nice person that doesn't want to see animals of any kind being mistreated, we are all the same way, I'm sure you won't let the snake go through that again...........best regards,............................Doug

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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

I think you should take it. Corn snakes are usually very mild tempered. Even if it is a bit flighty from neglect, a little patience and gentle, regular handling will do the trick. Just give it about a week to itself after you bring it home to acclimate to its new cage/surroundings before you try to handle it.

As far as switching to F/T, I have never had a problem. Let it have a smaller than normal meal on its regular feed date. Then let it go past its next scheduled feed date by 3-5 days and offer it a warmed F/T by putting it in a baggie after it has thawed and running it under the hot water. Works like a charm.
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0.1 Amelanistic Corn
1.0 Pueblan Milk
0.1 Blair's Gray Banded King
0.1 Blonde Trans Pecos Rat
1.1 Silver Trans Pecos Rat
1.0 Variable King
0.1 Chihuahua Mtn. King
0.2 Kunasir Island Rat
0.1 Baird's Rat
0.1 White Oak Gray Rat
0.1 Everglades Rat

My teacher and I may have found a woman in my class who has other reptiles, but may also want a snake - that may work out. If not, I will take the snake. I currently have a young Lavender Corn (growing fast) who is very tame and enjoys being handled. I have had many snakes in the past and when I moved out of state to go to school my parents would not take care of them and I found good homes.

My teacher is not a bad person – she is just petrified of snakes and her soon to be step son is a) moving in with her and b) has obviously been neglecting the snake (feeding every 3 weeks!). She knows nothing about them and now that I explained to her that letting it go would kill it – she has no intention of doing so.

Now I have a job lined up and am finishing school in a few months. I also have a condo that my fiancé and I live in. However, we have 5 fish tanks including an 8Ft 240 Gallon Frontosa tank, a 90-gallon Mbuna tank, a bearded dragon in a 120 Gallon, and a Lavender Corn in a 15-gallon. So - our hands are full in many respects. However, I guess one more wouldn't make a big difference.

The reason I am not happy with aggressive snakes is I had a Ball Python who went nuts and also had a Appalachian Lowland Kingsnake who would strike at anything that moved. It's not the pain that bothers me so much, but being bitten scares me. I really can't explain it. My bearded dragon (George) has bitten me while hand feeding him and it hurts, but it’s not scary. Snake strikes bother me.

In any event - thank you all for your input. If I can get him/her to eat thawed mice I will be very, very, relieved. I just can't do live.

Thank you all. I will keep you up to date!

Here are some pictures of my zoo!

In the event you don't take the others advice and keep the snake yourself, which is GREAT advice btw, like Jimmy said, we all love corns and are all thankful we got into the hobby. You're a student at college, every college I know of has a science wing, every single college has science students. Go there to find your local college herp fans. Ask the biology professor for his or her advice on who to talk to in this situation, or ask them to allow you to post on a bulletin in that area. You'll be able to either get someone who can teach you a little something abour your new pet, or someone you can give the snake to who'll give it a good home.

Take it!!! I've spent hundreds of dollars on fancy morphs, and still my favorite snake was a plain old classroom pet! A huge male Miami type cornsnake! He's sweet and trustworthy, eats every week without fail, always impresses everyone. The free rescues often end up being my favorites!
Beth

The snake is being delivered tomorrow. He/She ate yesterday apparently. So I will let the little guy settle in and then try to feed F/T in a few days.

Apparently the snake is 3 years old - so I am assuming it is bigger than 20 inches.

I'll keep everyone up to date.

Thanks again!

David

glad ya decided to keep him.

If it ate yesterday, you should wait longer than 3 days to feed it. It will take it 3 days just to digest this meal. I would get it on a 7-10 day feeding cycle.

It's like if you've missed a meal, you don't eat two meals to make up for it.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll enjoy your decision.

also, look at my recent post about my son's new lavender corn. It could be your snake's twin! You didn't get it mail order from Missouri, did you??

Walt

Apparently it ate "in the last two weeks." I got my Lavander from a pet store here in CT.