Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I FINALLY got the present that I have been asking for for the last 3YEARS. Mom went out a bought me a rat snake for my birthday. That was what the pet store guy told her. I went to the rat snake fourm, and they told me I had a pretty corn snake. Mom said that they were in East texas, but since he is not a rat snake, could anyone tell me what he is and where they are found normall. I am 9 years old and am trying to learn my facts. I wonder if I am handling him right. I have a heat light on him, a water bowl that is not half full, I feed him twice a week with pinkies. Any info would be great. I will try to add his pix. Thankx

Well, a corn snake is a kind of rat snake. Another name for corn snakes is 'red rat snakes.' There are many other kinds of rat snake, though, and many of them look very similar as babies, even though the adults may look very different.

You said your mom got it at a pet store. It probably is a corn snake -- they are one of the most common pet snake, and THE most common rat snake. Sometimes people in pet stores call things by different (or wrong) names, which is why a lot of the time breeders will use the scientific name, to avoid confusion.

Your little snake was probably bred in captivity, from captive bred parents, since breeding corn snakes is not really that hard. So it doesn't matter if you're from a place where they don't naturally live. People all over the world keep and breed corns (which is really cool, actually, and here on kingsnake.com you can talk to a lot of them!). I have four, myself.

Gizmo (great name) does look like a very cute corn snake. Even if he is one of the other kinds that look sort of the same as cornsnakes when they're babies, it shouldn't make that much difference how you take care of it -- they all need pretty much the same things to be happy and healthy.

So, if you look for information on how to take care of corn snakes, you should be okay, and information on corn snakes is not hard to find! You're in the right place already, and going in the right direction.

Congratulations on your first snake! I'm really excited for you, and I know you'll love caring for Gizmo and watching him grow.

I will look around and add some links for your to look at. Until then, enjoy your new pet!

--Naamah

This link goes to South Mountain Reptiles’ Cornsnake caresheet.:

http://www.cornsnake.net/new/care.php3

This is the cornsnake caresheet right here on kingsnake.com:

http://www.kingsnake.com/rockymountain/RMHPages/RMHnewpage11.htm

This one is good, too:

http://www.nebherp.org/cornsnakecare.html

Post here if you have any more questions and we'll be glad to help! Also, if you want a copy of my caresheet, email me at redbranch@hotmail.com and I'll send it to you, or answer any other questions you might have.

Best of luck to you and Gizmo!

--Naamah

Corn snakes have a large range in the southeast US. Their care is pretty much the same as other ratsnakes.

Some specific care sheets for corns can be found at:
Care sheet 1
Care sheet 2
Article on common problems and solutions
A good book on corn snakes that goes into a lot of depth is the Corn Snake Manual. It can be found at most pet stores, otherwise it can be bought online from The Authors web site or Amazon.com

Also, if you don't already, make sure to have a thermometer to accurately measure the temperature in the cage. Put the thermometer at ground-level, don't stick it to the side.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

I have a corn snake care sheet in the corn snake section of my website. It has some photos too.

Tim

Third Eye

Thanks for all the info and care sheets. I went to smokey mountain page and wrote to them. He said it was a corn snake and it was ordinary.

Lori