Hello,
I have an Ocotee Phase Corn and two Taiwanese Stripe-tailed Rat Snakes (also called Beauty snakes). First of all a point of technicality - the Taiwans are technically no longer considered Elaphe, although that may depend on who you're talking to. There are a couple of very interesting and convincing papers out that make a good case for splitting the Asian rat snakes off from the rest of the Elaphe. That being said, should you chose to go with the new taxonomy the new genus and species for the Taiwans is Orthriophis taeniurus friesi. Interestingly one of the papers I'm speaking of also reclassifies the Corn Snake under an older genus name. It's now referred to as Panterophis guttata should you choose to accept that taxonomy.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, the two snakes are like night and day. I've found my Corn and other corns I've known to be mostly crepuscular (i.e. active at dawn and dusk), while the Taiwans can be active virtually any time of day or night. Corns tend to be smallish snakes rarely getting any longer than about 6' as adults whereas the Taiwans are one of the longest species of colubrids there is. Expect to have adult Taiwans that approach 8' to 9' feet routinely. Some accounts seem to indicate they can even be as long as 10'!
The body profiles of the two snakes are different as well. Corns seem to be (in cross section) about as wide as they are tall, whereas the Taiwans are taller than they are wide which is usually indicative of highly arboreal species. In addition to their body profile, Taiwans have a very long and highly prehensile tail and given a tall cage with ample climbing opportunities will often seek out the higher spots. Corns will climb as well given the chance but more often will restrict themselves to the ground level of a cage.
As far as captive conditions go they are very similar. I would disagree with most everyone who says the Taiwans need to be kept cooler. There is apparently only one source out there that mentions they need to be kept cooler than other ratsnakes and if anything that is more related to the keeping of the Orthriophis ridleyi or Cave Racer, which chiefly inhabits the cooler confines of caves where it stays near the openings and catches bats as they come and go. The rest of the island of Taiwan is very temperate and for the most part mimics the weather patterns we see throughout most of the central U.S.
The last couple years using weather.com I've monitored the weather conditions in Taiwan and have found that at least in the summer time they have weather fairly consisent with my own weather (Chicago, IL) as far as temps, rainfall, etc. goes. So, in closing I'd also add that in my experience neither species is particularly aggressive and in fact neither of mine have given me an cause for complaint. Both genera have been docile and easily handled.
To conclude: Corn snake = smaller hardy staple, easily cared for, active not wildly so. Taiwan = very large, highly active, difficult to accomodate considering potential massive adult size, but fantastic in terms of just being one heck of a snake. (guess I'm a bit biased - I really do like my Taiwans more than my Corn, but don't tell her I said so).
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois
Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois
)... so a most of the choice depends on how much room you have.
