Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased an okeetee corn snake from Kathy Love last summer. He's now 11 months old and looking beautiful! I love him to death, as he's my first snake, and handle him daily, but he's still pretty snippy with me, and is extremely high-strung. I'm most concerned because he struck my roommate last week. He's never bitten anyone before, and I'm very worried about this. I've heard that Okeetees tend to be a little more aggressive than most...do they eventually calm down?? =(

It's more about the individual snake than any more or locale. I have an Okeetee that is the spitting image of yours. She's never struck at or bit anyone. Totally mellow.

I know that your's came from Kathy, but WC can be nippy. Hopefully, your's will settle down.

It is an individual trait, I will get a nippy corn in a litter of super docile corns, regardless of Morph or Local. I have a Normal colored Zigzag that hatched out with some of my Striped Corns. The Striped ones are fine the Zigzag is a monster. No matter, the bite is harmless and for that matter most of the strikes are not even opened mouth, just nose hits.
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

HEYYY I think Russia might have given me a nose hit last night.....I'm not totally sure though...I mean I bearly even noticed it...but her nose did hit my hand.
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KRISTI Mommy 2 Autumn Rose (daughter) 2 1/2 yrs
Reign Michael(son) 6 months
Duncan (Budgie) almost 7 years
Asia (Juvie Leopard Gecko)
Russia (NEW Baby Albino Cornsnake)
OH, And Ron the geckos #1 FAN!!! (owned by BlizzardGecko)

I have a pair of Okeetee's from another breeder but out of the Love Line. They are two years old, quite large and the most aggressive of all my cornsnakes. I never know if they will be docile or flippy and defensive. Neither one has ever actually bitten, however. They sure are beautiful and I love looking at them.

To some extent, I would say yes.

I have two sunkissed okeetees from Kathy Love. These guys not only bite and strike, but the male will bite and chew, just to make sure you get the hint. If he's in a particularly bad mood, he'll continually strike at the plastic walls of his container, trying to get at you. (They were actually a bit calmer when they were younger, especially the male.)

I don't handle either of these two without gloves.

If you talk to other people (Rich Z, for example), you'll find out that the sunkissed okeetee line in particular is aggressive and high-strung.

That having been said, a friend of mine has a half-sibling to both of them (different mothers for all three) that is your standard cornsnake temperment and has never bitten. Furthermore, the sunkissed okeetees are more aggressive than the okeetees despite coming from the same line, but even some of Kathy's okeetees can be pretty aggressive, or atleast so she said back when I asked her about my male's attitude. She also did say that they tend to calm down as adults.

Goodluck.

-Kat
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"You keep WHAT in your freezer?"
"Mice. And rats. If that bothers you, I can call them 'cows' instead."

Thanks for the info...I really wish I'd known this before I bought him. This is NOT what I was hoping for! While he's definitely a gorgeous snake, I'm pretty disappointed that he has the attitude that he does. I've held so many other corns that were calm and very enjoyable, and I was hoping that Cajun would be that way too... =( Maybe someday I'll have the time/space for another one...butter maybe?

Butters are without a doubt one of my favorite morphs. I have an 02 male at around 38 inchs that is just stunning.

Steve

I, too, have an Okeetee froom Kathy Love that is about the same age as yours. Kathy warned me, before I purchased, that the Okeetees tend be more agressive than most morphs (especially as juveniles), but I haven't had any problems with that. He does tend to "do his business" on my son (or on the rug) when my son is handling him sometimes, but I think that is directly related to my son's mis-handling of the animal, because it doesn't do that to any of the other kids, or me.

I think everyone on these forums prescribes constant, regular handling to help the snake settle down. Best of luck.