Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

We are thinking about getting my 11 year old son his first snake. We are leaning toward a corn snake or two. But I have a few questions..

Can we have more then one in a cage?

We already have a 40gal reptile cage (the glass tanks with the locking screen top) that we plan to use. We also have a Habi-Scape Rock backgrounds for the back wall, unused draft wood, unused ghost wood, an unused wooded half log hiding area, reptile lighting/heating unit and the temp and humity gauges. (all the wood has been gotten from pet stores and is treated) The ideal plans are to add some plants, rocks, the wood pieces, a water area, etc. For bedding I was thinking of using the same as we use for the frogs.. a mixture of the Bed-a-beast, peat moss and wood chips.. All plants used will be reptile approved.

Does this sounds ok? Also would it be ok to have some moss growing on the ground?

Thanks for any help.
Venus

The tank is sure big enough.The wood wall would be a nice touch but a juvie corn might find a way to get behind it.As for substrate small aspen shavings are hard to beat.You can spot clean it easily.Using dirt is a major pain to clean out and holds alot of bacteria.Sounds like you have some great hides just make sure you have one on a warm side and one on a cool side so your corn can thermo-regulate its body temps.Too many hides in that big of tank and you will never see your corn and it may prove challenging to even find it...Paul

Also, were you planning on geting a baby snake or a full grown one? Remember these guys are escape artists, and they will escape when you have an "escape proof" cage. I know those sliding locking tops are great, you just gotta make SURE they are closed ALL THE WAY, EVERY TIME. or else the snake will get out. the driftwood, or anytyhing to climb on for that matter, will be used as leverage to escape.

A note on substrates - the beadabest by itself is enough. if you add wood chips you will need to feed outside of the cage, or the snake may smell the rodent on the chips and eat it, causing extreme vet bills. Dirt ....i just wouldn't use. Peat moss works okay but corns love to defecate a lot, so you'll be cleaning that a lot, and it tends to get to be a pain. I just have astroturf, take it out once a week spray it down with a hose and put the other piece in. Works great.

As far as plants go, I would also reccomend to stay away from live ones...they won't last long with your snake crawling all over them. Get some good fake ones. I learned this the hard way.

Housing together - Corns are not cannibalistic. They can live together, however don't expect to seeing them curl up together. Right now I have my two baby bairds living together, but thats out of not having enough money to buy a whole other tank setup...and plus with me building my large setup now it's a waste of money. The only things you really need to consider when housing together are the following.... you will have to feed them both outside of the tank, as to prevent fighting over food. I've known some snakes never to eat while I watch before. Some snatch it out of my hand. Also you have the concern about health. If one gets sick, the other will too. Double vet bills.

Additional note - I (as well as most responsible snake owners) urge you to feed pre-killed mice. Rather this be buying frozen mice or raising them and killing them yourself, by the time the snakes need a large mouse to feed on, they can be seriously hurt by the mouse, even to the point of death. Talk about your irony, right? Mice and rats have claws, and they know how to use them (just like my girlfriend lol). I couldn't handle killing animals to feed to my snake, so I just order a bunch from rodent pro..however their minimum order is 100...you may just prefer to buy from your local pet shop.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Actually corns have been known to eat each other.

that really shocked me lol. i looked it up, and from what I have been able to find bout corns eating each other is only (from what I found) is just like any other non cannabolistic snake. two snakes see one mouse. snake A starts eating it and snake B is bigger and a no good SOB. he goes after the other end and ends up eating snake A with the mouse. lol. put a milk or kingsnake with a corn...that corn ends up being a between meal snack, lol.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=527079,527131

Old post but proof that corns eat each other without being stimulated by a rodent.

It is rare, but there are those that WILL eat another corn without the smell of rodents being involved. It is almost always found in hatchlings, and, strangely enough, most commonly among problem feeders!

I have never seen an adult corn eat another adult, but babies do so often enough for me to never house them together after their first post-hatching shed. I can definitively say this:

Corns housed and maintained separately never eat one another!

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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

well i guess you learn something new every day! I was wondering since they are so closely related to ratsnakes would black rats or texas rats do the same?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown