Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had corns for a while and just added two more to the collection. My new creamsickle is a little psycho. He rattles his tail exactly like a threatened kingsnake. Is this something corns do? I thought it was isolated to kings and rattlers.

Corn Snakes do it all the time. I hve had hatchlings that rattle 'em as soon as they hatch and adults do it everytime I get into their cage. It is a way for them to let you know they are there. If you get to know your snake, you can use it to get a feel if they feel threatened...
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2.3 Albino Nelsoni Milksnakes
0.1 Snow Corn
0.2 Sunglow Corns
1.1 Albino Motley Corns
0.0.23 '04 hatchlings
0.1 Albino Corns '03
bunch.bunch Bearded Dragons
some Bearded Dragons Cooking
1.3 Albino Leopord Geckos
1.0 Pictus Geckos
1 great wife
2 great boys
0.2 dogs (they're great too!!)

heck, my texas bairdi rattles her tail for no reason all the time. I'll be honest... she was the first snake I had do that and it freaked me out at first. Then it's happened a few times now I think it's pretty cool.

It's a first defense mechanism. In the wild they will have dried leaves around them... and rattling the tail in dried leaves imitates the sound of a rattle snake - to scare predators away. If it really gets scared it will musk you. Then a defensive bite.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Love the stats on the collection (including the wife, kids and dogs!). Thanks for the input. Never saw my corns do this before, but you're right it is a good way to tell if they feel threatened. Looks like I'll be sacrificing a little skin to get them away from being neurotic. Thanks again!

my new baby zigzag corn has been doing the same thing. she has yet to bit me though. even if it does bite it's so small it could hardly do damage. in time they should stop and be great captives.