Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello - we live in NE PA - I know, there aren't supposed to be corns here, but there you go...

In any case, a friend found it in his basement and wanted to be rid of it - was going to release it (temps were below 0) so we took if off his hands. Now I'm not sure how to take care of this guy. Have kept captive bred snakes but never a wild one. We want to release him/her in spring, but what 'til then?

Any ideas?

PS - Just for the record I once lived due east of here in North Jersey (just shy of NY state) and often caught corns with my brother when we were kids - 'course, that was 20 years ago...
-----
1.0.0 Uromastyx - Draco
1.0.0 Ball Python - Vilthrul
1.2.0 Giant African Millipedes - Cocoa, Vanilla, Millie
1.0.0 Crested Gecko - Hoolie
0.0.1 Corn Snake - Slither
2.1.8 Hissing Cockroaches - Diamond, Emerald, Ruby and kids

how big would you say this guy is? If he's still a baby, i'd put him in a 10 gallon, bigger than that a 20 long or 29 should be fine. aspen substrate and 2 hide spaces. one on the cool one on the warm side. keep your temps as between 70-80 for an adult, 75-85 for a baby or yearling. not too much to it.

check my signature for a care sheet link.
-----
-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
Information on substrates

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

Wild corn care is the same as captive corn care, except that it may be tougher to feed and they may have parasites. Im not sure about re-releasing into the wild. But for right now i would set him up in an appropriate sized tank with two hides and a water dish.
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Here is a picture of Slither (as my son named him). He's not too big - just over 2 feet I'd guess. I really don't feel right about keeping him, since he's had the whole wide world all his life I'd hate to now deprive him of it and have him stuck in a tank... We usually start seeing snakes out in the beginning of May here - he'd only have been with us about 3 months by that time... Do you think he'd have unlearned his ability to survive out in the wild by then? We are not going to handle him or anything like that unless it's needed...

-----
1.0.0 Uromastyx - Draco
1.0.0 Ball Python - Vilthrul
1.2.0 Giant African Millipedes - Cocoa, Vanilla, Millie
1.0.0 Crested Gecko - Hoolie
0.0.1 Corn Snake - Slither
2.1.8 Hissing Cockroaches - Diamond, Emerald, Ruby and kids

Looks like a milksnake.

You are right... I hadn't handled him beyond transferring him to the tank, and hadn't checked the anal plate because I was "SO SURE" he was a corn. He looks so much like the photo plate #570 in my Audubon Society field guide to me - color and everything. Well - lesson learned, and now I feel like a fool. Thanks for the tip!
-----
1.0.0 Uromastyx - Draco
1.0.0 Ball Python - Vilthrul
1.2.0 Giant African Millipedes - Cocoa, Vanilla, Millie
1.0.0 Crested Gecko - Hoolie
0.0.1 Corn Snake - Slither
2.1.8 Hissing Cockroaches - Diamond, Emerald, Ruby and kids

I know there are others with VASTLY more experience at identifying animals "in the field" than I have, so please take this with a HUGE grain of salt...but I am fairly certain that is not an eastern milksnake.

It looks more like an obsoleta version of some sort, or perhaps an intergrade black snake x gray rat, but I just really think that looks like a rat snake of some sort to me. Not corn, but something closely related, I'm sure.
-----
Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Didn't anybody notice that the scales where not keeled in the least. Corns have "semi-keeled" scales. Duh! It's a milk.

I dunno, it looks an awful lot like this milk we found outside of my house last summer. We don't have corns around here, so I'm 100% sure this is an eastern milk...

....
-----
Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

I dunno why but I thought that post of yours was the last one in the thread, then after I replied I saw there were like 5 more...sorry!

I must not be expressing myself very clearly!

-----
Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

....
-----
Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Now I'm totally confused!
-----
1.0.0 Uromastyx - Draco
1.0.0 Ball Python - Vilthrul
1.2.0 Giant African Millipedes - Cocoa, Vanilla, Millie
1.0.0 Crested Gecko - Hoolie
0.0.1 Corn Snake - Slither
2.1.8 Hissing Cockroaches - Diamond, Emerald, Ruby and kids

If the anal plate is not divided, it is an eastern milk snake as the previous person told you. I was wrong.

Hope that helps...
-----
Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

...
-----
Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

eastern milk as thought.......

keep it at 75 degrees to 82.....

if you warm it up too much it may not eat well....

if it won't eat regular mice try hamsters or even rat pinks early on.then it should switch to mice later.

it may stop eating all together again when it gets too hot out.then resume aain like a pig in the fall.

easterns are cool ........

if you want release it in late March to early April near the same location it was found.....
-----
.................

On re-releasing...

I am certainly no expert, but heres what I think... I wouldn't be worried about the snake figuring out how to eat in the wild again, I've seen my snakes eat frozen mice so many times, and the still strike at it and rap around it, which is completely instinct. I would assume that hunting is instinct as well, because when mine get hungry the slowly move around the cage "hunting" and nosing at everything.
What I would be worried about is the snake finding a warm place to go next winter. If he was hanging out in your friends basement, that might mean thats where he thought he should be. I would think if you re-release him, he'll either end up back in a basement, or maybe die! Has anyone else had experience with this? Has anyone tried re-releasing garder snakes maybe? I would think this would be similar.

-spangles
-----
Pets:
1.1.0 Albino Corns
0.1.0 Normal Corn
2.0.0 Green Iguanas
0.0.1 Florida King Snake
0.1.0 Rat Snake

I have heard that many times living in an area that has both. I agree that that is definetly an eastern milk.

>>
Feeding is instinctual. A snake will not forget how to eat.
They are basically programed for three things, find food, find proper habitat for survival and find a mate.
Although it would naturally be harder for the snake to live in the wild, a few months in captivity will not destroy its instinct to survive.
-----
Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes