My first corn snake
It was my 9th birthday, and I’d been pestering my parents for a corn snake, I’d always had a keen interest in reptiles since I could remember and had kept reptiles including milk snakes, iguanas, bearded dragons and leopard geckos. There was just something about a corn snake that I loved, and as I would be the one responsible for the snake I decided that a corn snake would be best as I had read they were great beginner snakes and easy to care for!
On my birthday my dad went out, I wanted to go with him but for some strange reason he wouldn’t let me. Around an hour later he came back, in his arms he carried a bag which was full of reptile equipment, and then in his hand, he had a small transport tub with tissue paper in. I was fascinated and kept pestering to find out what was in the box with the tissue paper, I followed him into the dining room out of the tub he got out a baby corn snake which was black and white markings (Anerythristic). He put the snake back in the box, and then went into the bag, he pulled out a faunarium which was the same as (click here). He then pulled out substrate which was a bag of bedding which I think was the exo-terra type (click here). He also had with him a thermostat, heat mat, thermometer, a hide and a water bowl.
He went on to set up the faunarium and made sure the thermostat was setup correctly in order for the temperatures to be correct. He then put the hatchling corn snake into the setup and asked me to not handle or disturb the snake for 2-3 days, as this is classed as a settling in period and can cause a lot of stress.
I changed the snake’s water every day and left him alone. After 4 days I handled him for the first time, he was so small and tried to get everywhere. I handled him for around 15 minutes as I didn’t want him to get too cold. After a week had passed I attempted to feed the baby snake a pinkie mouse, he ate it straight away. After this, I could not handle him for a few days as he would still be digesting his food. I have learnt a lot by starting with a corn snake, and it also aided in building up confidence to go on to different breeds of snakes which require more care and experience.
After around 3 years the baby corn snake that my dad brought me wasn’t so baby anymore, I measured one of his skin sheds and he was nearly 5ft and had a good thickness on him. He seemed happy, and always loved his weekly feed of a small Weiner rat.
If I had to recommend a beginner snake to a friend, I would personally say a corn snake as they are really easy to care for, easy to handle and also help you get used to snakes and build up confidence. They also don’t require a massive deal of space, as when an adult can live in a 3ft vivarium (like this).
