Corn Snake

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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Corn Snake | image = Cornsnake.jpg | image_width = 250px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Reptilia | ordo = Squamata | familia = Colubridae | genus = Pantherophis | species = P. guttatus | binomial = Pantherophis guttatus | binomial_authority = (Utiger, Helfenberger, Schatti, Schmidt, Ruf & Ziswiler, 2002) }}

The Corn Snakes (Pantherophis guttatus) are a species of Rat Snake. They are known for being smaller and less aggressive than other Rat Snake species, making them excellent pet snakes for snake lovers. Their average adult length is about 3-5 feet long and they may live to be 30 years old in captivity(although it is usually about 15 years). They are found throughout south-eastern and central North America as well as parts of Mexico. Although some argue that the name "corn snake" originates from the snakes' tendency to hunt mice in cornfields, the dominant opinion is that the name is a reference to the Indian Corn pattern on a Corn Snake's belly.

There are two subspecies of Corn Snake, referred to as the Corn Snake and Rat Snake:

• Common Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus guttatus) is prevalent in the southeastern United States and is distinguished by having orange skin with red blotches, the blotches having black borders.
• Emory's Rat Snake (Pantherophis guttatus emoryi), which is sometimes called the Great Plains Rat Snake, is prevalent in both central North America and also parts of Mexico. Some have also been seen as far North as Michigan and east to Massachusetts. Rat Snakes are less colorful than the nominant species, often being light gray or tan with dark gray blotches, sometimes with a hint of olive green. However, the Emory subspecies has a lot of yellow pigmentation in its genetics that have been monoplolized by the pet trade. This subspecies is often stouter and larger and produces fewer eggs per clutch than its predominantly southeastern counterpart. While Rat Snakes can be kept as pets, many individuals are more aggressive than the guttata subspecies.

Note: The scientific name has recently been changed to Pantherophis guttatus, however some people still use the old name Elaphe guttata.

Corn snakes, as with all Rat Snakes, have a diet primarily consisting of rodents, but they are proficient climbers and may scale trees in search of birds, bird eggs and bats. As litters of infant mice are difficult to find in nature, many baby Corn Snakes are known to eat small lizards as their first meals, and Carolina anoles are the preferred choice. Some individuals retain these dietary tendencies well into adulthood.

Contents 1 Corn Snakes as Pets 1.1 Heating 1.2 Breeding 2 Variations 2.1 Color Morphs 2.2 Pattern Morphs 3 References 4 External links

Corn Snakes as Pets

Corn snakes are ideal pets and are one of the most widely available snakes in the pet trade. This is due to the fact that Corn Snakes have a comparatively docile demeanor and are robust, and are more tolerant of basic husbandry mistakes than other snakes. Corn snakes are good starter snakes for amateur herpetologists and may be commonly purchased as juveniles. They feed readily on "pinkie" mice and then larger "fuzzies" and adult mice as they grow. Some finicky eaters can be enticed to feed by rubbing an anole lizard on the food before offering it to the snakelet. They often live as long as 30 years in captivity and only need to be fed once every one to two weeks depending on meal size.

No matter how easily corn snakes can be kept, intensive research must be carried out before obtaining one, as their care needs are relatively complex. A vet that treats reptiles must also be sought beforehand, as few vets practice "exotic" medicine, and in an emergency you will not have time to look around for a vet.

The advice provided here is basic and not adequate reading on its own. Research should cover multiple sources, including books.

Heating

A heat gradient must be provided so that the snake can thermoregulate. The warm end must have an ambient temperature of 80-85F. Temperatures that are too hot or too cold will result in an ill snake that cannot digest its meals properly.

Heat can be provided via a light bulb (it is wise to guard this so that the snake cannot touch it), an undertank heat mat or a ceramic heater. Heating devices should be controlled by thermostats.

Hot rocks are very dangerous and should never be used. They cause a dangerous source of localized heat. Many snakes have been severely burned by these devices.

Breeding

While it is easy to avoid unexpected clutches of eggs with most species of snakes by denying them of brumination, or an artificial hibernation period, corn snakes will readily breed in captivity without any hibernation period. The eggs should be stored in moist vermiculite between 78 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit (26 to 32 degrees Celsius). Unlike most birds' eggs, the eggs must not be rotated or repositioned past the first few days after laying. If they are kept warm and moist, and any eggs growing mold discarded, the baby snakes should emerge after 70 days.

Variations

After many generations of selective breeding, domesticated corn snakes come in a wide variety of different colors and patterns. These result from mixing the dominant and recessive genes that code for the red, black, brown, orange, and yellow pigments found in corn snakes, with a few rare varieties resulting from point mutations of a pigment to change its color to lavender, green, or other colors.

Color Morphs

• Miami Corn (Florida wildtype) These are usually a smallish corn snake with better specimens having high contrasting light silver to gray ground color with orange blotches surrounded in black. Selective breeding has lightened the ground color and darkened the blotches. The "Miami" name, coined by Rich Zuchowski, now is considered an appearance trait. Many Miami corn snakes are difficult to start feeding as hatchlings, as they prefer lizards.
• Okeetee Corns (classic corns, South Carolina wildtype) These snakes are characterized by deep red dorsal blotches surrounded by very black borders. The ground color varies with bright orange being the most desirable. As with the Miami phase, selective breeding has changed the term "Okeetee" to an appearance trait rather than a local designation.
• Amelanistic (red albino) corn snakes, produced from a single recessive genetic mutation, show wide variations in colors. They can be almost solid orange, to a dark orange on a light orange background, or red/orange on a very light background. These varying color schemes are due to reflective cells in the skin and iridophores which may contribute to subtle shades of color. These red eyed snakes lack the melanin pigment.
• Candy Cane corn snakes are created with the goal of bright red blotches on a white background. Some on the market originate solely from selectively breeding Miami corns. Others are produced using light creamsicle (emory/albino corn hybrids x corn) bred with Miami phase corns. Most candy canes develop orange coloration around the neck region as they mature. Their bright red markings as hatchlings often fade with maturity.
• Albino Okeetee (reverse okeetee) an amelanistic okeetee corn snake which has the normal black rings around blotches replaced with wide white rings. Most are high contrast snakes with light orange to yellow background and dark orangish/red saddles.

Note: Albino Okeetees are not okeetees, they are selectively bred amelanistics

• Sunglow corn snakes are another designer albino corn that lacks the usual white speckling that often appears in most albinos. The orange background surrounds dark orange blotches.
• Charcoal These Anerythristic type 'B' snakes are lacking the yellow color pigment usually found in all corn snakes. This morph is the starter for blizzard corns.
• Anerythristic (black albino) are the compliment to amelanism. The inherited recessive mutation of lacking erythrin (red, yellow, and orange) pigments produce a snake that is mostly black and gray. When mature, many type A anerythristic corn snakes develop yellow on their neck regions. In 1984 a wild caught Type B anerythristic corn snake was caught which is the ancestor of anerythristics missing the yellow neck regions. Similar snakes include: stonewashed -- copper or light brown blotches; charcoal (aka muted anerythristic, Pine Island anerythristic)-- type B anerythristic, very low contrast with shaded of gray on white and black background.
• Snow (white albino) are a blending of the amelanistic and anerythristic recessive traits. These predominantly white snakes tend to have yellow neck and throat regions when mature. Light blotches and background colors have subtle shades of beige, ivory, pink, green, or yellow.
• Blizzard corns resulted from a type B anerythristic corn caught in 1984. Blizzards are a totally white snake with very little to no visible pattern.
• Hypomelanistic or rosy corn snakes carry a recessive trait that reduces the dark pigments causing the reds, whites, and oranges to become more vivid. Their eyes remain dark. These snakes range in appearance between amelanistic corns snakes to normals with greatly reduced melanin.
• Ghost corn snakes are a hypomelanistic anerythristic(type A) snakes. They exhibit varying shades of grays, browns, and blacks on a lighter background. These often create pastel colors in: lavenders, pinks, oranges, and browns.
• Bloodred corn snakes carry a recessive trait that eliminates ventral checkered patterns. These originated from a somewhat unicolor Jacksonville and Gainesville, Florida strain of corn snake. Through selective breeding, an almost solid ground color has been produced. Hatchlings have a slight pattern that fade as they mature into a solid orange red to ash red colored snake. The earlier bloodreds tend to have large clutches of smaller than average eggs that produce hard to feed offspring. Through out crossing with amelanistic and anerythristic corns hatchlings tend to be larger with fewer feeding problems.
• Butter corns (snow caramel) cultured by Rich Zuchowski from a female purchased in Florida marked with blotches on an unusual straw colored background. Selective breeding has produced intense yellow colored corns snakes with yellow markings.
• Caramel corns are another Rich Zuchowski engineered corn snake. The background is varying shades of yellow to yellow brown. Dorsal blotches vary from caramel yellow, brown, and rich chocolate brown.
• Amber corns are a hypomelanistic caramel snake with amber markings on a brownish background.
• Lavender corn snakes contain a light pink background with darker purple gray markings and burgundy eyes or lavender gray blotches on an orangish background. Variation with this same genetic strain are arguably called: mocha, cocoa, and chocolate.
• Albino lavender look like blizzard corns once mature with pink to purple highlights.
• Crimson (hypomelanistic Miami) are very light high contrast snakes with a light background and dark redish/orange blotches.
• Fluorescent orange develop white borders around bright red blotches as adults on an orange background.
• Pewter or Peppercorn (Type BAnerytheristic blood red) are silvery lavender with very slight blotches as adults.
• Creamsicle are hybrids between an albino corn snake and an emory's ratnsake/common corn cross. These snakes bring out the yellow and downplay the reds of the corn snake. Most are varying shades of yellow with darker yellow to orangish blotches. Clutches are generally smaller in number but produce larger more vigorous hatchlings. Creamsicle with less emory background and increased amelanistic corn generally have lighter backgrounds and red to orange saddles(red creamsicle).
• Jungle corns are hybrids using the corn snake and california kingsnake (lampropeltis g. californiae). These show extreme pattern variations taking markings from both parents -- sometimes looking very similar to one parent or the other. However, as a hybrid of different species, these attractive snakes are typically sterile.

Pattern Morphs

• Aztec: blotches and spots are exhibited in various sizes
• Milksnake phase: banded blotches resembling coastal plains milk snake.
• Motley: a catch all name for irregularities -- ranging from exhibiting an aberrant line of light colored spots, fused blotches, to stripes down the back
• Striped phase: a single stripe running longitudinally from head to tail
• Zigzag (zipper): dorsal blotches connected forming a "zigzag" type pattern

See also the Jungle variety listed under colors.

References

• Pantherophis replaces Elaphe. Utiger, Helfenberger, Schatti, Schmidtkutrjytdf(2002) Russian Journal of Herpetology 9(2): 105-124.
• [1] Taxonomy citation

External links

• American Cornsnake Registry
• The Cornsnake Morph Guide - identification and genetic guide for collectors and breeders
• The Cornsnakes Forumsde:Kornnatter

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