Hello all.

My son just turned 10. For his birthday he is getting a Corn snake like this:
http://carolinarodents.com/catalog/i...orn_snake1.jpg

He is beside himself with excitement. We went to the reptile store to look at lizards and he found that instead. He held one of the adults without any issues... after we left he was almost in tears from the excitement... (it was the first time he got to hold a snake and it was his birthday :) )

Anyway the store seems very reputable. They breed their own snakes, lizards, mice/rats etc. So they are known to be from good places.

He will set us up with the right tank (Exo Terra)
http://inform.glam.ac.uk/media/files..._terrarium.jpg
A heat mat, and frozen "pinkys" (enough for a few months), etc. The snake comes "trained" to eat them from tweezers.

Any tips would be appreciated!

Thanks!

First of all you need to be aware that corn snakes are extreme escape artists!! If there is any concievable with the stretch of th imagination way to get out, the snake will find it. Anybody I've ever known that has had a corn snake has had several eisodes of "uh, oh..Where did it go?" So be very, very careful about making sure the cage is secure. When I worked at a pet store I had several "Find the corn snakes" fiasco's myself.

I had read that... LOL
And good lord don't tell my wife! She will freak out!

The cage we are getting has locking doors... so I will stress to my son to LOCK THEM!

Thanks!

How large is that cage? I've seen one like it but it was fairly small. If it is a fairly small cage then keep in mind the snake will outgrow it. Corn snakes will grow from between 4 to 5 feet and will live 15-20 years. This is a long-term commitment pet, unlike your typical hamster.

:) yeah.. this particular breed gets to about 3 1/2 to 4 ft max (nice)

Yeah it will outgrow it...

So far so good! One week now... fed it a pinky :) lol

I'm glad things are so good so far. I would have gotten a corn snake once but I know how good they are at escaping and I have a large house with plenty of rodent pets it could eat, or 4 legged pets that would eat it. I liked him an awful lot and an acquaintance of mine got him. He gets out of his cage every night and she wakes up with him on her face every morning. I think he likes the warmth of her skin.

Seriously? My wife would move out if it got out...

This case has locking doors and lid and a warming pad under the bedding.. the snake likes to hide down there and wedge herself up to in the crevices lol

Snakes don't bother me at all, at least non-venomous ones. There are far too many Water Moccasin's, Copperheads, and Cottonmouths in this area. I had a Anery. Kenyan Sand Boa until recently. He was picky and would only eat live pinkies. Not only did I feel awful every time I fed him, getting them consistently was almost impossible. The only places I could get them only had them rarely. I had to sell him for his own good. I was real fond of him though.