Corn snakes are among the easiest pet snake species to care for even their babies. There’s no need to worry if you suddenly find yourself adopting a baby corn snake from a friend. After a quick read and couple of instructional videos, you’re ready to care for your first pet corn snake.
Things You Need Start
Before diving into the business of caring for baby corn snakes though, check if you have
- Love of animals including slithering snakes
- Few minutes a day to check the reptile
- Extra budget for reptile cage essentials and snake feed (Don’t worry, corn snakes are not too expensive to care for).
If you have these, then you’re ready to become a pet corn snake owner.
Housing Baby Corn Snakes
Baby corn snakes need to be housed in a small, well-ventilated reptile cage of either plastic or glass tank with cover. It has to be small measuring to only about 35 cm x 18 cm because baby corn snakes love the tight space more than the wide, open area. You need a heat mat, thermometer, thermostat, hiding place, shallow water dish, and substrate which can be sphagnum moss, shredded paper, or wood shavings.
Here are the steps:
1. Secure the heat mat firmly on a table top or on the floor, wherever you want to put the enclosure.
2. Put the thermostat over the heat mat.
3. Lay the enclosure in a manner that one of its sides covers the heat mat entirely.
4. Put at least an inch think substrate on the enclosure.
5. Put the hiding place in a manner that half of it lies over the heat mat and half lies over normal bedding.
6. Secure the thermometer with a tape or glue onto one side of the enclosure opposite the side of the heat mat.
Test that the heat mat and thermostat is working properly to maintain a 77-80 degrees Fahrenheit temperature at daytime and 72-77 degrees Fahrenheit at nighttime. Once everything is in place, you’re ready to put the baby corn snake in. Clean the snake’s dropping once you see one by scooping it out like you would a cat litter.
Feeding Baby Corn Snakes
About a week or so from hatching, baby corn snakes will shed for the first time. This serves as your signal that the baby corn snakes are ready to feed. Before that, they can live off the yolk they assimilated from their eggs.
Baby corn snakes are fed with dead pinkie mice no bigger than their bodies’ diameter once a week or every 4 days. You can buy the mice frozen from pet reptile supply store. You want to thaw a pinkie mouse by dipping it in warm water before holding it with a pair of tongs close to the baby snake’s mouth when feeding. If the corn snake wouldn’t take it immediately, leave the pinkie mouse in the cage for 30 minutes. If it still hasn’t taken the food after 30 minutes, take it out, and forget about it. Snakes are known to fast for more than two weeks without doing much harm to their bodies. Just try to feed it again the following day.
Handling Baby Corn Snakes
Handling baby corn snakes is pretty much the same as handling adults. You want to place your palm wide open in its enclosure to show that you’re not holding food. Corn snakes rarely bite, but if they’re feeling cranky or frighten they can strike. An open palm should make it harder for them to sink their teeth in. Once the baby snake is relaxed, gently cover it with your palm and scoop it out from its cage. Baby snakes are so small that it can fit on your palm, so it’s not difficult to handle them. Handle the snake at least several minutes a day to keep it tamed and used to humans. Just make sure you wash your hands before and after you handle your pet reptile.
Sexing Bay Corn Snakes
Although a definitive way to sex baby corn snakes is to take it to a vet for probing or popping, you can surmise your pet’s sex by checking its tail base at 4 to 6 weeks old. If you place a male and female baby corn snake side-by-side, the male corn snake’s tail base should appear thicker than the female’s. This needs practice and comparison with at least two different gender snakes, but you should be able to guess a corn snake’s sex by this process.