How to Care for Corn Snakes

Corn snakes are one of the most popular reptile pets due to their color variations, low cost and docile nature. Although corn snakes are easy to care for, they share some of the same requirements that most reptiles need to stay healthy.

Things You'll Need

• 20-gallon aquarium
• Reptile bark
• Newspapers
• Paper towels
• Half log
• Cardboard box
• Climbing branch
• Insects
• Frogs
• Lizards
• Mice
• Heating pad

Instructions

1. Consider the lifespan of the corn snake. Corn snakes can live for 15 years in captivity, so you must make a commitment to care for the snake for this time span.

2. Buy an enclosure suitable for the mature size of a corn snake. Corn snakes are one of the smaller species of snakes that make popular reptile pets, as their mature length varies from 4 to 6 feet. A 20-gallon aquarium is an appropriate size.

3. Furnish the enclosure with a suitable substrate to line the cage. Although you can buy commercial reptile bark, newspapers or paper towels are readily available and easy to replace when soiled.

4. Give the snake a place to hide and climb in the enclosure. You can buy a half log, or you can place a cardboard box in the tank. Wild corn snakes can be arboreal, so add a climbing branch to the cage.

5. Provide the corn snake with a varied diet. In the wild, corn snakes eat insects, mice, frogs and lizards. Supplement the mice you feed the corn snake with an occasional grasshopper for variety.

6. Maintain the proper temperature between 75 and 85 degrees F for the corn snake. Herpetologists recommend a heating pad that fits under the entire tank rather than a hot rock to prevent injury from burns.