Taking Your Corn Snake Outdoors

"Hi I’m Debbie McCanna on behalf of Expert Village.com I am talking today in this clip about the care and maintenance of corn snakes. You may ask is it safe to take my snake outside. Yes and no. There are several things to consider. Remembering that your snake is a cold blooded or ectothermic animal, the environmental outside is critical to the well-being of your snake. An environment that is lower than 70 degrees or higher than 85 degrees could be stressful for prolonged periods of time to your snake. Also giving your snake free range of motion on the ground could have devastating consequences. I myself when raising a corn snake years ago had let the snake crawl around on the garden thinking that this would be a fun way for the snake to experience some true to life behavior. Unfortunately, the garden was contaminated with cat feces and the snake contracted coccidiosis which is a fatal internal parasite. We lost that snake and have not repeated our mistakes by ever taking a snake outside and leaving it unsupervised on the ground. You can take your snake outside in temperatures between 70 and 85 degrees for short periods of time as long as you are handling the snake and not letting the snake down on the ground. Whether your household has animals or not, there are animals that visit your yard and your gardens and could potentially pose harm in terms of parasites both external and internal to your snake. In our next clip we will talk about some of the signs of illness and what you should do in the event that your snake has become ill."