Newbie interested in corns. :3

[spiderlovebites]

Hello everyone. After reading various posts and searching the web I've decided I would like to focus my attentions on someday getting (specifically) a corn snake. I can't do it now, my life is too chaotic with a new volunteering position and trying to get a job, but understanding more about them and reading people's posts will help me learn as much as I can before the big day I finally get one arrives. :)

So I have a ton of questions, alot of them I probably already have read before in this forum in my search, but being somewhat OCD I tend to need things clarified. o>

1. Sizes. How big do they start as *baby sizes* and how big do/can they get? How big a tank will they eventually have to live in? :) Are they a good pet for a smaller space/apartment?

2. Price. What sort of investment of money would I be looking at, towards housing, monthly feeding, and the actual snakey, *which I read from various sites as being sold anywhere between $60-$250 per snake/snake couple. O-O Er...Kay.*

3. Miiiiiice! I haaaate miiice! Are there alternatives to mice for food, or will I just have to get used to the little vermin? *shivers* (although I'll probably obtain some satisfaction from watching them get eaten whole...bwahaha)

4. Other pets. We have in our house the following. 2 tarantulas, 2 toads, 1 cat, and 1 puppy. (the tarantulas are mine, the rest of the pets are my roomates.) Before I even consider it, is this a really bad environment to introduce a snake into the mix?

5. Other various, whatnot. Er...Just any other useful advice you can give a newbie. :3 I really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Lee *dazzled by pretty Corns*

[Nicky]

First of welcome to ssnakess:D,

1) As babies they usually start off as 10-12 inches and grow depending on the individual specimine but usually in the 4-5 range and occasionally get a huge female getting 6 feet but that's pretty rare. Lets see cage wise I personally like giving my adult snakes ( babies don;t do well in large cages as they stress too easy) as large as cages as I can fit into my room. For newborns a 5 gallon tank or rubbermaid will work adn you can gradualy increase your snakes cage to a 10 which will last it a year and then once it's older a minium size would be a 20 gal but I'd go with a 30 at least. and for corns 5 feet i wouldn't go smaller than a 35 gal.

2)Your price range is not to far off normal individuals run into the low $50's and some stunning morphs can be $300, there a tons of good breeders out there with alot of morphs to offer, are there any in piticular you like? ( please excuse my horrible spelling)

3)Their are such things as pinky sausages for snakes but as far as I know you can only get them in the states. Hmm I dunno if you can;t deal with mice a snake might be a bad choice. THen again you only have to feed them every 7-10 days so its not to bad. Rember frozen thawed is always prefered but if you have to feed live make sure you supivise ( personally my corn stopped eating frozen thawed mice two years ago and i never could get him back on it so I carefully watch him as he eats live.)

4)As long as you have an escape proof cage ( this is extremely important that it has a locking lid and is extremely tight fiting as these guys are amazing at slipping through small holes) Then you will have no problems with your other pets. If your really worried you can try putting your corn's cage in a seperate room that your puppy can't possibly knock down the tank or anything.

5) Um lets see well one enjoy your new friend and don;t ever hesitate to ask for help:)

Cheers
Kayla