Snow corn as a gift, general question

[Jakeslither]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum

so last night, I had a friend who told me of a guy here in town who had a 20 gal/40 gal terrariums with decor, hiding spots, climbing branches, heating pads, day/night bulbs/lamps and a snow corn snake.

Basically the previous owner landed in Hospice care and could not take care of the snake any further

Now I wanted to raise two babies..but the equivalent of $300-$400ish I was of course not going to hesitate on the opportunity!!

he/she initially hissed before I got him/her out of her enclosure to a carrier tank to take home (picking the bigger terrarium up later today) but has since seemed to calm down


the guy who had the snake in the house said he hasn't handled him/her since the owner went into Hospice

now there is some advice I wanted to ask, the snake again isn't hissing at me currently, but when I attempt to see if he/she is docile..the snake will curl up into a corner..given it's probably still stressed/getting used to the new environment I understand..again no hissing

but I'm wondering how best I could take steps towards handling/finding out if he/she is docile enough to keep as a pet.

I'm assuming the snake is captive bred previous to the owner but I can't know that for sure either.

[pdomensis]

It's a corn snake. It will more than likely calm down with care and handling. Give it places to hide; leave it alone for a few days and then work up a progressive handling schedule. There are very few snakes that don't calm down with the proper treatment.

[Starbuck]

i agree with pdomensis; give it about a week sans-handling, make sure it eats well etc, then work yourself up to handling it. You will probably find that once you get it out of the viv it will calm right down.
Congrats on the new addition :)

[Jakeslither]

Sounds good, I have to switch him/her back to the original terrarium later today when I'm able to pick it up, so ill be forced to handle temporarily anyway, so ill find out! :)

[Jakeslither]

i agree with pdomensis; give it about a week sans-handling, make sure it eats well etc, then work yourself up to handling it. You will probably find that once you get it out of the viv it will calm right down.
Congrats on the new addition :)

Thankyou!!! I'm trying to upload a pic of my new companion, I guess I'm getting the too many urls error though :c

[possum]

I agree with the others but one more thing: one reason some snakes are fearful & feisty is that they have been only fed live rodents, and whenever the cage is opened, they are expecting to have to do battle...makes sense? Be patient...a snow corn is certainly a captive-bred, not that it matters as far as taming ("it's a corn snake!"). It also may be quite hungry, I know I get awfully hissy when it's way past meal time... so offer it a smaller than normal f/t mouse in a few days as a test. (sooner or larger prey & it may regurgitate due to stress; try to give it plenty of privacy for a while.)

[Jakeslither]

She's a doll! completely docile/able to be handled completely :)

I fed her yesterday so I'm def leaving her alone to let her relax and digest

I actually fed her a hopper, she looked like she was searching for more so I gave her another hopper about 20 mins after.

she's about...2 1/2 feet ...maybe 3 but not quite I don't think. was that ample enough to feed? or do you think two hoppers was too much for her size?

[possum]

I think you did fine! And I'm glad she's got such a caring new owner!

Just don't cave in too often for snakes that still seem hungry or you'll end up with an overweight & unhealthy pet...they are just like us when it comes to eating fast & wanting more. The signal of fullness is a little slow to kick in.

[Lankyrob]

With my corns i feed one item about twice thier own girth every week til they are a year old and then every two weeks thereafter, personal,y not a fan of multiple items at each feeding.

[Starbuck]

my corns are just under 3 feet, and i feed them 1 or 2 hoppers per feeding. They could take small mice (just 1), but i have lots of hoppers left to use up :P
i feed every 7-10 days; but i think anwhere between 1-2 week intervals can be done successfully, depending on your prey size.

Your snake may continue to 'act' hungry for several hours after feeding. resist the temptation lol :)

[Jakeslither]

Thankyou :) I'm going to see how she's doing later on in the day tomorrow, and I'm def excited to raise my first baby corn next month as well :D