one ornery corn snake

akane · 06-02-17, 02:38 AM

Got another inexpensive, "aggressive" corn snake. Except this one is supposedly in his 4th year (a little small?) so a bit more set in his ways and ready to do battle. He already marked me getting him back out of my transport bin. They've been handling him by snake stick and I got exclamations of concern when I was bluffing a bluffing snake into aiming for the center of my flat palm that he couldn't get teeth on with his size if he wanted to in order to move him from their critter keeper to my pillow case. I'm guessing all he mostly knows is food and dragged out by snake stick. He's also in blue so he's just thrilled with all of this. Although he's quite shiny. At least definitely in the front half. Maybe that clearing point before the skin truly comes off?

Turns out my pillow case got a hole in the wash and I didn't check close enough.

Good thing I used the container with definitely no rodent chew holes cause my husband cracked it to a striking snake. That threw a wrench in containing him while I converted the same bin to his quarantine tub. It took a bit more to get him into a smaller container since he got wise to my fake out earlier but he's much more happy on a moist soil mix with hide and combo of a flat rock and some leftover small slate tiles for basking spot. His striking and posturing is coming down already. Pics of orange and red snake in orange container don't show color the most accurate but he's quite a nice okeetee.

Scubadiver59 · 06-02-17, 09:07 AM

We should put my Bull and your Corn in the same bin and see who's the more aggressive!

Quote:

Originally Posted by akane

Got another inexpensive, "aggressive" corn snake. Except this one is supposedly in his 4th year (a little small?) so a bit more set in his ways and ready to do battle. He already marked me getting him back out of my transport bin. They've been handling him by snake stick and I got exclamations of concern when I was bluffing a bluffing snake into aiming for the center of my flat palm that he couldn't get teeth on with his size if he wanted to in order to move him from their critter keeper to my pillow case. I'm guessing all he mostly knows is food and dragged out by snake stick. He's also in blue so he's just thrilled with all of this. Although he's quite shiny. At least definitely in the front half. Maybe that clearing point before the skin truly comes off?

Turns out my pillow case got a hole in the wash and I didn't check close enough.

Good thing I used the container with definitely no rodent chew holes cause my husband cracked it to a striking snake. That threw a wrench in containing him while I converted the same bin to his quarantine tub. It took a bit more to get him into a smaller container since he got wise to my fake out earlier but he's much more happy on a moist soil mix with hide and combo of a flat rock and some leftover small slate tiles for basking spot. His striking and posturing is coming down already. Pics of orange and red snake in orange container don't show color the most accurate but he's quite a nice okeetee.

akane · 06-02-17, 10:40 AM

Except we estimated the little corn at barely 3' lol Considerably larger than my yearling female but maybe just maybe thicker and still a few inches shorter than my yearling bull. Good luck actually measuring him until he chills. My husband said his eyes are no longer blue. It looked to me like he partially took the shed off going through the pillow case hole but I could not find anything even turning it inside out so unless it's balled really small and I missed it in the dimmer light at night maybe there's a skin in the bin. He should calm down easier being able to see better at least.

dannybgoode · 06-02-17, 12:16 PM

Yeah I've met a few pyscho corns! Had a beautiful normal in a store that had a propensity to just ever so calmly sink its teeth into you after a few minutes of handling

No striking, no defensive posturing, no warning - just a slowly would latch on and not let go. Was a lovely looking thing though.

akane · 06-02-17, 01:35 PM

He's not unpredictable or acting weird. He's predictably pissed off and willing to strike lol It's about like running across a wild snake but he does seem to be pulling his punches a little. He definitely could have hit me more times than the one he did which was after he'd struck at me 5 times without me leaving. He will most definitely sink teeth in given the opportunity though. At least constantly striking at the mesh moved him around while I was trying to visibly check for stuck shed.

Snakemanswife · 06-03-17, 07:53 PM

Looks just like my corn. Beautiful. My corn has been with me for two weeks and finally ate. He isn't aggressive though. He just tries to get out of my hands when he doesn't want to be held. Guess I got lucky.

akane · 06-04-17, 11:25 PM

I've got an aggressive lavender for only $30 too and now she just gives you the snake equivalent of expressing irritation when you disturb her while basking. Eventually she leaves. She's not all that happy at handling but I don't actually get her out much and I've only had her months. He is years old instead of a baby like she was, we were just looking at pics of her giant head and little body back in Feb, but as I said he's not unpredictable and he's only been handled by snake hook.

I actually found a skin so he had just gone clear before shedding and he's mostly stopped striking when you only are looking in and moving around his cage. I want to give him a raised spot under the lamp to bask and to crawl under because it's a bit cool at the substrate level for what a corn might prefer but I'm hesitant to interfere with his enclosure again this soon. I might be able to just slip a stone tile between him and the area I'm changing so I don't have to dodge him or try to slide him in a shoebox bin again.

akane · 06-07-17, 05:03 AM

Working on some hide upgrades from random plastic stuff we had about and giving him a raised area closer to the heat since it's harder to get a horizontal gradient in the quarantine tub. I got hit twice scooting him off the warm stone tile he refused to leave but he didn't break skin and then we slid a tile in his way to work one half of the bin at a time. My husband balanced it by snake hook until I built his new platform. Unfortunately the glue failed due to peeling slate edges on the cool side hide so a different piece is being used for tomorrow. I never like my husband's angles or distance for good pics of things :P

I have named him Keahi Urban Dictionary: keahi

I need to go wood collecting.