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Exotic Pet Corn Snake
Choosing Corn Snake as exotic pet
Exotic Pet Corn Snake. The exotic Corn snakes (Elaphe guttata) make an excellent and popular pet snakes, especially for beginners, since they are relatively docile, reluctance to bit, moderate size and easy to handle and care for.
With a wide variety of different colors and patterns selective breeding has produced, however, exotic pet corn snakes also favorites with experienced keepers.
In order to obtain new corn snake specimens, most people head to a pet shop. Though the big multipurpose pet shops certainly fulfill a need in the world of pets in general, they are probably not the best place to go for exotic pet like a corn snake. It would be better off going to a small specialist reptile pet shop, where the owner really knows about reptiles, including corn snakes, and can give you solid advice about your pet snakes.
One more important thing, ask to see the record kept of its feeding- this may just be a piece of paper taped to it's container with dates on it, to find out if the snake is a good regular feeder or not.
Things to consider when choosing corn snake as exotic pet:
• Adult size of corn snakes reach up to 3-5 feet (occasionally up to 6 feet)
• Corn snake lifespan around 15-20 years, sometimes longer.
• Corn snakes are relatively inexpensive, but there is a significant cost to invest in the proper equipment to keep the pet.
• Like all snakes, corn snakes are carnivores, which means owners must be prepared to provide prey to feed the pet snake.
• Corn snakes do not have elaborate housing needs, but must be in an escape-proof enclosure.
• Find out the law: check the legality of exotic pets in your area.
When choosing a corn snake as exotic pet, look for a well fleshed body with clear eyes, no cuts or scrapes, no signs of mites or ticks, a clean vent, and one that is alert and flicking its tongue. Also, it is recommended to obtain captive bred as your pet, rather than wild-caught corn snake. Captive bred corn snakes shouldn't be too difficult to find since corn snakes breed fairly readily in captivity.
