Lots of handling, attention will help make corn snakes friendly, unafraid
Not all pets have fur, four legs
Do you get creeped out when you see a slippery, sliding snake? If you do, then I will tell you why you shouldn't be afraid.
Hi, my name is Tyler Bethune, and today I am going to teach you all about corn snakes.
My snake is an Okeetee corn snake, which is a type of rat snake that lives in the South from Texas to Florida. They grow two to three feet long, and I feed mine baby mice. (It's a young snake and is still small.)
Corn snakes are good pets because there's not a lot of clean- up and they are easy to feed. They do need a lot of attention and handling to make them friendly and not afraid of you.
What do you need to do to care for a corn snake? You need to play with it, feed it twice a week and clean its cage.
What items do corn snakes need? They need an aquarium with a tight lid; a heat pad to keep the tank between 80 and 90 degrees; a water bowl; something to cover the tank bottom, like sand or Astroturf; and a place to hide in the tank.
Here are some cool facts about snakes:
n Snakes can unhinge their jaws to swallow prey bigger than their heads.
n They swallow their prey whole.
n Snakes can't breathe while they are swallowing prey, so they have to get it past their lungs fast.
n If your snake has a long skinny tail, it's female, if it's short and fat, it's a male.
n At 7 months of age, a corn snake gets it's adult coloration.
Tyler Bethune is 10 years old and is a member of 4-H. He attends North Star Elementary School.