Corn snake

[BetweenTwoLungs]

Been to visit a friend last week and she has recently got a little tiny corn snake. I've never ever considered a snake before but I must admit I am tempted. How difficult are they to keep? Would I end up regretting it? What do I need to think about/consider?

They're not difficult to keep. Easiest pet I've ever kept from fostering.

If you want a snake that isn't a bit like trying to handle water with adhd then get a boa rather than a corn though.

I disagree entirely! They are easy to keep only if you know how - I work in animal rescue and see many snakes kept incorrectly and suffering from health problems as a result.

OP get yourself a care sheet or book and read up first. You need large vivarium enough for snake to stretch right out at will, uv lamp, heat lamp controlled by thermostat to create temperature gradient along the enclosure, branching, thermometers to check temp correct at both warm and cool ends of enclosure, water bowl etc. you need to be prepared to feed defrosted dead mice to the snake.

Please read up first - reptiles rely on their environment to stay healthy and so you would need to know what this should be.

Well I would have though doing homework first was a given.

The set up once they move out of the baby tank isn't cheap. Most of my fosters came as babies when they started to get too big for the little tank they were kept in. But once you've forked out the upkeep is cheap enough.

Don't just get one because they're cute as babies.. They can live a while.

I always mention it gamer just in case, as I regularly come across people who don't read up first then buy an enclosure that's too small/wrong lamps etc and end up with problems and it works out bad for the animal plus expensive for the new owner

Agree they're relatively cheap to keep once you've got the initial set up.

It's worth checking how far away the nearest vet is who knows about reptiles too.

No you're right. I forget because I'm so used to them.

I've got a corn snake, she's around 12 years old now! Very easy to keep but initial outlay expensive. They don't need lights in their tank unless the room it's in is really dark. They need a heat mat to help keep them warm, a secure vivarium and places for them to hide. They are a commitment though, as I said mine is 12 and she could live another 10 years or even more!

Anomaly you are wrong. This is a diurnal species and thus they need a day:night cycle same as in wild plus UVB.

This is exactly as I was saying - everyone thinks they are easy to keep but many people keep them incorrectly. It's been proven scientifically that they require UVB light and you should be providing for their welfare needs, which in captivity means they need to be provided with same light and uv as in wild.

Sorry to sound grumpy but I get so fed up with this. I see so many reptiles with health problems and it's always caused by poor husbandry

Link to research that backs up my post here if I can find the actual paper I'll post it

I've read that paper and it was research done on 12 snakes 2 of which were removed from the study. I would disagree that it is proof that they need UV light. You would need to do a far larger study on many more snakes for the results to be statistically significant.

A day and night cycle can be provided using sunlight. Obviously if the room the vivarium in is poorly lit then a light may be required to provide the cycle.