Hatchling corn snakes are worm-small and can easily be kept in a 10-to-15-gallon enclosure for their adolescence.  You can keep them in a larger enclosure if you provide an over-abundance of hiding spots throughout the entire space (enough so that the animal can move from one side to the other without being seen), although they may be hard for the keeper to locate in such a comparably large space.  We would strongly recommend that small snakes be kept in smaller enclosures because wide open spaces make the animal feel less secure, and therefore, can become less inclined to eat.  A hatchling corn snake can be kept on paper towel for the first few weeks so that you are able to monitor their health and bodily functions. After you verify all things are happening as they should, you can change them to a substrate that they can burrow in. Feeding:

Try not to handle your snake 24 hours before feeding and for another 48 hours after feeding.  Holding prior to feeding may stress your snake out and they might then refuse to eat.  Leaving the snake alone after feeding is also important to make sure they can digest their meal fully and in peace.  This significantly reduces the risk of regurgitation.  If at any point your snake regurgitates its food, do not attempt to feed again for at least 2 weeks to give the animal time to heal their esophagus.  When snakes regurgitate, the stomach acid can strip protective layers from their system.  While regurgitation is more common in young snakes than it is in adults, you should still try to identify what may have caused it.  Insufficient heat is often the cause. Hatchlings should be given one pinky mouse once a week, live or frozen-thawed depending on what it is willing to eat.  It is more important to ensure your snake is eating consistently than it is to transition it to frozen-thawed in a time frame that pleases the owner.  Frozen-thawed prey items are always the safest route to take, however, when a snake refuses to eat it, they still need to eat something. Take this information and your own comfort level into consideration before bringing an animal home that you may be unprepared or unwilling to care for.

As your snake grows, the size of the prey items will also increase.  The general rule of thumb is to feed your snake one whole prey item that is 1 to 1 ½ times the width of the animal at its thickest part (don’t look at the size of the animal’s head to determine prey size, this will indicate nothing).  This rule will remain true for the duration of your snake’s life. Once your snake reaches adulthood, it will likely begin to eat weaned/hopper rats or very large mice, at this point you may need to adjust the feeding schedule depending on how quickly your animal metabolizes its food.  Paying careful attention to the way your snake carries its weight, you may in most cases, feed your animal every 10 to 14 days. Adjustments in feeding schedules can be made to suit your specific animal. It is not very common for Corn Snakes to reject food (especially after establishing a consistent appetite) but if it does, try again the following week.  If it still rejects food, don’t panic, healthy adult snakes can go a very long time without needing to eat. If your snake continues to reject meals for a concerning amount of time (around four weeks), there is likely something wrong with its environment. The first step is verifying that your husbandry is correct (temps, light cycle, hides, humidity, etc.)  Is your snake in shed?  Shedding snakes may lose their appetite throughout the process.  Is it a female / has it been near or in direct contact with a male? She could be about to lay a clutch of fertile/infertile eggs. Check the body condition of the animal, look for marks on the belly that may be indicative of scale rot or burns from an unregulated heat source.  Check the weight of the animal, is it losing weight? Is it lethargic or weak?  It may be time to take your snake to see an exotic vet. Housing:

Adult corn snakes can be housed in a 30-gallon-long enclosure at the bare minimum.  We recommend 40-gallons or larger for this animal as they are very curious and active.  The bigger the enclosure, the better (for adults).  They are semi-arboreal animals as, so giving them the opportunity to climb in addition to ample floor space is a good idea.  Top opening enclosures (with screen lids) are okay to use, but front opening enclosures are preferred.  Front opening tanks allow you to approach the snake from the side, as opposed to approaching from above, which can sometimes make your animal think you are a predator.  If using a top opening enclosure, be sure to mount screen clips on the sides of the lid to hold it down firmly.  Unsecured lids will always lead to a lost snake, don’t underestimate the talent they have for escaping.  Placing heavy items on the lid to hold it down will not help either, the clips are about five dollars, save yourself the headache.

Set your enclosure up with a “thermal gradient.”  This means that the heat is concentrated on one side of the space, leaving the opposite end cool.  This will allow your animal to move around based on its comfort level to regulate its body temperature.  There should be a hiding place in each end of the space. Whether you are using commercial reptile hides, boxes, cork bar hunks or otherwise, be sure that the animal can comfortably hide its entire body in or beneath the object.  The remaining space can be filled up with climbing décor, foliage, tubes, etc.  The more you add to the tank, the more enrichment your snake will have.  

You will also need to add a water dish on the cool end of the enclosure.  Your corn snake will need a dish is heavy enough that it can’t be tipped over, and large enough for the snake to fit all (or most) of its body into, should it ever decide to soak for shedding purposes.  We would also recommend adding de-chlorinator (like Reptisafe) to the water, and changing the water regularly, as it will quickly begin to accumulate bacteria.

Substrate:

There are a lot of options available when it comes to substrate.  The best types to use for a Corn Snake are the ones that stay dry, keep the humidity low, and aren’t dusty.  Things like shredded aspen, bark chips, dry mulch and dry coco coir are all acceptable choices.  Your snake will likely prefer something it can easily burrow in, so be sure to make it around two to three inches deep for an adult animal. Avoid the use of sand with any snake species, as it can easily end up stuck beneath belly scales and may damage eyes.   Substrate should be spot cleaned weekly (snakes usually only poop as often as they eat) or more as needed and should be completely replaced every one to three months, unless bioactive.  At this time, you should remove decorations to clean and sterilize, and disinfect the inside of the enclosure.  There are many reptile specific cleaning products available, as well as vet grade disinfectants like F10 and Chlorohexidine.  Do not use household cleaning products like Lysol as it is toxic and can harm your animal.

Heating, Lighting and Humidity: Corn snakes don’t require much humidity and will be satisfied by having a large water dish in their enclosure at all times.  They will thrive in a setup with 30 to 40% humidity.  At shedding time, you may need to increase the humidity to ensure your animal is able to properly soften the old skin.  This can be achieved by pouring a little water into the substrate and mixing it up so it may evaporate throughout the day.  This method doesn’t work with shredded aspen, as it is prone to molding. If using aspen, you may (only at shedding time) provide a “humid hide.”  This can be as simple as a Tupperware container with a hole cut in the lid, filled with dampened sphagnum moss.   **Note: Be diligent to remove the humid hide immediately after shedding and replace moss regularly as it can harbor harmful bacteria.  This bacterium can lead to respiratory infections, and much more commonly, scale rot.  If your animal experiences issues shedding, you may give it a shallow, luke warm soak in a container with holes drilled in the sides.  Leave the animal in the bath for around 20 minutes and take a soft cloth to gently wipe the shed away, directionally motioning towards the tail.  Always check that the eye caps have been successfully removed in this situation.  With the appropriate husbandry, your snake should not be having flaky, or broken sheds; always check for a cause and adjust accordingly.

Corn snakes are Crepuscular, this means they are most active at dawn and dusk.  In order to maintain their natural rhythm, they should be provided with a day/night cycle.  This means they are provided with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.  Using automatic light timers is the best and easiest way to achieve this.  While UVB lighting isn’t required for most snakes, some studies have found that it can be beneficial to them, specifically as a crepuscular snake.  If you are not using UVB, you should provide a consistent light source of some kind anyways (LED, daytime heat lamp, fluorescent).   Heat lamps are one of the best ways to give your animal access to both the light and the heat it requires.  The wattage of lamp you’ll need will depend on the size of the tank you are using, and the general temperature of your home.  Usually, 50W can work for a 10-gallon, whereas a 40-gallon may need around 100W to 150W, always speak to an employee about the specific brand and bulb style you’re choosing to determine what wattage will be best for your setup, and monitor temperatures very closely for the first day or two following installation (check the temperatures once a week after you have the initial adjustments made to ensure consistency).  You may need to raise or lower your lamp, or adjust wattage to pin point the correct range.  Ideally, get the hot spot to 85-90 degrees F, and the ambient temperature of the cold side between 75-and 80-degrees F.

Another heating option available are under tank heaters (UTH – often called “heat mats”).  These are okay to use in combination with over-head heating, but not sufficient as a sole heat source in most homes.  If you have a dedicated “reptile room”, or a room where the air temperature is naturally and consistently above 78 degrees F, a UTH will be sufficient as a sole heat source. If this is not your situation, stick to basic over-head heating, or even a combination of over-head and UTH. A UTH alone, in most homes, will not raise the ambient air temperature enough to maintain a healthy environment for your snake. Breathing in cold air can lead to respiratory issues.  In any case, if you do decide to use an under-tank heater at all, it absolutely must be hooked up to a thermostat, not to be confused with a thermometer.   A thermostat is a device that a heat mat can be plugged into to keep the element’s temperature within two degrees of whatever it is set to. They have a probe cord built in that is meant to sit inside of the enclosure, just above the heat mat (on the floor surface), this will measure the temperature and send readings back to the unit, signalling when it is time to turn the heat mat on and off to maintain a consistent temperature.  Thermostats are a vital piece of equipment, made to keep your animal safe.  Unregulated heat mats are highly unpredictable, they often overheat to extreme temperatures, this can lead to burns on the belly of your snake; they do not have the sense to move away from the heated area if the rest of the tank is too cold.  Unregulated heat mats are also a serious fire hazard, we have received tanks in rescue situations where the unregulated mat has heated to the point of corrosion.  Not only is it unsafe for your animal, it is unsafe for you and your home.  

We would generally recommend skipping a UTH altogether, and just using a basic heat bulb to warm the tank.  It’s safer, easier to notice equipment malfunctions, and ultimately cheaper to purchase.  With Corn Snakes being crepuscular animals, they genuinely enjoy coming out to bask under the heat.  In doing so, they will still receive valuable belly heat to aid in digestion from the surface that sits below the heat lamp, as well as a natural, familiar exposure to heat.  In the wild, if it gets too hot, snakes retreat to holes and hiding places to cool down.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense to heat the dark places, and is kind of unnatural if you think about it.   **Note: Always measure the surface temperatures with an infrared temperature gun to get the most accurate reading, analog thermometers stuck to the side of the tank aren’t going to tell you very much about your basking site temperature. **Note: Avoid the use “heat rock” products as they are extremely dangerous for your animal and your home.  Even when attached to a thermostat, they will almost always overheat or short out.  This risks serious injury or even death to your snake and exponentially increases the risk of fire in your home.  They should not be sold to anyone, yet they are still available and sometimes even come recommended in chain pet stores.

All said and done, Corn Snakes are a great beginner animal for anyone to have as a pet.  This species is a great introduction for anyone who might be a little nervous around snakes, due to their calm, friendly attitude.  Once you get down their basic care, they are really easy to maintain day to day.  Of all reptiles commonly available in the pet trade, this is what we would consider level 1, we can’t recommend them enough!