Corn Snake

Pantherophis guttatus

Corn Snakes are not native to Britain, they are a North American snake. They are one of the most widely kept pet snakes, but lack of knowledge has led to many escaping or ending up in rescue centres.

Adaptable to environmental change, they can cope with dry or wet conditions, forests, grasslands or rock beds. Corn snakes are non-venomous, but are often killed because they look similar to the venomous copperhead snake.

Family facts

Thermal regulation is normally done as a process of digestion, but this snake appears not to do this in Winter. We use heat mats to emulate warm ground, which helps the snake thermoregulate.

Corn snakes exhibit defensive tail vibration behaviour. They rely on their sense of smell as the primary method of prey detection, while their sense of sight is the secondary method.