Corn snakes are temperate zone colubrids, and share a reproductive pattern where females increase their feeding during summer and fall.
This includes accurate sexing, establishing proper pre-breeding conditioning, and timely pairing of adults. Reproduction in captivity has to be done correctly so the clutch's mortality rate decreases. About 10 weeks after laying, the young snakes use a specialized scale called an egg tooth to slice slits in the egg shell, from which they emerge at about 5 in long. The eggs are oblong with leathery, flexible shells. Once laid, the adult snake abandons the eggs and does not return to them. Įgg-laying occurs slightly more than a month after mating, with 12–24 eggs deposited into a warm, moist, hidden location. If the female is ovulating, the eggs will be fertilized and she will begin sequestering nutrients into the eggs, then secreting a shell. The male courts the female primarily with tactile and chemical cues, then everts one of his hemipenes, inserts it into the female, and ejaculates his sperm. Ĭorn snakes usually breed shortly after the winter cooling. Corn snakes brumate around 10 to 16 ☌ (50 to 61 ☏) in a place where they cannot be disturbed and with little sunlight. Although not necessary, they are usually put through a cooling (also known as brumation) period that takes 60–90 days to get them ready for breeding. īaby corn snakes hatching from their eggsĬorn snakes are relatively easy to breed. It has been found that corn snakes (along with other colubrids) reach sexual maturity by means of size, as opposed to age. There are active extermination campaigns and advice for the public in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. guttatus is a proscribed pest in much of Australia. Often called the "American corn snake", P. During cold weather, snakes are less active, so they hunt less.
However, in the more temperate climate along the coast, they shelter in rock crevices and logs during cold weather they also can find shelter in small, closed spaces, such as under a house, and come out on warm days to soak up the heat of the sun. In colder regions, snakes brumate during winter. They can be found in the Southeastern United States ranging from New Jersey to the Florida Keys. Typically, these snakes remain on the ground until the age of four months but can ascend trees, cliffs, and other elevated surfaces. Wild corn snakes prefer habitats such as overgrown fields, forest openings, trees, palmetto flatwoods, and abandoned or seldom-used buildings and farms, from sea level to as high as 6,000 feet. Corn snakes have even been bred in captivity with California kingsnakes to produce fertile hybrids known as "jungle corn snakes". Molecular data have shown that corn snakes are actually more closely related to kingsnakes (genus Lampropeltis) than they are to the Old World rat snakes with which they were formerly classified. Many reference materials still use the synonym Elaphe guttata. guttatus and several related species in Pantherophis rather than Elaphe has been confirmed by further phylogenetic studies. guttatus was previously placed in the genus Elaphe, but Elaphe was found to be paraphyletic by Utiger et al., leading to placement of this species in the genus Pantherophis. slowinskii, occurring in western Louisiana and adjacent Texas). emoryi, corresponding with the subspecies P. guttatus), the Great Plains rat snake ( P. guttatus has been suggested to be split into three species: the corn snake ( P. emoryi), but is still occasionally treated as a subspecies of the corn snake by hobbyists. The latter has since been split off as its own species ( P.
guttatus) described here and the Great Plains rat snake ( P. Until 2002, the corn snake was considered to have two subspecies: the nominate subspecies ( P. They can be distinguished from copperheads by their brighter colors, slender build, round pupils, and lack of heat-sensing pits. The record for the oldest corn snake in captivity was 32 years and 3 months. In the wild, they usually live around ten to fifteen years, but in captivity can live to an age of 23 years or more. Adult corn snakes have a body length of 61–182 cm (2.00–5.97 ft).
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