This is Charlie, one of the two corn snakes in our room.
He's really good at staring.
My snake, the corn snake, is scientifically called Elaphe guttata.. It lives throughout the eastern part of the United States. The corn snake is also found in the center part of the divide between Utah and Colorado. In these places, it finds a home in deciduous forests. Even though they are very good climbers, they spend most of their time on the ground.
In the classroom we try to provide a similar habitat. Like most other snakes in the room, the corn snake lives in a ten gallon tank with a type of finely shaved bark substance. We provide objects from their natural habitat for comfort. In its tank is a large rock for climbing and a dish for watering. In the classroom we feed our snakes live baby rats or mice. We raise smaller rodents for this purpose.
In the wild the corn snake will eat assorted small rodents along with lizards and birds, all of appropriate size. In the wild they have to watch out for large birds who prey on our smaller friend. Hawks and other large animals will eat it.
At the beginning of the corn snake's life cycle, it lays dormant until the eggs hatch. From here it lives its life alone until it's able to reproduce at two years. Then it can choose to mate. It lays soft shelled eggs. The corn snake can live from between probably fifteen to twenty years.
One interesting fact is that it is believed that the corn snake is called a corn snake because early settlers found them in their corn. However the case was not that they destroyed the corn, they actually helped the fields by destroying the real culprits - rodents.
This is Woody, the other Cornsnake.
He's my favorite.