Description: Long and slender; orange or brownish-yellow to light grey, with large black edged red, brown, olive-brown, or dark gray blotches down the middle of the back. Two alternating rows of smaller blotches on each side, extending onto the edges of the belly scales. Large squarish black marks on the underside, becoming stripes under the tail. A dark spear point mark on the top of the head, and a dark stripe extending from the eye onto the neck. The underside scales are flat in the middle, with the ends angled up slightly. The scales are smooth or weakly keeled in 27 - 29 rows and the anal plate is divided.
Habitat: Wooded groves, rocky hillsides, meadowland; along watercoures, around springs, woodlots, barnyards, and abandoned houses. Found from sea level to 6,000 feet.
Breeding: Mates March to May. Clutches of 3 to 21 eggs are laid in late May to July and hatch July to September. Hatchlings are 10" to 15" long and mature in 18 to 36 months.
Range: Southern New Jersey south through Florida and southern Tennessee to Texas, Mexico, and eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southeastern Nebraska to southwestern Illinois with a separate population in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
Diet: Prey items include mice, rats, birds, and bats.
Behavior: Primarily nocturnal, but often is active in the early evening. It readily climbs trees and enters abandoned houses and barns in search of prey.
Conservation Status: Corn snakes are often mistaken for copperheads and sometimes killed because of this. Also, because of their docile temperament, they are often kept as pets. Sometimes they are captured in the wild to be sold as pets. However, there are many snake breeders, so wild capturing does not pose a serious threat to this species. Corn snakes are not an endangered species. However, they are listed by the state of Florida as a Species of Special Concern because they face habitat loss and destruction in the lower Florida Keys.
Additonal Notes: The name Corn Snake probably originated not from an association with barns and corncribs but from the similarity of the belly markings to the checkered patterns of kernels on Indian corn. It is one of the most beautiful snakes in our range. Captivity longevity is 21¾ years.
Subspecies:
Corn Snake (E.g. guttata) - red, orange, or yellow with red, red-orange, or red-brown blotches. Found from southern New Jersey through Florida to Louisiana. Photo...
Great Plains Rat Snake (E.g. emoryi) - brown to light gray with olive, brown, or dark gray blotches. Found in Louisiana and southwestern Illinois west to Colorado and Utah, eastern New Mexico and south into Mexico. Photo...
