Animal Unique | Corn Snake | Corn snakes, also known as Red Rat snakes are large, powerful, and non-venomous constrictor in the genus Elaphe. The name "corn snake" is a relic from the days when southern farmers stored harvested ears in a wooden frame or log building called a cradle. Rats and mice came the corn crib to feed on the corn, and corn snakes came to feed on the rodents. Corn snakes are found in wooded groves, rocky slopes, meadows, woodlots, barns and abandoned buildings. Corn snakes are found throughout the southeastern and central United States. However, Corn snakes are most abundant in Florida and the southeastern U.S.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Subclass: Lepidosauria
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Pantherophis
Species: P. guttatus
Corn snakes are slender, with a length of 24-72 inches (61-182 cm). They are usually brown or orange-yellow, with large black borders red spots in the middle of the back. On the belly are alternating rows of black and white spots, which resembles a checkerboard pattern. Considerable variation occurs in the color and patterns of the individual Corn snake, depending on the age of the hose and the area of the country in which it is found. Hatchlings are missing a large portion of the bright color found on adults.
Corn snakes are mostly daytime. They readily climb trees and enter abandoned buildings in search of prey. They are very secretive and spend most of their time underground prowling through rodent burrows. They often hide under loose bark and under logs, rocks and other debris during the day. In colder regions, Corn snakes hibernate in the winter. However, in the more temperate climate along the coast shelter in rock crevices and logs during cold weather, and comes out on warm days to enjoy the warmth of the sun, a process known as hibernation. In cold weather, Corn snakes are less active and therefore less to hunt.
Corn snakes do not usually eat each day instead they feed every few days. Young Corn snake tend to feed on lizards and frogs, while adults feed on larger prey such as mice, rats, birds and bats. They are constrictors. First a Corn snake bites its prey to a solid grip, then it runs quickly one or more roles from her body around the victim. The snake squeezes well until he suffocates the prey. Then swallow the food whole, usually head first. However, corn snakes also observed swallowing small prey life.
Corn snakes are relatively easy to grow. First, they must go through a cooling period, usually 60 to 90 days long. This is getting them ready for breeding and to tell them that it is time to reproduce. Corn snakes brumate in a place where they can not get upset and not worry about predators. When the summer they go out to warm up to their regular temperature. Corn snakes usually breed shortly after the winter cooling. Lay eggs comes just over a month after mating, compared with 12-24 eggs in a warm, moist, hidden location. Once completed the adult snake will leave the eggs and will not return to them. The eggs are oblong with a leathery, flexible shell. About 10 weeks after laying, the young snakes use a special scale called an egg tooth to cut slits in the shell, from which they come at about 5 inches in length.
Corn snakes, like other reptiles, and amphibians, in general, have a great metabolic rate which is able to operate at a low oxygen and blood pressure. This allows them to survive long periods in oxygen-depleted atmosphere, which is why drowning a snake is not effective. And even stranger is that the scientists have detected signs of awareness of the head of a snake of about an hour after the head was cut off from the rest of the body. Corn snakes are not endangered. However, Corn snakes are often confused with Copperheads and slain. They are also popular as pets. They are the most snake species bred for pet purposes. But they are sometimes caught in the wild to be sold as pets. This does not seem a serious threat to this species forms at this time.
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