Royal Corn Snake???

I had never heard of these - until yesterday - and thought someone had got the name wrong.

What's happened is some people who live in our village, their son wanted snakes 2-3 years back, so he got 3 - 2 albino corns and what we were told was a Ball Python (the person who had seen these creatures said the BP looked just like ours - but ours is a baby still and this is an adult). Now the son is "bored" with his snakes and basically is keeping them in bad conditions (at one point he even reputedly had all 3 of these snakes in one viv together). One of the albino corns has bites on it and the (supposedly) BP has had an abcess for a little while but the family are poor and say they can't afford the bill :mad: (can't afford bills - don't buy in the first place!!). The family "want to get rid" of the snakes. We may hopefully have found homes for the 2 albino corns (which live together) and thought we would take on the BP. But when we spoke to the people last night the woman said "Oh no, it's not a Royal Python (what BP's are called here in UK) - it's a Royal Corn!!!

So I have no idea what to expect when I turn up to see these creatures later today but it does appear from a google search that such things exist - I've just never heard of them!

thats totally weird, never heard of them either, definately have to let us know what they really have and show piccies.

this reminds me of my surprise kingsnake. i was getting a snake off some guy my bf works with, my fella went and got it an paid for it so i never got to see it before i owned it lol, it was sold to me as a cornsnake.
anyway, it turned up and i took one look at it and said 'thats not a corn!'
it turned out to be a grey banded kingsnake, hes a sweetie and really docile, about 4ft and very pretty but he is fasting, not that im worried cos hes way too fat anyway.
hope you get a nice snake and are able to help it have a nice life like i did for the king, those ppl have no idea what theyre doing and shouldnt be allowed to get any more pets.

Oh Raz, good for you for rescuing these snakes! Sounds like horrible conditions (just make sure to keep them well quarantined from the rest of your collection, gawd knows what they could be harboring poor things!)

Can't wait to see pics if possible to see what a "royal corn" is since I've never heard of them either.


~~Jo~~

im so glad you're rescuing them. it sounds pretty bad. please take pics too, im guessing my mind off what it could be.

Poor snakes... I'll never understand people who treat animals like fads or furniture... I could never give up any of my babies, they're part of our family!

I guess Royal Corns are a newer morph? I never heard of them either till I read this post and googled.

WOW i want a Royal Corn! theyre just beatiful! thats so cool!

You should hear some of the excuses our local animal shelter gets when people drop off animals. "It didn't match my new carpet/furniture" was one of the "best" ones I've heard... Me no likey people sometimes... :evileye:

wow i cant believe they brought it to the shelter because it didnt match the carpet or furniture. thats horrible.

I have to echo reptile-girl....WOW! 0__0 those are amazing looking!! Can't wait to see some pics when you get it! I'll never understand how someone could possibly get "bored" with an animal, I hope that kid's parents learned a lesson and don't put another helpless creature into that situation.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

You should hear some of the excuses our local animal shelter gets when people drop off animals. "It didn't match my new carpet/furniture" was one of the "best" ones I've heard... Me no likey people sometimes... :evileye:

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Wow... that's absolutely horrible. Stuff like that just makes me want to cry. Some people should not be allowed to adopt animals. When I was picking up rabbit food at a little corner pet store the other day (I usually avoid going in there, because the conditions are awful and depressing, but I was desperate and carless that day), I asked the lady there where they got their snakes. She said most of them were from local people who didn't want them anymore and just dropped them off. The two BPs in there looked ready to die, had no water just a bowl full of poop and horrible sheds/wrinkling so they're no better off now than they were with the initial careless owners. Makes me just ill. The mammals and fish in there weren't much better off. Ugh. I can't comprehend how they don't care.

As a good friend of mine is fond of saying "Stupid Humans."

i think ive seen a royal corn in person at the Lodi Great Valley Serpentarium. www.snakemuseum.com is there website.

Humans are stupid. I was buying some stuff from the local feed store recently (where we get our snake hides aka rubber dog bowls). This one clerk mentioned they used to have a burm. I should have known when she said used to but dummy me has to go ahead and ask what happened to it. Well she says in this nice voice like it's a perfectly fine thing...."oh we got rid of it...it got too big".

Too big! arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhh They got a burmese python, what in the (bleep bleep bleep) did they expect it to get other than big!

Stupid, stupid humans!

On the upside I shut my mouth, gritted my teeth and made my purchase. I am still welcome at the feed store...whoooooooohooooooo! :rolleyes:

Lovely snake by the way, is this is new cornsnake morph?


~~Jo~~

Hey, I'm back :) I really, really wanted to come here and post yesterday but my internet at home isn't working (apart from MSN and Outlook) so I couldn't get here :( (if anyone knows if I can fix this easily - please let me know :thumbsup: )

Anyway - got to their house yesterday evening - kids at home (mother never is! - when she isn't working odd temp jobs she's going clubbing! - well enough of that).

First thing I ever heard of this particular snake was "I think it's a BP coz it looks like yours" and when I heard that 2 albino corns were being kept with an adult BP it was :disbelief Well the day before yesterday when my daughter spoke to the mother she said, oh no - not a BP - a Royal Corn. So intrigued my daughter and I went round last night - the daughter (who isn't quite so scatty as her mother) said it's a normal corn. Well this creature is as big as an adult BP (about 5 feet) and has black and grayey-white markings (I've seen them somewhere - must search). It's about 2 inches thick on its thickest part.

It has (what I'm told by the girl who was told by a "pet shop employee") 'an abcess which was the result of a bite'. It's large and it's nasty. Very small pink-ish looking area at an edge where the lump is but it doesn't seem to bother the snake when touched, isn't bleeding, and seems to have healed over in a black mass on top. Well they had already got the snake out - it was cold as it's little cramped rubbermaid had no heat in it - it had no water because the rubbermaid wasn't large enough to put a water dish in even (even in our larger one at home where it is temporarily housed - there is no room for a water dish - we will have to get him/her out for regular baths/drinks until we can get a larger viv).

It has shed coming off it but I'm not sure if it was in the middle of shedding when removed or it is old shed just hanging on (I'm still relatively new to snakes and little Emily has always had hers come off pretty much complete). When I get home from work lunchtime I'm going to offer her a large mouse. I want to take her to the vet about this lump but want to make sure she has eaten with us and has some food inside her.

Am I doing the right thing by trying to settle the snake and feed it before rushing off to vet? (It's had this abcess/wound for at least a couple of months apparently) but they don't know when it last ate and there was only urates that came out when she pooped in the bath. She appears happy and moved about when she was out when we were there with her - but settled comfortably into her make-shift rubbermaid yesterday evening when we got her home. We haven't disturbed her at all - just let her settle in. Our make-shift viv isn't large enough to provide a hide even - so we covered the whole thing top and 3 sides with a dark towel. Like I said - this will only be temporary - hopefully she will be OK until early New Year - what with Xmas we weren't expecting to have to buy a new viv - and will have vets bills too we weren't expecting :(

If anyone has an urgent message for me - please use my email that is working snowdreamer@btinternet.com - as I won't be able to get access to this forum once I leave work here in a few hours time.

OK - I just found a link for a pic of it - it's the black and white one with the albino http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Ugh that is just such a horrible story, I'm so glad you're getting them out of that situation, at least some people in this world still have a heart. I hope everything goes alright with the hurt one, and it gets better

=( poor guy

I probably wouldn't feed it and then run off to the vet with it. I like to let mine chill for 48hrs or so before any handling. You dont need the snake to regurge on top of everything else its going through. If the vet visit is more pressing then I would probably do that first. If you just brought the snake home, it might not eat anyways. I ususlly wait a week after bringing a snake home to settle in befor feeding.

looks like an anerythristic cornsnake to me in that pic, so if thats what yours looks like then thats what it is.

i have a baby anery and they are black and grey, so cute.
corns tend to be hardier than bp's so she should be allright for a lil while in a small tub, adult corns can grow up to 6ft so could be a bit like a bp size wise lol.
great that you rescued her, good luck.

oh yeah, i do echo the not feeding an rushing to the vets, if you feed her then vait a few more days to go the vets and maybe you will have a fecal to take with you then.

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Originally Posted by ScreeminChikin

I probably wouldn't feed it and then run off to the vet with it. I like to let mine chill for 48hrs or so before any handling. You dont need the snake to regurge on top of everything else its going through. If the vet visit is more pressing then I would probably do that first. If you just brought the snake home, it might not eat anyways. I ususlly wait a week after bringing a snake home to settle in befor feeding.

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I didn't feed it in the end - the vet visit is scheduled for today so, yes, no feeding before operation. I hope vet can sort it out and Snakey (still no name) isn't hurting too much after - I expect they'll keep her in overnight at least - especially as the little thing she's in currently is only like 1 1/2 ft x 10 inches :( I'm going to have to see if either of my 2 local reptile guys can lend me an old (maybe surplus old) 3 ft viv they could loan me until I can get money to buy a new one. The vet bill is gonna cost like £100 and all this at Christmas ... :worry:

Anyone here live in the Oxford (UK) area by any chance?

you can get a huge plastic tub from places like bwise and most pound shops for about 6 quid, id get ya one but im in wales and donr drive so not much i can do xcept tell ya that pound shops and places like that sell great snakey plastic tubs really cheap.

theyre huge and are definately big enough for an adult corn. a friend of mine breeds corns and gets all of her tubs from places like that. just go have a look around.

Raz, I think it's wonderful you are taking on this obviously abused snake that will need expensive vet care, especially at this time of year. I don't know about your vets over there but I know my vet and lots of others will offer either reduced prices or a payment plan for rescuers/rehabbers as there are just so few places that abused/neglected snakes can be placed. Don't be shy to ask about this.

I would definitely look at a nice small plastic tub from your pound stores (I'm assuming this is like our dollar stores over here) and just a bit of cheap paper toweling for a substrate (or whatever your vet recommends). Right now the snake won't need a lot of space anyways, just somewhere safe and appropriately heated with hides and fresh water and whatever medications the vet sends home with you. Lots of quiet and a bit of time then a good feeding when it's appropriate and hopefully this poor beastie will do a good turn around for you.

With our rescues, once they were cleared for feeding we started them out with quite smaller than normal prey just to help them get back into a feeding routine and kick start their digestion without over stressing it with a large meal. We were advised and have found it to be true, that's it best to start out with the smaller meals and move up slowly to their regular sized prey once we were sure they were holding down those first initial feeds.

Very best of luck Raz!

Thanks, Bev - I think we might have one of those in Banbury. There isn't much room in the plastic tub she's in now - about enough to move from hot end to cool end - but I'm definitely going to find a bigger one as there's no room for any hides - though I always cover part of it with a towel. Have you found any decent way to keep one of these plastic tubs heated? For our lizards I've always used ceramic heat emitters up in the corner top of viv. We've got a heat mat which we never found really satisfactory first time around - it gets either too hot or too cold - I guess maybe I can use a thermostatic control for that same as a CHE? (sorry - I'm just not used to mats!)


Jo - our vets won't consider that here - and in fact this vet I'm now going to is a new one to us - but is one of the top exotic specialists in the country so I daren't ask. Just not having to buy a viv though would be a great help! This snake is so cute and really friendly despite all she's been through.

Well - we went to vet yesterday - he's an Exotics Specialist in Swindon (Bev - you may know this one - magic roundabouts and all!!!)

Well he looked her over and said she would need a 10-day course of antibiotics to start with and once the wound (it's like a large lump with crusty black scabbing on top) was stabilized (I think - you know what it's like in those places) he would have to have her in for a 2-3 days hospitalization when it would be lanced off and any matter drained. Then she would be kept there in a nice warm stable hospital viv for a couple days afterward. For now though he administered some Baytril by injection - checked with me if I would be willing and able to give injections which she'll need once every 48 hours. I looked a bit dubious but when he said she could stay in for the 10 days but it would cost £25 per day I said I'd be willing to learn :) (I'm not squeamish). I counted up the days on my drive back home - and realized that operation day would fall precisely on Christmas Day LOL! - so I guess it'll be after that.

So after he took her upstairs to get some bloodwork done to test for which antibiotic to use (chose Baytril) - I carefully watched and learnt my lesson - knowing that I'd have back-up from experienced people back in the Oxford area. (I've since spoken to our local Reptile guy who was totally unfazed when I asked him if I could do my first performance supervised by him :) ) "Sure, love, just come in when you want" - like I merely wanted to pop in to borrow a bowl of sugar ;)

I have to phone in to report to vet on Saturday - but I swear (and so does my daughter) that last night she (her wound) had no smell at all whereas we were aware of it before.

The vet said it would be OK to offer her a meal (I bought a large mouse which I guess will be OK for her - it's the same size I feed 7-month old Emily - our BP). Is anytime during the day a good time to feed a Corn? I normally give Emily hers when she first wakes up in the evening - but then New Snakey isn't a BP ...

Sorry for the really long post - but thanks for all your advice I really appreciate it.

What an awesomely warm and generous heart you have! Good luck w/your new family addition. Sounds like the snake is off to a strong start w/someone who CARES to do the RIGHT things for it!


Hang in there. Just another fine example of the TRUE meaning of the season of Christmas----caring, loving and generous giving!!!:clap:

well i feed my lil corns in the evening as theyre nocturnal too, as long as the mousey is the right size she should wolf it down, some corns strike and some dont so just put it in her tub and watch incase you have to do the mousey dance lol.

unfortunately our nerest reptile vet is in manchester lol so im hoping nothing goes wrong with any of my guys. in not squeamish either so giving injections wouldnt be a problem to me.
i went to llandudno yesterday and saw a load of huge (about 3ft) plastic tubs for 6 quid and the lids are snappable so they would be great for a corn. i have all mine in glass vivs atm but if temps get to be a big problem ever i will just switch to plastic, but for now my vivs are ok an i can see my lil guys all the time.
good luck with your anery lady, my lil anery is called soot.
you could call yours phantom

Thank you Sweetie314 - but I'm like that with critters - once they get in the door I just can't seem to part with them :hmm: it was the same with a couple of cockatiels I "borrowed" to call down a lost cockatiel - they were babies so the owner didn't want them back and after they'd done such good service to me I couldn't bear to part with them.


[QUOTE=Bev]well i feed my lil corns in the evening as theyre nocturnal too,

I thought corns were diurnal ...! and there was I thinking I could have a corn to cuddle during the day and the BP at night ...

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Originally Posted by Bev

unfortunately our nerest reptile vet is in manchester
i went to llandudno yesterday and saw a load of huge (about 3ft) plastic tubs for 6 quid

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Is this the Pound Store? I must go there it sounds good - do you have a separate thermostat for your mats?

well as of yet i havent had the money for a stat, as soon as i get spare cash after xmas im gettin a few. for now i just keep a really close eye on my temps, hard going and i'll be so glad when i can get hold of a few stats and relax a lil lol. as far as i know corns are nocturnal, but some do come out during the day, and they arent as fazed by things as royals are so theyre fine to pick up and clean out etc in the day,they can adjust to a diurnal routine.

yeah the shop in llandudno was a pound shop, poundstretcher i think, but like i said ive seen the huge plastic tubs in BWise too.

Thanks :) I'll keep an eye out on those shops - trouble with living in a village you always have to trek off to find stuff - parking in Oxford is a nightmare. I know what you mean about having to keep an eye on temps - last couple of nights I've got up in the night to check she isn't cooking to death :/

lol i have the smaller mats as mine are only baby corns so i dont think they can cook unless it goes all pear shaped an the mat freaks out, i worry about em freezin to death lol, but they seem fine, specially since the hot side isnt used loads, theyr have lots of hides and chippings on the floor an the heatmat isnt in contact with them so i dont think they can get burned easily.

dont even start me on small villages lol im in wales an thats all we have, i can walk thru 3 villages in an hour lol.

oh an i just thought if anyone wants to add me to thir msn or yahoo feel free

its AlyssaMulcari@yahoo.com
lol i always like having new ppl to talk to.

Well I did it - I had my "medical bag" with the syringes, swabs, iodine etc in just like any well-prepared doctor and took it and Miss Snakey (that name really seems to be sticking!) along to my local reptile guy so he could supervise my first "operation". After looking at her (he hadn't seen her before) and tut-tutting at how people can be so useless in caring for their animals we settled down to the business and I did a perfect injection between 2 scales at the prescribed 45 degree angle as taught by my vet. It was easier than I thought it would be - he held her still while I did it and she hardly moved. She was so good.

And to top all that she even ate a mouse for me that evening! I gave her a much smaller one than I tried her on the first time (medium - it looked tiny!!) as opposed to a large adult. She wouldn't strike or take it from me so I left it in there and later on it had gone!

I think I'll give her another one tomorrow later on after she's had her next injection - just another small one again to get her used to the idea of feeding again - do you think that's the right thing to do?

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Originally Posted by Razaiel

I think I'll give her another one tomorrow later on after she's had her next injection - just another small one again to get her used to the idea of feeding again - do you think that's the right thing to do?

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i would wait till next week and work up gradually each week until she's back to normal sized prey. you dont wanna feed 2 days in a row.

try giving her 2 small ones next week, or 1 large one

Thanks for your replies, Mr Python and Bev :) I'll do as you suggest - it's just that it seemed such a small mouse (she refused a large one a couple days previous) - our "baby" ball eats bigger than that :D I shall give her two next week.

I'd agree to call it good with the one she did take down and is keeping down. With all the handling to give the injections and her being ill, you don't want to stress her digestion anyway I would think (just instinct as I'm not a vet of course). If you are in anyway concerned with her eating or she regurgitates I would definitely advise you to give the vet a ring to discuss that.

I'd personally just stick to small meals and access to lots of fresh water, peace, quiet, warmth and hides and her meds as prescribed by the vet.

Please keep us updated on this little christmas miracle snake....I vote for Noelle for her name. :)


~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

I'd agree to call it good with the one she did take down and is keeping down. With all the handling to give the injections and her being ill, you don't want to stress her digestion anyway I would think (just instinct as I'm not a vet of course). If you are in anyway concerned with her eating or she regurgitates I would definitely advise you to give the vet a ring to discuss that.

I'd personally just stick to small meals and access to lots of fresh water, peace, quiet, warmth and hides and her meds as prescribed by the vet.

Please keep us updated on this little christmas miracle snake....I vote for Noelle for her name. :)


~~Jo~~

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Yes, Jo - I'm going to go with just that one small mouse for now and see if she wants 2 small ones next week. She's very good with her injections. I have her a bath today so she could wash her wound nicely before I put the iodine on it - corns sure seem to like baths more than BPs but I didn't leave her in there long - then it was up on to the operating table :D

Noelle is a great suggestion for her name - I may well go along with that - Miss Snakey seems to be sticking a bit but sounds a bit impersonal.