Deal or no deal?

[NormanSnake]

I've been looking for an adult corn snake to buy, and I saw someone on craigslist had two for sale. After emailing a few times, she's agreed that she can give me one of the corns, a heat lamp, a mini size zoomed heat pad, some decor, and one of those plastic critter cage things for $50. Is that a good deal? She appears to have a snow and a (bloodred or okeetee) and both are adult size, and I can pick from the two. I'm not really savvy on the morphs of cornsnakes. Can anyone identify this one?



Sorry about the cropping. Don't want to get into any trouble.

[Andrew21]

As far as I can tell from that picture it is just a normal, maybe a hypo. It definately is not an okeetee. The difference between an okeetee and bloodred is pretty drastic, so it's not a good sign that she can't tell the difference. You could ask her if the belly is just white. (if it is, then it is either a bloodred or motley/stripe) I highly doubt that that is even a bloodred.. A snow is just white and yellow. $50 is really good since you get that other stuff too. Since you aren't really planning on breeding, the morph doesn't matter. All that matters is if you like the way it looks! Hope this helps!

[NormanSnake]

Hi! thanks for answering! You've been very helpful to me! Here's the link to the ad, so you can see full pictures of both snakes and the things that will be included. I really like both snakes. I feel that the white snake is more valuable but the red snake is a bit bigger.

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/for/3520600089.html

[Andrew21]

You are very welcome! And Yeah. the red one is just a normal.(which isn't really a bad thing) Honestly, the snow might be about 0-15 dollars more than the normal, but that is it(at least it is with hatchlings). Kinda depends on where you are and who is buying. Just so you know, snows have the genes amel and anery in them. If you think you might ever breed, you might want to get the snow. My first corn was a normal. Then later I decided I wanted to breed and now I have a snake with no genes taking up a tub. Lol But that normal is very pretty. Please make sure you quarantine when you decide. The caretaker has very poor husbandry, and who knows what diseases they could possibly have.

P.S. If I were you, I would google pictures of snows. That is not the best picture. And for me, I really don't like the yellows that most snows have so I wouldn't buy one for that reason. And that picture doesn't represent the colors very well.

[NormanSnake]

Ok, so this lady told me she is only feeding those snakes once a month, and someone TOLD her that she could go to once every other month. Who can honestly think that a snake is only going to eat SIX times a YEAR! ....now I want to buy them both! How often should I feed an adult corn snake? a good meal every 10-14 days I'm guessing? Also, are there any corn snake specific illnesses I should watch for signs of?

[Andrew21]

Yeah, 10 - 14 will work. Crypto is really bad. I don't know much about it, but it's like the IBD of colubrids. Their stomachs would be swollen and they would be regurging a lot. I think they would be dead by now though. Other than that, just the basic snake illnesses and mites.

[BHReptiles]

I actually think the red one is a bloodred. Normals tend to be ORANGE or sometimes grey where the orange would be (it depends on the locale). Bloodreds are a red-orange color with red saddles. Here's my bloodred for comparison:



Note: my bloodred is only about half her adult size, so she's still growing into her color.

The second snake is definitely a snow, but like Andrew, I like more yellow on my snows too. But it's not bad. Bloodreds are more expensive than snows, but snow has the potential to make anery and amel babies. Anery and Amel are pretty common so it's easy to find a breeding partner with those genes. If you aren't going to breed, it really doesn't matter!

As for feeding, you're supposed to feed adults every 10-14 days unless they are a breeding female, then you feed them once a week. Since all mine are babies, they are getting fed once a week. I'll switch my males to a 14 day schedule when they hit 170g.

As for illnesses, Crypto is BAD. I had a corn snake that I bought from a petstore (one of my first corn snakes) that I believe had crypto (I never had her tested...so I can't be certain). She would eat a mouse and then regurg it a couple of days later. She couldn't digest anything. She died about a month later. I had a vet put her down. Also look out for respiratory infections.

[NormanSnake]

Thanks! I think I am going to end up getting the 'red' snake because of its size. I'm going to check them both out in person and then decide. I'm definitely going to be wary of RI and other illnesses because I have a bp here at home. Even though I'm going to QT the new snake, I'd feel better not bringing a sick snake into my house. I live in a small apartment so I can only get them so far away from each other. Hopefully everything will go well, and I'll post some pictures after I get him/her home!

[Andrew21]

If the red snake has a white belly then it is a bloodred! But if it doesn't and has checks then it is just a normal. I still have my doubts. Good luck!

[BHReptiles]

If the red snake has a white belly then it is a bloodred! But if it doesn't and has checks then it is just a normal. I still have my doubts. Good luck!

That's a good point! A normal will have black checkers on the belly and a bloodred will have an all white belly or a white/red belly (some of the color diffuses onto the belly...thus the name of the morph)