Corn Snakes (aka The Rat Snake)

Early one morning, I saw a very nice looking corn snake on the new section of the Rosemary Dunes Trail. It had a beautiful color and an interesting pattern and I got a really good look at it. I was able to get pretty close because I know that corn snakes aren't poisonous or even bad tempered so I had no reason to run. Corn snakes are very common in our area...in fact, you might see one anywhere in the southern U.S. The best place to see one on the Backcountry Trail is anywhere that there are lots of palmetto flatwoods or open forests. In other parts of the U.S., you can see corn snakes at pet shops because they are one of the most common snakes in the pet business.

Corn snakes are commonly referred to as "rat snakes" because they were historically found in farmers corn cribs. Why there? Because their diet is primarily rats and mice. Rats and mice love corn and corn snakes love rats and mice so farmers learned to love corn snakes. A good corn snake can live in the wild (a corn crib) for up to 8 years so that's a lot of mice that are consumed. In captivity, a corn snake will survive for up to 25 years. Again, that's a lot of mice... store bought ones in this instance.

Corn snakes are one of the good guys so don't worry when you see one. They are very docile and are reluctant to bite anything...another reason that they make good pets. But, it's still a snake, and I don't play with them myself!