Question

How do I teach my cornsnake not to bite?

I am new with snakes and just got myself a corn snake. I've tried handling her a few times but I end up having to put her back in her viv as she keeps triying to bite me. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to teach her not to bite? I've seen people handle corn-snakes without being bitten. Thanks in advance!

Snaker is seeking answers from members experienced with Corn Snakes

10 Answers


	Letting yourself get bitten a few times can help the snake understand you don't care, sometimes they stop because they feel it's useless. The best trick to tame a snake is to put it in a pillowcase (that way it cannot see you, it cannot bite you, but it can breathe and you can touch it through) and pet it for a certain time. The more often you do this, the tamer it will get. Eventually it should be very used to being picked up and held and touched and should not bite. This trick has been used to tame agressive snakes such as Central American Boas and such. Good luck! Answerd By Vinss

	yourbest bet is to persist with it, will with time calm down you should try and change the enclosure as glass enclosures dont hold heat very well and what with reptiles being quite secretive animals they can feel quite exposed in a all glass enclosure change substrate aswell, any more info you want just ask Answerd By snakes-a-round

	I must admit i feed my royals, corns, garters, burms, boas all in their vivs and tubs and never had any problem them associating me with food, we have over 20 snakes fed like that, and our biggest on the now thats still growing is 7ft. So feeding in or out of closure is a personal choice. On the other hand i have a corn that you just cant get near at times, some snakes just dont like being handled and others love it. But i think the persons problem was his setup :) Answerd By denise

	see i feed all my snakes in the vivs, and i always have, its hard to pull a 12foot+ snake out feed it then get it back in the viv. thats why when i feed i dont make them strike at the prey item, i place it in the viv for the snake to find, that way when you enter the setup and approach the snake it doesnt think you are food Answerd By BigBaz

	Fisrt thing How long have you had the corn before you started trying to handle it? how old is the corn? what setup is he/she in? whats the tempatures like? when do you handle the snake? Answerd By denise Trying to answer all your questions here... I've had my corn snake (mays) for less than a week. She is about 1 year old. I currently have it in an old 20 gallons aquarium (that used to be a fish tank) with some round gravel (that used to be the gravel in the fish tank) as the bedding. Temperature is around 25 C. I've tried handling it in the mornings and when I come back from work - same behavior (trying to bite me) in both occasions. - Snaker As for the setup you will need to make changes, the fish tank is not really ideal for a snake as heat escapes easy, also it is too open and the snake will be feeling very insecure. Does it have hides on the cool end and hot end?. Also the old fish tank stones are not ideal for keeping any snake on. You can keep your snake in a tub with air holes. The snake will be better off kept on newspaper it better for them so the do not eat the stones when eating their mouse, some people use aspen, but i do prefer paper myself. The biting will be caused with the snake has not settled in yet, the temps are to low, it can snakes up two weeks to get use to their new surrounding so you should really only really handle them when changing them and doing water changes to start with. Then start of once every few days to handle it. Do not hanlde on the day of feeding and 48 hrs after feeding.Your temps are to low. Is the 25c the hot end? If so that should be ideal around the 29c mark at the hot end and the cool end around the 24-25c. With the correct housing and tempatures the snake will settle alot easier. Hope this helps. - denise Forgot to ask where is the heat mat and do you have a stat for the heat mat? - denise

	You could try washing your hands and rinse them in cold water before you pick her up so they don't smell tasty and are cool, and wear some rubber gloves until she is used to your smell and doesn't assosiate your smell with food. Feed on the same day each week in the evening, and handle in the morning can help too. If its a defensive bite then she just needs to get used to you, some gloves will give you some confidence to keep handling her. Answerd By Sylvi

	As 'denise' has asked there are basic questions that need answering beofre a answer can be given. What are you feeding it? when? how much? (Is it hungary?)How old is the snake? size? How long have you had it? Temps? Are you provoking it? Do you have mouse sent on your hands when you handle it? Do you offer water? right enviroment? Before anyone gives you an answer, more knowledge on your keeping needs to be given. Or the wrong advice will be given. Answerd By SimonM

	Well you have some Q's to answer which will help us help you:) but if you provide it with hides, maybe change the substrate(bedding) to something softer it might like that too, and just handle as much as you can and he should calm down as he grows :) Answerd By Joe

	its like with all snakes, take your time with handling, move nice and slow. but with regular handling almost all snakes with tame down just be patient. Answerd By BigBaz

	I am in agreement with what has been said by the posters before me. There are meny tricks to keeping snakes in general, one of the things we do do is to ensure that we do not feed the snakes in their enclosure. The reason for this is that they then get used to the idea that if the enclosure is being opened, it's a good chance it's food. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling other pets as you still may have the smell of prey upon you. Take it out regularly and take it slow, it will eventually adjust to you. I have a pair of corns and they have never bitten. Answerd By AndyG