Reddit reviews Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide (The Herpetocultural Library)

Howdy! I'm glad that you're doing research before buying an animal! I'm no expert, but I personally keep four corn snakes along with a number of carpet pythons, ball pythons, hognose, amazon tree boas, and rainbow boas. I'll do my best to answer your questions!

• Books and websites: This books would be a great one to read. It covers pretty much everything you need to know about corns. Kathy Love has been doin' it for a long time.
  
  
• Feeding and shedding: So as far as feeding, I generally feed 10-15% of the body weight every week. You can also go by size, which would be only slightly larger than the widest part of the entire snake. Don't underfeed because you think they won't be able to get that tiny snake head around that mouse! I don't supplement with quail, but I honestly don't see anything wrong with it. Some people will also say that you should take your snake out of its enclosure and put it into a clean tub to feed it, but I think it just stresses the snake out more with the extra handling during feeding time.
  
  As far as shedding, you can expect them to shed once a month for the first few years, then it slows down a bit(at least in my experience.)
  
  You can assist your snake in shedding by giving it a 15ish minute soak in room temperature or warm water along with misting its cage when it is near shed. You could also make one of the hides in your enclosure a moist hide where it can hang out as it nears the next shed. Don't try to help the snake pull its skin off, it can do harm.
  
  
• I'm not an expert on morphs, but I think that is a hypo lavender motley.
  
  
• Males vs. Females: Males do tend to be smaller, but I don't believe they tend to be any brighter. There are some other things to consider when choosing sex. Females will sometimes produce eggs whether they are fertilized or not, much like chickens. Your snake will go off feed and start wandering around and you might think something is wrong, then there will be little yellow eggs around the cage and everything is back to normal. There are sometimes complications, but they usually get it all done by themselves.
  
  
• Socializing and cleaning: Correct, you don't really want to hold your snake for a day or two after feeding, and generally not the day of feeding at all. It can stress the snake out and cause them to regurgitate the meal which smells horrible and isn't healthy.
  
  I personally don't handle my snakes every day that they aren't feeding or digesting like some people do. One reason is that I have around 25 snakes and it would be really time consuming to handle them all regularly, but I also don't want to stress them out just because I feel like holding them. I'm not saying that you shouldn't bring your snake out, that is just how I personally feel.
  
  I spot clean every day, and change water every other day. During this time I also take the snake out and inspect it to make sure I didn't pick up mites somewhere and that everything else checks out health-wise. This is really the only time I handle the snakes unless I'm showing someone how awesome they are.
  
  
• Enclosures: You generally want to get a smaller cage for a small corn snake, then upgrade as it is growing up. A lot of space can really stress a snake out. I suppose you could get a larger cage and add a ton of hiding places, but I feel like it would just be a hassle trying to find your snake.
  
  For corn snakes it is generally recommended that you use an under-tank heating pad hooked up to a thermostat as the only heat source. You could put a light over the cage, but it would be for your viewing, since corn snakes absorb heat through their underside.
  
  To keep humidity in the right zone, you could buy a cage specifically for keeping snakes rather than a fish tank with a screen top. If you do go for a screen top, you need to block a good portion of it to reduce airflow, as it will dry out the tank.
  
  I just want to reiterate the need for a thermostat on your heating pad. They get really hot if you just plug them into the wall and your snake will cook itself.
  
  
• Other pets: Chances are your dog would kill a snake if it got the chance. I have golden retrievers that are very sweet and generally wouldn't hurt a fly, but I do NOT let them near my snakes. Your snake can "smell" that there is a dog there and will see it as a predator.
  
  Again, I'm not an expert. If anyone has anything to add feel free to add on!