Corn snake

The corn snake is a slim, pretty snake with a pattern of red and orange blotches along its back and a neat checkered belly that some people say looks like corn. It lives in the southeastern and central United States, in places like grassy fields, woodland edges, and quiet old farms. It is one of the calmest, gentlest snakes you can meet.

Corn snakes are not venomous, and they are completely harmless to people. Sometimes they are mistaken for a more dangerous-looking snake, but a corn snake has a narrower head, lighter colours, and square-shaped spots that help tell it apart.

Like all snakes, the corn snake is a meat eater. More than half of its meals are mice, rats, and other little furry animals, and it will also climb trees to find birds’ eggs. It does not have venom, so it holds its food still by gently wrapping its body around it, then swallows the meal whole.

Corn snakes are a big help to people. By catching mice and rats, they keep those hungry nibblers from spoiling stored grain and other crops. That is why farmers are glad to have a corn snake living nearby.

There are lots of corn snakes living in the wild, so experts call them “least concern.” Because they are so calm and easy to care for, corn snakes are also one of the best-loved pet snakes in the world. Leaving wild snakes in peace and giving them fields and woods to live in helps them thrive.