Introduction
Before you buy your corn snake, be sure to read a few caresheets like this so you know before you get your corn snake what exactly you need for it.
Corn snakes are one of the first snakes widely kept in captivity as pets. They are an ideal beginner species - they are extremely simple and easy to care for, they are great to handle, stay small in size, they're very active (sometimes even during the day) and are available in all kinds of colour morphs which are also easily affordable. For a more extensive list of advantages and disadvantages for this species, please visit the Available page!
Housing
Corn snakes are an active species, they like to climb and explore so they will need a fairly spacious cage to keep them well exercised. The minimum recommended length of cage is that it be no smaller than the 2/3 of the length of the snake. This generally translates to live food boxes for hatchlings, small tubs 2 feet long for grown on juveniles, and large tubs/vivariums 4 feet long for adults.
Substrate can be something simple like newspaper, or you can have aspen bedding or even more decorative substrates such as cocoa bark, eco earth etc., depending on your setup.
Corn snakes like to climb, so it's a good idea to add some branches, hides and decor that they can use. Several hides also make them feel more comfortable in their setup. Have at least one hide on the hot spot, and one hide at the cool end. Corns will appreciate a naturalistic setup as it allows them to burrow, climb and display their natural exploring behaviours better than the typical 'breeder boxes' used in larger scale setups.
Humidity
Average room humidity of 40-60% is fine for corn snakes. Provide a large water bowl for soaking and helping keep humidity up.
Heating
Corn snakes do best when they have a hot spot of 28C and ambient temperatures above 20C. The hot spot can be provided with a heat mat underneath the cage, or a guarded heat bulb placed at one end of the cage. Always have heat sources attached to a thermostat to prevent burns!
Lighting
These are nocturnal snakes, so no additional lighting is needed. It's a good idea to allow ambient light in from windows to provide a day/night light cycle though.
Feeding
Corns are generally very good feeders and getting them to eat is usually not a problem. Offer a defrosted rodent once a week. Here is a guideline for the size of mouse your snake will need based on the snake's weight:
under 20g pinky (2g)
20-35g fluff/fuzzy (4-7g)
36-95g hopper/crawler (8-12g)
96-175g small (13-19g)
176-250g medium (20-29g)
251g+ large (30-50g)
Breeding
For information on breeding, here are some useful links:
http://www.vmsherp.com/LCBreedingCorns.htm
http://www.boakingdom.com/breeding_colubrids.html