Rex our pet Corn Snake

Way back in 2001 I was sitting with my family in the middle of Hastings town centre, when my daughter who was only about three started shouting “Snake, snake, snake!”. You don't get many snakes in Hastings, so at first though she had spotted a toy one, but on top of a pushchair near us was a clear box with a Corn snake ( Pantherophis guttatus ) in it. We asked Joanne if she was scared, but she said no, she wanted one!!! My ex-wife and I were both interested in more exotic pets, so decided there and then to get one. We researched suitable pet snakes and virtually everywhere recommended Corn snakes as an ideal first step into the fascinating world of herpetology (the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians). Corn snakes are normally friendly, most are easy to handle and take care of, they are not venomous (some people say poisonous, but poisonous means that you can't eat them, venomous means you get ill from their bites, so they are very different things). Corn snakes are a species of Rat snake, they are called Corn snakes as they are most commonly found around grain stores, living off the rats and mice that eat the corn. If you spot a Corn snake in the wild, please make sure it is before you approach it as Copperhead snakes are sometimes mistaken for Corn snakes and Copperheads are venomous!