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Corn vs King?

L

Lawrence1996

New member
Can someone please give me an honest opinion about King snakes when compared to Corn snakes? I have no idea which one to get. I want to make sure i'm making the right choice before I buy a snake.

Thank You
 
If this is your first snake, I would recommend the Corn over the King, for sure. Kings tend to be more flighty, bitey & they musk quite a bit, in general. I lucked out & have an amazingly calm MBK, but occationally he will have his moments.

Corns are generally calmer & easier to handle, & make a good first time snake.
(Plus they come in more morphs) :)
 
I have had at the very least equal results with either. I had an Incredible Eastern Chain King that was wild-caught back in the late 1980's, early 90's. She was probably the best snake I ever had. Unfortunately a friend and I bred her and she got eggbound and died.
I tend to like the Corns more though and a "Normal" corn would make a great first snake!
 
Eastern and FL Kings will get larger than corns, generally.

I have both, but if I had to give up all snakes except one, I would keep my Okeetee Corn. And I have been keeping snakes for over 30 years. I love the Okeetee, and the Corn in general.

Corns are the Labradors of the snake world. I see Kings as the German Shepherds. Both fantastic dogs, but the GSD's can have a little more spunk.

First snake? I suggest a Corn.
 
Definitely depends on what kingsnake your talking about ---- my thayeri are the best and I enjoy my knoblochi kings as well. Both are every bit as easy to handle and calm as any corn I have.
I also have a cali king (blk banded - desert-phase) who is a fantastic snake -- but was a little high strung and quick moving when young (never has bitten) -- all have been to my school with me and handled by students.
That said, in general it is hard to beat corns or thayeri to my way of thinking! Can't go wrong either way in my honest opinion.
 
nwheather said:
If this is your first snake, I would recommend the Corn over the King, for sure. Kings tend to be more flighty, bitey & they musk quite a bit, in general. I lucked out & have an amazingly calm MBK, but occationally he will have his moments.

Corns are generally calmer & easier to handle, & make a good first time snake.
(Plus they come in more morphs) :)
Click to expand...
Let's clarify...

When talking about "king snakes" you are talking about a couple hundred subspecies of snake in the Lampropeltis genus. When talking about corns, you are talking about one subspecies of the Pantherophis genus.

L. getula and L. trianguluum tend to be larger as adults, more flighty, bitey and musky as youngsters, and generally a more "substantial" snake.

There are plenty of other species of kingsnake that do not fit that description such as alterna, thayeri, mexicana, zonata, and pyromelana. These snakes are often smaller than corns as adults, tend to be quite reluctant to bite, and generally make very docile snakes, with an occasional exception.

There are also plenty of recessive traits in the kingsnake arena, including albinos(both T + and -) several varieties of hypo, loads of pattern traits, and FAR more locality and line bred characteristics. Certainly no single subspecies has shown as many recessive traits as corns have, but combined there are enough traits, both recessive and line bred, to keep even the most critical keeper entertained.

In the end...figure out what it is you want from your snake, research ALL of the species that interest you, and decide which snake best suits your desires as a pet...
 
tyflier said:
Let's clarify...

When talking about "king snakes" you are talking about a couple hundred subspecies of snake in the Lampropeltis genus. When talking about corns, you are talking about one subspecies of the Pantherophis genus.

L. getula and L. trianguluum tend to be larger as adults, more flighty, bitey and musky as youngsters, and generally a more "substantial" snake.

There are plenty of other species of kingsnake that do not fit that description such as alterna, thayeri, mexicana, zonata, and pyromelana. These snakes are often smaller than corns as adults, tend to be quite reluctant to bite, and generally make very docile snakes, with an occasional exception.

There are also plenty of recessive traits in the kingsnake arena, including albinos(both T + and -) several varieties of hypo, loads of pattern traits, and FAR more locality and line bred characteristics. Certainly no single subspecies has shown as many recessive traits as corns have, but combined there are enough traits, both recessive and line bred, to keep even the most critical keeper entertained.

In the end...figure out what it is you want from your snake, research ALL of the species that interest you, and decide which snake best suits your desires as a pet...
Click to expand...

That is true, I am speaking from my experience only, which is MBK & California Kings. (I don't have experience with the others you mentioned)
 
What kind of corn snake do you recommend? Are colors the only difference in corn snake sub species, or are there other factors involved?
 
Lawrence1996 said:
What kind of corn snake do you recommend? Are colors the only difference in corn snake sub species, or are there other factors involved?
Click to expand...
There is no difference between the morphs other than appearance. It's like having blonde hair vs. brown hair...just a recessive genetic trait.

Individual snakes, however, will vary in terms of temperment.

The word "subspecies" refers to different biological entities within a specific set. Lampropeltis getula is the species "Common King". L.g. floridana, L.g. negritas, and L.g. californiae would be 3 different subspecies, the Florida King, the Mexican Black King, and the California King. Look completely different, yes, but also thrive in different habitats, achieve different sizes, and have other differences of character and temperment...
 
You might want to check this out, as a handy little "primer" for cornsake morphology. I haven't updated it in a couple years, so it is a little bit behind in that new traits have been discovered since I wrote this. But it might help a little bit...

Incomplete Cornsnake Morphology List
 
I would hate to be hard on the Cali kings. But I have 3 and all of them have bitten. Only one has never bitten me personally but has bitten my boyfriend. Where as I have 2 corn snakes. Neither has bitten me or acted like they wanted too. I have held many many corns and have never been bitten...yet. So from my personal experience I would choose a corn snake over a Cali king. I don't have any experience with any of the other types of kingsnake. I've heard that mountain kings are less bity. Don't don't if that is true however.
 
I would say cornsnake. I have a Cali king, and she is the sweetest thing, and one of my favorites, but she can be a striking, musking devil with other people. I have a Florida king, and recently re-homed another Florida king. They are a _great_ kingsnake, but can be a little "pushier" and have a WAY stronger feeding response than a corn, so can be intimidating, I would imagine, if they were one's first snake. It would be very surprising for a cornsnake to fly at the door of its viv, mouth open, and strike the glass like a FK will if it thinks food is involved. Now one of mine has never bitten, or even threatened to, and the other was crabby while blue and got me a couple times when I was messing around in his viv and pushed him over his limit, but I wouldn't call them an aggressive snake. When I first started keeping snakes I started with a corn, then expanded to different kings and milks and hoggies and a boa, but I eventually came back to corns because they are just so reliably easy to deal with, and they have amazing genetic potential if you want to breed something cool some day.
 
WingedSweetheart said:
I would hate to be hard on the Cali kings. But I have 3 and all of them have bitten. Only one has never bitten me personally but has bitten my boyfriend. Where as I have 2 corn snakes. Neither has bitten me or acted like they wanted too. I have held many many corns and have never been bitten...yet. So from my personal experience I would choose a corn snake over a Cali king. I don't have any experience with any of the other types of kingsnake. I've heard that mountain kings are less bity. Don't don't if that is true however.
Click to expand...

Cali Kings and Florida Kings are the "great white shark" of the snake community. If it looks, smells, acts, moves, or even remotely resembles food, they taste it. This often results in us bleeding a little bit. They do tend to be more defensive than corns, and they do tend to be more insatiable of appetite than corns.

But that's part of the "game". Most of the snakes in the getula species are like this, in my experience...Cali, Florida, Desert, Speckled, Eastern, Black, and Mexican Black kings all tend to be larger, more defensive, and more food-aggressive. I have dealt with all of these subspecies, but I have never worked or played with an Apalachicola king, so I don't really have much info on them particularly. That's part of what makes these particular kings fascinating to keep, in my opinion. You learn their attitudes, just as you would a corn, and you adapt your handling, feeding, and cleaning techniques to suit the attitude of the snake. I have been bitten by every getula king I have ever owned, but that doesn't diminish their beauty and intrigue in my eyes one bit. It's part of what makes them interesting and fascinating to keep.

If taking an occasional bite is something that really bothers you, than these guys aren't likely to satisfy you. Most of the time, as these snakes become adults and get used to being handled and worked with, they settle down, and become less defensive. They will almost always keep their feeding response, which means you always have to be "on your toes". But again...it makes them a much more interesting snake to keep in captivity, in my opinion...
 
Any corn can bite, too, though. A classic example is me taking Cherry, my ambassador snake, out to show some friends. This snake had never rattled, head-butted, struck, bit- anything! She's the snake I would get out and just hand over to anyone who wanted to hold a snake. So I get her out and she immediately strikes and coils my hand and hangs on and tries to swallow me! I have now come to expect this from post-laying mommy snakes who think they need to eat daily, but at the time it was a shocker! My hand was bruised!!

I have an Apalachicola king. Not as massive as the FKs. Super strong feeding response, but since she has never been fed in her viv she doesn't strike at things unrelated to food. Has never shown any signs of aggression or irritation or defensiveness to me.

What about a Gray Band King? As long as you get one that is feeding on unscented FT mice, they are an awesome kingsnake. Every single one I have met is super-sweet.
 
Corn, corn, corn....We had a king for a year and called him Sir craps a lot...and not because he was brown in color :) He forever slung crap and musk all the time. You didn't get him out without him pooping on you. I've been consistantly bitten by kings as well. Not my favorite species.
 
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