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Okeetee Temperament

Dr. Zoidburg

Dr. Zoidburg

New member
I've started to notice a correlation between Okeetee corn snakes and aggressiveness/defensiveness. My own Okeetee can be a nasty piece of work at times but it seems as if there are a decent amount of other owners with Okeetee corns that aren't very pleasant. Have any of you noticed anything similar to this? Or am I just noticing their names more in posts since I own one and am therefore biased?

Thanks,
Dennis
 
Their temperament are all the same, from one morph to another. Okeetees are not more aggressive than say...snow.
 
I would say it depends on how much it is handeld also. I have a trio as of right now, one motley opal female, female lav. and a male opal. The female lav. goes crazy when first taken ou of her box, once shes out for a bit she calms down. Mutation has no effect on temprament in corns anyway. I also had a ghost female that was fine when purchased from a friend, once home she would strike at anything that moved. I figured it was due to my dog or another animal scent. Always think of other factors like this also, corns are very cage defensive, and usually have a strong feed response.
 
I have a fiesty albino okeetee, tried to bite me when I took it out the other day. However it is our only snake so I don't really have anything to compare it to.
 
Corn aren't known for their bad temperament. If you ar having a problem with aggressiveness I would think it's do to lack of handling.
 
Lennycorn said:
Corn aren't known for their bad temperament. If you ar having a problem with aggressiveness I would think it's do to lack of handling.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but let me assure you, there are most definitely corn snakes out there that are straight from the gates of hell as far as temperament goes. Though rare, they do exist.

My worst is my lavender stripe - he's almost a year old, and still strikes/rattles/musks/thrashes the moment I touch him. And this is with handling him 3-4 times a week for the past 6 months. I'm hoping that he will still grow out of it, but at this point, my hopes are not up. And its even weirder as his sire and dam are absolute sweethearts.
 
Thanks all. I was just curious if there was some sort of gene linking going on but that doesn't seem to be the case.

And my girl has definitely calmed down over the past months of handling! She's not where I want her to be but she's loads better. But at this rate it seems like the rattlesnake mentality might be permanent. :)

Dennis
 
I deal with a pretty good-sized collection of locality okeetees, mostly wc through f2. There is no question they are nippier on average than other corns. Okeetee "phase" snakes are probably no different than any other "morph" but the ones from the hunt club are noticeably more nervous than my morphs right out of the egg. Don't get me wrong, they are still corn snakes and most calm quickly.
 
I haven't the advantage of many corn snakes to speak from. I only own ONE corn that I just got a few months ago and he's an Okeetee. He tagged me twice within the first week. But looking at each situation, I can kinda understand why. He hasn't bit me since and I handle him A LOT! I even let a few of my friends handle him briefly and no biting. I WILL say that he is the most voracious eater I have ever seen. This thing will chase empty tongs around in the feeding tub and the more agitated I make the moves, the more keen he is to grab it! Gar LOVES the hunt! He is such a good eater that I avoid touching him immediately after eating because I don't want him to go after my hand just reaching into the feeding tub so I just gently pour him back into his tank. This he figured out rather quickly.

I just got a cheap book on corns and in the section on breeding, it suggested that snakes from eggs incubated at a higher temp were more likely to bite, be problem feeders, stayed aggressive into adulthood and had smaller clutch sizes while snakes incubated at a lower temp. went the opposite way.

Any thoughts on this from other breeders here?????

Devon
 
I've been breeding corn snakes (as well as other types of snakes) for 20 years. I've been to the biggest shows and to the houses/facilities of some of the biggest professional breeders of snakes. I have seen and handled thousands of corn snakes over the years. I can say that without a doubt Okeetees are the meanest morph. I've seen more nasty Okeetees (and even owned a few) than any other type of corn.

Tim Spuckler
Third Eye
www.thirdeyeherp.com
okeetee.jpg
 
I'm no expert, I've got one corn, a year old Okeetee and she is an absolute doll. She has never acted aggressively in the least and I'll let anyone I trust not to mishandle her, handle her.
 
My okee, Eve, is about the sweetest thing going. She's as cool as the other side while still being very active. Feeding time, though, she gets target lock on those tongs! I haven't seen any aggression out of her, save feeding time and that's understandable. Try to touch me when I'm eating prime rib and I'll bite you, too!
 
Dr. Zoidburg said:
Thanks guys n gals. Its interesting to see that my theory seems to be true.

Dennis
Click to expand...

This is the snake you pawned on us?! :laugh:

When I pulled her out this afternoon to show Tara, she tagged the middle knuckle of the middle finger on my right hand... left two tiny pin prick marks. Little hateling! Ha!
 
Hypancistrus said:
This is the snake you pawned on us?! :laugh:

When I pulled her out this afternoon to show Tara, she tagged the middle knuckle of the middle finger on my right hand... left two tiny pin prick marks. Little hateling! Ha!
Click to expand...
:sidestep:

She actually hasn't bit me in a long time. I haven't been able to work with her much over the summer so maybe that's caused her change in behavior. She never left any teeth marks on me though...have fun with that. :laugh:

And after she sheds her colors are gonna POP! Keep me updated on her as she grows up!

Dennis
 
Dr. Zoidburg said:
:sidestep:

She actually hasn't bit me in a long time. I haven't been able to work with her much over the summer so maybe that's caused her change in behavior. She never left any teeth marks on me though...have fun with that. :laugh:

And after she sheds her colors are gonna POP! Keep me updated on her as she grows up!

Dennis
Click to expand...

Yes she is quite lovely! We're trying to decide on a good name now.
 
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