Cornelia
Cornelia's an amelanic North American cornsnake (Pantherophis guttatus, previously Elaphe guttata). Like albinos, she doesn't have the brown-black pigment melanin in her skin. She can still make orange-red carotenoid pigments, so although she is technically an albino, she isn't pure white. She does have the pink eyes you'd expect an albino to have though.
Cornelia grabbing her lunch.
Cornsnakes are very easy to look after as long as you can get over the fact that you have to keep a box of dead mice in the freezer. Cornelia is very good natured: the only person she's ever bitten was covered in mouse juices, so you can excuse her for that.
Housing
Cornsnakes need a large vivarium: like a fish tank, but with Alcatraz-style escape-proofing. Snakes are expert escape artists, like hamsters, but much more muscular. They need a tank about as long as they are, and about half as wide and tall. Clean it out (with disinfectant and a good rinse) every so often, particularly if your snake has defecated all over it.
Cornelia's home. Note hidebox at cool end, and bark for hiding too. At
the other end is a spotlight to provide basking heat, and a
thermometer. There's also a heating mat under the substrate, but you
can't see it. Cornsnakes also like water, so Cornelia has a large bowl
of it.
Cornelia gets the opposite of red eye when you photograph her, hence
the holes for eyes.
Heating and lighting
Amelanic cornsnakes are albinos and are prone to sunburn, so avoid direct sunlight. You don't really need to light their tanks: put them in a reasonably bright spot and they'll be quite happy. However, in a large vivarium you'll need lighting to provide extra warmth during the day: just a 60 W spotlight will do (make sure the snake can't touch any live electrical parts though). Heating is more important: cornsnakes don't appreciate the cold, but they'll die if you over-cook them. Cornelia has a heating pad under half her tank (the end that doesn't have her hide box in it), so she can warm up over the pad, or cool down in the other end. Remember reptiles can't regulate their body temperature, so ensure there is a heat gradient in the tank. Cornsnakes like a temperature of about 28°C, slightly cooler at night and in winter (especially if you want them to lay eggs).
Water and humidity
All snakes can swim, and most like to. Always make sure your snake has access to clean water to drink, preferably deep enough for a dunk if not a swim. One word of warning: very deep water can raise the humidity of your tank too high, which will cause skin problems, so if you see condensation on the inside of the tank, get a shallower saucer.
Ornaments and carpeting
Snakes need a hide box of some sort, or a big bit of cork driftwood to hide under. Cornflake boxes with holes cut in are cheap and work just fine. Something to climb on (a branch or similar) is nice too. Don't bother with plants unless you enjoy constantly uprighting them as your snake keeps knocking them over, or if you have an enormous tank you can keep an unknockoverable tree in. The bottom of the tank needs something absorbent and easily replaced put over it. Newspaper is cheap and works well, although it's ugly. Wood chips (reptile bark) are also good, but make sure they're big and not easily eaten, and that they are not made from cedar as this is toxic to snakes (and just about everything else).
Cornelia's ironic dog bowl for swimming.
Cornelia, nearly full.
Eating and crapping
Snakes can go for a long time without eating, but cornsnakes usually need feeding about once a week. A fat snake is an unhealthy snake, and if anything, keep your snake on the leaner side of well built. To work out what size mice to feed, have a look at the thickest bit of your snake. That is about how thick your mice ought to be. Frozen mice are available at many pet shops now: you'll probably be able to get the mice where you got the snake. Keep them frozen till you need them. When you want to feed you snake, thaw it out: on the radiator works for me. You want it about blood temperature for obvious reasons. The next bit is the tricky bit: you have to get the mouse into the snake and keep your fingers out. I use a pair of test tube tongs, but you can improvise as you wish. Give the mouse a wriggle by the tail in front of the snake and watch the antics as it tries to get it down: you can't see it all that well, but her jaws are only losely attached to the skull, so she can open her mouth surprisingly widely. The bottom jaw is not fused at the chin like our jaws are, so she can also stretch them apart to make her mouth even bigger.
It's a good idea to feed a snake out of its tank, so it doesn't learn to associate things entering the tank (i.e. you) with food. Finally, snake faeces combine all the worst aspects of cat turds (stench) and bird spatter (lumpy liquidity). Get it cleaned up as soon as you see it, and wash anything that's been covered in it.
Shedding
All snakes shed their skin in one piece every few months (particularly after hibernation and before laying eggs). During the shedding process, the snake's body and eyes go quite pale, or 'blue', as lymph gets pumped between the old skin and new skin. Just before shedding, the lymph is withdrawn from the skin, and the snake begins to look a little more normal. Having goes back to nearly fully coloured, the skin is shed off a day or two later, in one continuous piece. The moment when the snake's head bursts out of her own head is quite disturbing, although you'll usually miss it, as the process is normally performed at night, and is over in minutes. If you're lucky the skin will come off completely intact, in one neat piece, and you will be able to see the mouth, eye-scales (spectacles) and everything. However, more usually, it'll get shredded as the snake forces his/her way out.
