corn rattler

[NicoleRussell]

This might be commonplace but it's a first in this house.
My daughter Amanda's corn snake was being tempted with his first weaned rat today..I was dancing it about the cage etc. He started vibrating is tail like a rattlesnake and struck at the rat like he was a nasty guy (he's so NOT ). He continued in this mode for some time/I have never seen him aggressive and have never seen any of the snakes in this house rattle their tails like that....is this a normal thing for corns?? I know tegus do this when threatened...Nico did it as a baby sometimes.....but this is a snakie first

	Corn Snake The Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata) is a species of Rat Snake.

[eddie]

Hehe.. very normal

[herp_chick]

Lots of colubrids will do that. Kinda cute

[PonderosaSnakeHouse]

My king and corn both rattle on feeding day.

[NicoleRussell]

what do you think prompted it? A new scent?
What a strange sound...his tail was vibrating on newspaper and at first I had no idea what it was...
Too bad Amanda missed it---she loves stuff like that. With my luck he will never react that way again...

[schatzie001]

Haha, that is too cute when they do that! I agree with ya Nicole - Mild mannered little colubrid turns into a ferocious mouse eater when they get excited about food (and other things) :devilfire:

[JuliusSqueezer]

Many people think that when colubrids do this that they are mimicking rattlesnakes. I don't buy this for many reasons. Colubrids have been around much longer than pit vipers and there is no way to prove it but I suspect they were doing this long before pit vipers evolved. Colubrids from parts of the world where there are no rattlesnakes do this. I have never noted any snake paying attention to what another snake is doing let alone mimicking it. I believe that rattling was just something that snakes developed to warn bigger grazing animals of their presence so maybe it would spook them off from stepping on them and rattlesnakes just evolved it further by adding the buttons. Many colubrids rattle in dry leaves or against something to make a louder noise. Many others just do it so fast that they make sonic cracks like popping a whip. Pituophis for example can make quite a loud rattle by just cracking back and forth really fast against nothing but air. All of this has also given rise to the myth that some rattlesnakes have cross bred with ratsnakes and developed rattle-less rattlesnakes. Gophersnakes, pinesnakes and bullsnakes (pitupophis) are commonly misIDed as such a crossbreed and killed.

[NicoleRussell]

I agree Brett. Not to mention that some lizards do this as well and it's doubtful they are mimicking anything either. It's a warning universally it seems. It's deinately what you hear from a tegu right before he removes a digit
On another snake subject--I heard my first hiss yesterday when opening the ball cage. He's another sweet animal that basically decided to put on a show. But not one snake in this house compares to the hognose who goes from being THE calmest baby snake ever to a kingcobra when presented with a mouse pink