By: Amelia Basile, NJSOC Education Intern
Meet our next Ambassador Animal, Elaphe, our 25 year old corn snake! Corn snakes are native to southern New Jersey and can live up to 6-8 years old in the wild. In captivity, corn snakes can live up to 23 years old, therefore making Elaphe a senior snake. She got her name from the species scientific name, Elaphe guttata guttata.
Corn snakes can be identified by their pattern and varying colors. The species primary body color can vary from orange, brown or gray while their spots can be red, orange and/or brown. These spots are unique to each corn snake and some may even resemble stripe-like patterns. All corn snakes have an arrow shaped marking at the top of their head which opens outwards to the first spot on the body. The underside of a corn snake has a mismatched black and white checkered pattern that resembles a corn on the cob (that is where they get their common name!). Their sizes vary, but adults can grow up to 6 feet long. Their appearance can change slightly when they shed their skin, which happens multiple times throughout the year. Their skin may not appear as vibrant and have a cloudy look around their eyes. During this week-long process, the species can be seen using rough surfaces, like tree bark or jagged rocks, to help them shed.
In NJ, corn snakes can be found in the southern region of the state, primarily in the Pine Barrens. Their habitat in NJ ranges across Ocean, Atlantic, southeastern Burlington, and northeastern Cumberland Counties. They thrive in dense, mature pine-oak forests with sandy or loamy soil. They tend to stay near a body of water and spend time in rotten logs or stump holes. These coverings can be used for nesting eggs, hibernating, or for predator protection.
Predators of the corn snake in NJ include birds of prey, larger snakes, and medium-large mammals, like foxes. Corn snakes mainly prey on small rodents as well as small birds, reptiles, and insects every 1-2 weeks. The species will constrict and suffocate their prey before swallowing it whole through their flexible mandible, which is then followed by a couple days of digestion. Currently, Elaphe can go over a month without eating as she is conserving her energy in the winter. In the wild, corn snakes will retreat to a hibernaculum (a type of hiding place to hibernate), but will usually brumate instead of hibernate. Brumation is when an animal conserves energy in the winter but does not stay asleep, like a black bear does in hibernation.
Currently, corn snakes are endangered species in New Jersey due to human impact. Humans have destroyed their habitat and poached them because the species’ beauty and temperament is widely sought out in the pet industry. When they were first taken for captivity, there were no regulations in place making this practice illegal, which significantly impacted the species population numbers and reproduction rates. Fortunately, the international agreement, C.I.T.E.S (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), was established to monitor and stop poachers. Unfortunately, the more endangered a species is, the more desirable they become resulting in more occurrences of poaching. If a poacher of a corn snake is caught, the snake can not be re-released into the wild if the exact whereabouts of its origin is unknown. This is due to their “home range”, where an individual has a specific territory it is familiar with and survives in. For example, if a family decides to get a corn snake as a pet and does not want it anymore, they should not release the snake into the wild, as it will be detrimental to the snake’s health regardless if it is native to that area or not.
Elaphe’s mother was taken from the wild by a poacher, and as a result her mother ended up in the custody of the Division of Fish and Wildlife, where Elaphe was then born. She could not be released out into the wild and Tanya, our Director of Education, took her in as an educational snake for her 6th grade science classroom. Throughout Tanya’s career, Elaphe followed, eventually ending up here, at the NJSOC, as an Ambassador Animal. Elaphe has helped hundreds of children over the years learn to appreciate snakes, dispel their fears and the importance of conservation of native animals. To conserve these beautiful creatures, like Elaphe, it is important for the public to be educated on their threats and for officials to manage illegal poaching.
References:
https://conservewildlifenj.org/?species=elaphe-guttata-guttata
https://www.crittersquad.com/fact-sheets/corn-snake-fact-sheet/
https://daily.jstor.org/how-snakes-swallow/
https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/species/corn_snake.pdf
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/corn-snake