As the popularity of keeping pet snakes, particularly corn snakes continues to increase with each year that passes we constantly see more and more people reaching out with various questions about their snakes.
Although the majority of them are usually based around how you can offer the best possible care for your snake, we do see some questions based on general curiosity.
One of the more commonly asked questions based on curiosity that we have noticed people asking time and time again is do corn snakes have teeth?
Although this may sound like an obvious question, the small size of a corn snake make their tiny little teeth difficult to actually see so we do understand why we see so many people asking so many questions about corn snake teeth.
On top of that, we see a small number of different questions about corn snake teeth and if they bite each month too so we have decided to add them all to this article.
Our table of contents below should make it much easier to navigate the article to quickly and easily get to specific questions that you want answers to.
Do Corn Snakes Have Teeth?
Corn snakes usually have between 20 and 30 teeth but due to their teeth being in proportion to their body, they tend to be small and difficult to see, especially with smaller corn snakes.
If you look inside of your corn snake’s mouth with good lighting, you can usually see their tiny little teeth though.
Please don’t try to put your finger into your corn snake’s mouth to feel if it has teeth as this can damage your pet corn snake’s jaw.
We have seen a few people do this as well as recommend other people do this to check if their corn snake has teeth but it really can damage your snakes mouth, jaw, and teeth.
Just like all snakes, once it has sunk its teeth into the prey, they will naturally sink deeper the more the prey struggles too.
Although the teeth of a large corn snake are still relatively small, if you do put your finger in your corn snake’s mouth to feel if it has teeth and it decides to bit you then it may end up locking its teeth into you and it can be difficult to remove without damaging your corn snakes teeth.
Do Corn Snakes Bite?
Corn snakes do bite and although it is rare, they may bite humans depending on the situation. Thankfully, the teeth of a corn snake are so small that it is unlikely that it will be able harm a human with most corn snakes not even being able to mark your skin never mind draw blood.
If you do keep other small pets such as reptiles, amphibians or arachnids then your pet corn snake may be able to bite them and damage them if they get close enough.
This is why you should always keep other pets away from any snake as they don’t understand that the other animal is just another pet and not food.
Corn snakes will often give you a few warning signs before they will bite you too.
The majority of the time, a corn snake will coil up ready to spring while making various noises that are much louder than the sounds a corn snake will usually make.
That said, some corn snakes who are anxious or stressed may just bite you without any warning so always be careful when handling your snakes.
Do Corn Snake Bites Hurt?
Corn snake bites rarely hurt humans due to their teeth being so small.
Their tiny teeth make it difficult for even a larger corn snake to scratch your skin never mind actually break the skin if it does bite you.
Just because a corn snake bite does not hurt you, it does not mean that it does not hurt your corn snake though as you may dislodge a tooth if you pull your hand away quickly.
As we touched on earlier in the article, the teeth of all snakes have evolved to sink deeper the more their prey struggle and can make it hard to remove a corn snake whose teeth have sunk into human skin even though you won’t be able to feel it much.
This can then result in damage to your snake’s mouth, jaw or teeth and potentially result in long-term damage and a direct effect on the snake’s ability to feed itself in the future.
If you do think that your pet corn snakes mouth may be damaged in some way after it tried to bite you then you really should book a video call with a professional vet for some advice.
These video calls are usually cheaper than a trip to your local vets and although it will be difficult or the vet to see your corn snakes tiny teeth via a video call, they will be able to offer you the best advice to move forward with for the health of your corn snake.
Why Is My Corn Snake Biting Me?
Corn snakes rarely bite humans and when they do, it is usually down to feeling threatened, being stressed or being anxious.
Thankfully, these are usually very easy to correct with simply leaving your corn snake alone preventing it feel threatened and most stress or anxiety issues in reptiles are due to their vivarium being too small.
This is very common for people new to keeping corn snakes as they will start with a tank for a baby corn snake and then as their pet snake grows, they fail to upgrade the size of their tank.
Ideally, for an adult corn snake, you want something like a 48x18x18 inch tank so the corn snake has plenty of room to feel safe and comfortable to keep its stress and anxiety levels as low as possible to reduce the chance of it biting you.
Although you can keep multiple corn snakes in the same tank provided the tank is large enough, many beginners forget to add enough suitable corn snake hides to tanks with multiple corn snakes increasing their stress and anxiety levels and presenting a higher risk of being bitten.
The general rule of thumb is to add 1.5 hides for each corn snake in the vivarium so there is usually plenty of spares to reduce competition for the best spots.
Are Corn Snakes Vicious?
Corn snakes are not generally vicious and will rarely bite humans but there are some situations where they may act more aggressively than they usually would.
This is generally due to stress, anxiety, competition for food, larger corn snakes bullying smaller corn snakes, and being handled when they don’t want to be handled.
Handling corn snakes when they just want to be left alone is another common yet easy to avoid mistake that we see people make time and time again.
This can be a quick way to have your corn snake bite you, especially if you live in a colder area where the temperature outside of the vivarium is much colder than inside.
When you lift your corn snake out of the vivarium into a colder temperature, its stress levels can skyrocket quickly due to temperature shock resulting in a bite with its tiny little teeth.
Loud children or barking dogs can also spike the stress and anxiety in corn snakes and increase the chances of them acting vicious too.
This is why you should try to keep your vivarium in an area where children and other pets will not frequent often to help keep your corn snake as calm and relaxed as possible.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if corn snakes have teeth and why they bite people to an end. We hope that you have found our article helpful and that we have been able to prevent you from physically checking your corn snakes teeth with your finger as it is a mistake that we see people making time and time again that should not be done. The other common mistakes that we touched on in the article that increase your corn snakes stress and anxiety levels are also usually easy to avoid reducing the chance of your corn snake biting you too.
