AUTUMN IS A CORN SNAKE
Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus)

Autumn came to RWS in the spring of 2017 after one of our eagle-eyed volunteers came across her advertisement on Craigslist. Our volunteer wanted to make sure this beautiful creature was given the best of care by rehoming her at RWS. While cornsnakes like Autumn are a native species, it is likely that Autumn was bred domestically and kept as a pet before she joined our education ambassador team.

Cornsnakes are constrictors, meaning they are non-venomous and rely on wrapping tightly around their prey before swallowing them whole. It sounds spooky, but it’s an incredible feat of evolution! Snakes can unhinge their jaws to accommodate larger prey, so a cornsnake with a relatively small head can swallow a whole mouse at once. Autumn is fed just one mouse per month because reptiles are cold-blooded and do not need the calories that warm-blooded animals do to constantly maintain their body temperature. Can you imagine eating just one meal per month?! Despite their reputations in pop culture, snakes are ultimately wonderful assets to our wild ecosystems and our urban landscapes because they help keep our pest populations under control.
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