Blizzard Corn Snake: Meet The Snow-White Of The Magical World Of Snakes!

Corn snakes are a popular name when it comes to keeping them as pets in a human household or in an animal sanctuary. People who like snakes but are afraid to pet them or play around with their wriggly, slithering bodies often consider keeping corn snakes as a starter pet.

There are hundreds of morphs of this Pantherophis colubrid species, and the one that is going to be discussed here is the blizzard corn snake. Corn snakes are non-venomous that actually possess panther-like splotches on their skin. However, blizzard corn snakes look a lot different than the classic orange appearance of the wild-types. Let’s dig deeper into this mystery.

What Does A Blizzard Corn Snake Look Like?

What does the environment look like during or after a blizzard? It looks as if it is wrapped in a white blanket, right? That’s exactly how a blizzard corn snake looks like. They look 100% white with slightly visible to no markings at all on their beautiful elongated body.

However, they may look a little like lavender corn snakes or snow corn snakes in the sense that they radiate pink and purple hues. Most of the time, the hatchlings of white corn snakes look pink when they emerge from the eggs till the time they are 6 months old.

However, lavender corn snakes look purple with white saddles when they mature. Snow corn snakes, on the other hand, are white with faint yellow saddles on their body when they become adults. At this point, they cease to look like the blizzard corn snakes.

Another corn snake that looks a lot like the blizzard corn snakes at their adulthood are the opal corn snakes. When they hatch, the babies look salmon pink. However, by the time opal corn snakes are mature, they look completely white just like the blizzard corn snakes.

• Head: the head of a blizzard corn snake is fully white with no spearhead markings that are otherwise highly characteristic of corn snakes. There are pinkish hues at places where the skin is very thin, like at the point of their snout. They also give off purplish hues at some places.
• Eyes: The eyes are pink with transparent and pinkish eye-rings. All the ocular scales around the eyes of the blizzard corn snake are white and indistinguishable from the rest of the body.
• Belly: The belly of a blizzard corn snake has the all-too-familiar checkerboard pattern that is present in almost all corn snakes. It may be completely white or some of the squares of the pattern may have yellow hues on them, forming a yellow-and-white interplay along the belly.
• Hatchlings: When blizzard corn snake babies hatch out from the eggs, they look quite different. They are glossy pink, almost as if they are see-through, with bulging red eyes. Some baby blizzards may look more a glistening purple than a pink.
• Size: Hatchlings of these stormy white snakes are between 11 and 14 inches long and weigh about 17 to 24 gm. Adults can be as long as 3 to 5 feet, with a weight of 1 to 3 lbs. If well fed, they can grow to be quite large and bulky.

Does A Blizzard Corn Snake Have Other Variations?

Blizzard corn snakes are often interbred with other morphs to produce unique pattern and color variations on the snake’s body. All morphs of blizzard corn snakes look gorgeous. Let’s meet some of them and appreciate their subtle yet eye-catching hues.

• Blizzard Tessera: They are one of the most amazing looking blizzard corn snake morphs. As hatchlings, they possess rope-like patterns all over their baby-pink body. When they mature, they look purplish-pink with gorgeous white ornate markings and saddles all over their body.
  Their eyes are baby pink with pink eye-rings. Their belly has a purple-pink and white checker- board pattern that is an identification trait in all corn snakes. They are an interbreeding between tessera, charcoal and amelanistic parents that are all homozygous for the traits.
• Hypo Blizzard: They are all white as hatchlings with a light purplish-pink hues radiating from their body, with beautiful, although unsightly, white saddles dancing as they locomote. There are purplish-pink spearhead markings on their head, and they have pink eyes.
  As adults, they turn into what blizzard corn snakes usually look like, completely white like the peaceful snow after a blizzard storm. They are a breed between parents that are homozygous for amelanism, charcoal and hypomelanism that all contribute to dashing white bodies.
• Scaleless Blizzard: Parent snakes that are homozygous for a scaleless appearance, as well as for being amelanistic and charcoal are interbred to produce beautiful scaleless blizzard corn snakes. They have a rubbery appearance with large pink eyes. The eyes seem to be protruding but that’s mainly because the scales around the eyes are missing.
  There are other variations of blizzard corn snakes but very little is known about them. Some examples include Blizzard Palmetto, Blizzard Motley, and Blizzard Masque that look completely white when hatched, and also possess a totally white belly with horizontal marks present.
  There are also the Strawberry Blizzard and the Blizzard Stripe Tessera that look quite pink when they hatch out. Parents of all these snakes are anerythristic and amelanistic, therefore all of them have pink or red eyes.

Why Does A Blizzard Corn Snake Look Like They Do?

In order to produce the snow-white blizzard corn snakes, breeders need to mate parent snakes that are amelanistic and charcoal. Charcoal is another morph of corn snakes where the snake is an anerythristic Type B. Both the parents need to be homozygous for the desired trait.

Amelanism is a genetic condition where the snake cannot produce melanin, the reason why no dark coloration manifests on its body. Anerythrism, on the other hand, causes a total absence of colors like red, yellow and orange on the snake’s body. When snakes containing these traits are mated, they produce babies that are completely white, with both black and red missing.

Where Does A Blizzard Corn Snake Live?

Starting from New Jersey to Florida, corn snakes are found all across the south-eastern and central parts of the United States. They have also been spotted in parts of China and Australia.

Natural habitats of most corn snakes include open fields, forest edges and clearings, elevated highlands and even places like outbuildings and sheds. They are usually quite shy and docile and maintain a low key within rock crevices.

Blizzard corn snakes, however, are not found in the wild and are only captive-bred. They are designer morphs and may not be able to survive in the wild. Nevertheless, when they are brought up by humans, keepers make sure that their enclosures resemble their natural habitat closely. Hides, caves and plants are placed within the terrarium for the snake to explore.

What Does A Blizzard Corn Snake Eat?

Corn snakes in the wild hunt down their prey. Their prey consists mainly of rodents, like mice and rats,and even squirrels. They are semi-arboreal and aim for birds and their eggs too. Corn snakes have small teeth by which they catch their prey and subdue them by constriction.

However, blizzard corn snakes that are captive-bred do not need to hunt for their food. They are usually fed pre-killed or thawed (frozen) rodents that they do not need to grasp or subdue. Blizzard corn snakes, as a result, should not be fed live prey items.

Can A Blizzard Corn Snake Be Kept As A Pet?

Blizzard corn snakes are beautiful snakes that you can adopt or purchase at a price that ranges between $75 and $225 or higher. They look very different from the usual orange and red wild-type corn snakes and for this reason are quite popular among snake lovers.

They are not high maintenance at all, and can be taken care of in the same way as other corn snakes are brought up. Provide them a cozy 10-20 gallon tank if they are babies, or a 30-40 gallon terrarium if they are adults. Keep the temperature between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity level between 40 and 50%, and they are good to go.

It is better if you take them out into the sunshine sometimes instead of keeping them cooped up inside a terrarium all day and every day. Having said that though, they should not be exposed to scorching heat since they are amelanistic. Corn snakes do not usually bite. However, in the first few days it may act a bit aggressive but it will slowly get used to your presence.

Lastly, provide hide-outs and ornaments in the terrarium for your snake to enjoy and explore. Place some plants, branches or hollowed-out logs so that they can slither in and out of them and have a blast. Rocky caves and mossy hides are available in the market and are quite affordable. You may be interested to look here in case you are thinking of adopting one.

Is There Any Other Snake That Looks Like A Blizzard Corn Snake?

Like corn snakes, ball pythons also have hundreds and thousands of morphs. There is a morph called the “Blue-Eyed Lucy” that describes a ball python which is as white as the blizzard corn snakes. They have a condition called leucism that gives them white body and blue eyes.

There is no need to worry though because ball pythons are just as harmless as corn snakes. They belong to the family Pythonidae and are non-venomous. Original ball pythons are found mostly in Africa. However, the designer morphs may be available all over the world.

Spiritual Significance Of A White Snake

White is a highly spiritual color that represents peace and purity. People often see a white snake in their dreams and may have a lot of questions about it. To some, seeing a snake in their dreams may sound quite negative, while to others the dream may bear a positive connotation.

Snakes, in certain parts of Africa, are considered as healers. They also symbolize courage and wisdom. White snakes in dreams may often signify a big transformation that is awaiting the person who had that dream. It may also direct a person to a deeper knowledge of the universe.

Thoughts

Blizzard corn snakes are one of the most beautiful morphs of corn snakes available. They look completely different from the common corn snakes. Common corn snakes usually have orange and red hues in them. But blizzard corn snakes? They are completely white!

Corn snakes are usually gentle-natured and will slither away from you when it feels intruded or threatened. Blizzard corn snakes are not a black sheep in the Pantherophis family as some may think because they look different. They are docile and lovable and kept as pets by many.