The Corn Snake ~ By Bill Rhodes

Snakes. A lot of people simply do not like them. Unless you are my 8-year-old granddaughter. For her last birthday she begged her parents to buy her a Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus). They are beautifully colored in shades of red and orange, growing to lengths of 5 feet when mature and living more than 20 years when properly cared for. In North America they are bred in large numbers, in a variety of patterns and colors, intended for the pet trade. It took a bit of cajoling, together with proving she knew how to keep a baby corn snake clean, secure, and fed in an enclosure, but she prevailed and is now the proud “parent” of a young corn snake purchased from a breeder.
While that is fine for someone living in the US (as the Corn Snake naturally occurs in the warmer southeast), that may not be fine for someone on TCI, since they do not occur naturally here. Snakes kept as pets can escape, and in some misguided cases are intentionally released once the owner tires of them. Non-native species can become invasive if the environment suits them, and eventually they may displace naturally occurring species and compete for food sources.

The colorful Corn Snake is not suited to the TCI, as they can displace naturally occurring species and compete for food sources.

The first Corn Snake identified in the Turks & Caicos Islands was found dead in 2009 in Breezy Cay. It was thought to be the result of either an accidental import, as a stowaway on landscaping materials from the US, or worse, the release of a pet snake. Beautifully marked in red and gold, it was about three feet in length, old enough to have reproduced — and they can lay up to 30 eggs at a time.

Since then, Corn Snakes have been increasing in number on Grand Turk.  According to a 2015 report from the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR), they were likely first introduced via landscaping plants brought in from Florida.  

TCI is not alone in hosting this invader. In S. Giery’s 2013 paper, “First records of Red Cornsnakes (Pantherophis guttatus) from Abaco Island, The Bahamas and notes on their current distribution in the greater Caribbean,” he wrote that non-native “Red Cornsnakes have been found throughout the greater Caribbean region, with records from 16 different islands and islets.”

They are not venomous and will not intentionally bite a person unless provoked and have no ready means to escape. They may vigorously shake their tail, mimicking the sound of a venomous snake, as a warning  when they feel threatened. Their common name comes from the fact that they tend to live near corn fields and grain bins, as their primary food source is rodents, but others suggest that it is their black and white checkered underside that gives them the name, claiming the pattern resembles kernels of corn.  

Where they occur naturally, they are considered beneficial, given their penchant for eating rodents. They are a member of the rat snake family (named for obvious reasons) and are constrictors, asphyxiating their prey by wrapping their muscular bodies around the hapless rat or mouse and squeezing tight enough to prevent it from breathing. While this may sound gruesome, it is very rapid, and their prey succumb quickly.

While they often live near grain fields, they can be found in overgrown fields or forest openings. They hunt during the day, preferring rodents, but aren’t all that fussy, and will eat lizards, frogs, and toads, and even climb trees to find and eat bird’s eggs.

Invasive species pose a threat to naturally occurring animals and plants, which is especially true on an island.  The local flora and fauna have evolved in concert over millennia, and the surrounding water forms a natural barrier, preventing the incursion of new species. When a new animal or plant is accidentally introduced into that island environment and finds the climate suitable to support it, it begins to reproduce and spread, often rapidly, as there may not be any “checks and balances” limiting its growth.  It may then displace naturally occurring species by outcompeting them for resources, or worse, deplete the natural populations of animals or plants they eat.  They may even bring disease and parasites to the island that had not been present before, rapidly decimating local species.

Corn snakes are not venomous and will not intentionally bite a person unless provoked with no means to escape.

According to a 2010 paper published in the journal IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians, “The Island Invaders: Introduced Amphibians and Reptiles in the Turks and Caicos Islands” by  Reynolds and Niemiller, TCI has ten native reptile species and subspecies, with eight being endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else. But there were also seven non-native reptiles and two amphibians. B. Naqqi Nanco, a contributor to the 2010 paper and Assistant Director of Research and Development at the DECR, agrees that there is potential for significant harm caused by invasive species. Even so, regarding the Corn Snake, he recently told me, “We have not been able to identify or quantify impacts, particularly the most hazardous impacts of disease and parasite transfer to endemic species.” Consequently, there are no government recommended eradication programs for limiting or even removing the invasive Corn Snake from the Turks & Caicos Islands . . . yet.