This is the first gallery of pictures and a few words about Rio, owned by Jo from Devon, England. The first three pictures of him were taken shortly after he moved into his new home in July 2002, shortly after he was bought from a reptile dealer. This is about the normal size of a corn snake hatchling you would buy in a pet shop - thin as a pencil and only thirty centimetres or so long. He was actually a little longer than this on 30th July, around 14 inches (35cm), when he shed his skin for second time in his life, really starting to grow fast now and put on weight.
Hopefully I shall have a picture of him just after he sheds each time over the next few months. In this first year of his life, because he'll be shedding about once a month and growing fast, taking a picture just after each shedding will give you a chance to see him when his colours are brightest and you'll also be able to see how quickly he grows over the next year or so.
To give you a little background info about Rio - he escaped one night in October when Jo hadn't quite replaced the lid to his vivarium properly. Fortunately, Rio was found the next morning, curled up on the bean bag with Max, the dog, in the dog's basket. Luckily it seems the dog doesn't mind having a snake snuggle up to sleep with him!!! This served as a timely warning for Jo and since then the vivarium lid is checked every night.
Oh, and before I forget, for the record, in early December 2002 Jo took Rio to the reptile dealer who 'probed' Rio and found that he is definitely a male - it's nice to know for sure, one way or the other.
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