looking for advice

hello everyone my name is tony im from london just invested in a corn snake dont know alot about them so im looking for some advice please its orange and yellow i have called it rizzler i find its alway staying on the cold side of the tank is that normal or am i making the tank to hot by leaving the heat mat on all the time its about a foot long and its 8 months old look forward to anyones advice please

Hi there and welcome to the forums! There are lots of caresheets out there. I believe Don has one at SMR (www.cornsnake.net) and Kathy Love sells her book The Corn Snake Manual on her website (www.cornutopia.com). On the cool side the temperatures should be about 70-75*F and 80-85*F on the warm side. If you don't know what your temperatures are it is a good idea to find out. Make sure to measure the temperature on the substrate and not the ambient (air) temperature. If you can get Kathy's book I'd suggest it (don't know the equivalent in Europe) because it has anything and everything in it. You can also use the search feature on the forums to help look for older threads that might be useful. Welcome again! :wavey:

~Katie

P.S. - Don and Kathy, I hope you guys don't mind me referencing your sites!

hello katie thanks for your help i will look into them books u wrote about im not sure how to measure the temp as im new to all this im going to my local reptile centre monday he said i should bring the snake with me and he will look over it for me and give me as much advise as he can and he has a few books in there that will give me a good guide on caring for the snake anyway thanks again from tony

Hey Tony

Kathy,s book is available (both the first and second versions). I wouldn't worry about you new corn being on the cool side if the floor temps are correct as Katie said (mines within the same range as is most people's), and my snakes are usually found on the cool side, and i'm from east lancsashire so were very similar in terms of weather and and all that.

If you can post a pic of the snake people can give a possative id on the morph you have, if you don't know how just as, or email me a pic and i can post it for you if it's easier to start with.

Welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy it here :wavey: .

Hey Tony, welcome to the board, you picked the best one on the internet if you have a corn snake. there is alot of information here just read read read, and search, then read some more. My advice to you (being a new snake owner myself) is to go and get yourself a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer, (one that has a wire coming out of it with a thing that sticks on to the outside of the window to measure outdoor temperature) they are not that much here in the states and shouldnt be that much there, you can find them at any home improvement store/hardware store or Wal-Mart. and what you do is place that thing at the end of the wire about the middle of your warm side burry it in the substrate a little and then mount the thermometer on the viv (your snakes cage) somewhere, inside or out. (just make sure if you mount it on the outside of the viv that the wire goes through a very small hole you dont want your new friend to escape) now make sure the thermometer is measuring outdoor temperature and thats the tempurature that needs to be 80-85 degrees farenheight. If you want you can buy another thermometer of the same type to measure the cold side at the same time. mine is set up his way and I can glance at the viv at anytime to get a visual of the different temperatures, its great.

:wavey: Hi rizzler i wouldnt worry 2 much bout your snake being on the cool side of the tank. mine spends nearly all of the time on the cool side.

Welcome to the forums rizzler! This is a great place, lots of support and knowledge! Don't hesitate to run a search for the info that you need...there's SO much material here!