Questions...

I have been wanting to get into snakes, and I decided that getting a corn would be a good place to start. I have found a few sites with some total cost ideas. but they are all tottally diffrent. So I decided I'd ask here.
I need. The snake, a cage, heat rocks(?), a heater, a lid, a light(?), & mice. I can make a hide box, and I've been told newspaper and paper towels are fine for bedding. I have heard that heat rocks are good and I've heard they are very bad. What do you think? Should I bother with an extra light? And finnally, I've gotten diffrent prices on mice from $1 each up. What do you all pay?
I'm going into springfeild tommarow to get some corn snake books. Any recomendations? Thanks
ps. what color snakes are more common, i was only planning on spending like 30 on the snake itself.
thank again

Abbya,
A Corn snake is an excellent first choice. They are hardy, most are very docile, and make excellent pets. I hate to beat a dead horse, however the best book I have found is the Corn Snake Manual by Bill and Kathy Love. It is well written , informative, and easy for the novice to understand. AS far as the snake goes, you can get some very nice animals for 30.00, maybe just a tad more. A hatchling or a yearling are good to start with. I breed my own mice, but most local petshops can supply you with more than enough mice for one snake. single mice can vary from 1.00-1.25 each. There are also many sites that offer prekilled frozen mice through mail order.

Welcome to the forum!
Best of Luck!

Matt L.

A cage? A glass tank will be pretty expensive. I think mine was $30 or so including the screen top at a reptile expo. You need a 20 gallon long tank for one full grown adult. You can buy Rubbermaid or Sterilite plastic containers instead for like $5-$10 and make ventilation holes in it if you want to save money.
Mice? Frozen mice are usually cheaper unless you choose to breed your own mice. It's recommended to feed frozen/thawed or at least prekilled mice b/c it is safer. You can get frozen ones in bulk at reptile shows or order online. The shipping is pretty expensive though if you order online (www.rodentpro.com, www.cajunmice.com are two mice supply sites). I get 100 frozen pinkies for $15 at my reptile show.
You'll need a heat source. I personally like heat pads. I paid $15 for mine at a reptile show. A lamp is also ok but you'll have to have a daytime bulb and a night bulb and buy a special lamp. I have no idea how much that will cost. Heat rocks are NOT recommended b/c they can get too hot and burn your snake.
A common normal corn can be ~$15-$20. They are pretty snakes to start off with. Amelanistics and anerytheristics aren't usually priced over $30. Take a look at some corn snake sites (www.serpenco.com, www.corn-utopia.com, www.cornsnake.net) to see what kinds of morphs you want to look for. Pet shops usually overprice their animals. Your best bet is a reptile expo where they will have more variety and lower prices.
Most corn snake owners have The Corn Snake Manual by Bill and Kathy Love. You can order it from Kathy Love's site www.corn-utopia.com. It is like the Bible among corn snake keepers. It's worth double the money in my opinion.


EDIT: Whoops, looks like Matt is a faster replier than I. See? The Corn Snake Manual really is that great that 2 people in a row would recommend it.

DON'T BUY HEAT ROCKS!!!! reptiles need to find heat to warm themselves, no matter how hot the heat source is! heat rocks temperatures fluctuate and can become too hot, giving your reptile severe damage!!! i just don't want animals getting hurt
I suggest you get an undertank heater, and attach it to one half of the tank. Also if you are making hides, place one on the cold side and the warmer side. I place my water in the middle, and use the lid of a jumbo size peanut butter jar, this way my snake can fully submerge herself in it. I also suggest you place braches for climbing, and if you find them outside, place them in a 1:10 of bleach and water for an hour, then in just water for 24 hours. I also after put them in the oven at 350' for 10 minutes. (just to be sure!) I place paper towel on the bottom, and put aspen shavings over top. Best of luck with you new pet! I'm a beginner aswell, and i just luv my new snake Phoebe, you've picked a great snake to start with!

Make that 3 in a row to tell ya to get The CornSnake Manual! Best book I've found so far! Also, I'm going to have to veto the hot rock too. You can get a heat pad for about the same price (depending on where you are located) and it's 10 times better. I've seen too many lizards with missing toes or feet (because of hot rocks) I'd hate to see what it would do to a snakes entire belly!

EDIT: whoops! Erin beat me to the punch! lol. so I guess it's not 3 in a row but pretty close.

well before they ban me i'd like you to know a heat rock is a very bad idea.. sometime the temps get very hot an can burn the skin of your snake with a single touch.. so use a undertank heater, heat tape, or overhead lighting for a heat source..

i pay 7 bucks for a 6 pack of frozen hoppers

i got a cage from petsmart that was 20 gallon, came wit a heating lamp and bulb, and LOTS of other nice things for 60 bucks total.. id check out the website an see if u could get 1 from there, shipping is free.. its a very good deal..

hope i helped with this GOOD information.. 1

thanx

thanx for the advice guys. i'll have to try to remember what site said to get a heating rock...
i will have to try to find out if there are any shows happening in my area -southwest missouri/ozarks

Am I the only one who doesn't like using a heat lamp for corns? I don't like them because, for corns, you'd have to buy a day-time and a night-time bulb because these animals are primarily nocturnal and light during the night will stress them out. Also, they're not suitable for vivs at the lower end of the size scale because they can heat the whole enclosure so the snake can't escape from the heat. You must also remember to guard them with a wire mesh. Another bad point I can name about bulbs is that they are more expensive to buy, operate and replace than heat mats. Bulbs need to be replaced every six months or so (I think) and that would work out very expensive. Also the heat mat I am using is 20 Watts and so costs 32 pence a week to run (inc VAT). The bulb needed would be around sixty Watts so would cost around 95 pence a week- that's like 48 cents and $1.44*


*Prices are based on UK costs ie. 8 pence KwH and 17.5% VAT- either way you save money by using a heat mat instead of a bulb.

If you're looking to spend around $30 then I suggest you try a reptile show because pet shops are just plain evil when it comes to jacking up the price eg. I bought a normal corn for £55 from a pet shop when I could have got one for about £10-15 from a show. Unfortunately there hardly are any shows in the UK any more.

well

I don't like to use them or recommend them myself, but I *do* have two in use right now for two of my corns. I have found the same things Neil has in regards to enclosure size, and cost. Other heat sources are much cheaper.

You do not have to buy two different lights, you just buy the red one which can be on in the day and the night. Either way. I never use white lights for any snakes, not useful and too bright like Neil mentioned. I suggest heat tapes, heating pads.

bmm

I agree with Neil here . . .

I would go for a heat mat. Then you dont have to go buying two extra bulbs each time, and switch one off at night and switch another one on. If you have a heat mat you can just keep it on the whole time (and you can change the temp. on some).

I have heard bad things about heat rocks, like snakes getting burnt ect.. ect.. so, i would stay away from that if i were you.

Yes, another bible owner i am. Buy The Cornsnake Manual by Bill & Kathy Love. As Iris said, it is like a bible to Cornsnake owners who own it.

You can order this from the web, either from amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_8_1/002-2107058-8062412?v=glance&s=books) . . .

or you can order it from the people who wrote the book!!! (http://www.corn-utopia.com/Corn Utopia on the Web/The Corn Snake Manual - Book Ordering Info.htm ).

See how nice ive been and put the links up to the pages!! hehehe.

Hope you get everything sorted out and you get a corn, they're really great!!!! And welcome to the forum!!!

Kris