Setting up

Hey everyone,

I haven't been on here in a while, but I am actually getting close to getting my snake soon! The breeder says it will be 'ready' in about 2 weeks. So, I have set up my little baby tank to get things at good temps and humidity, etc. I just wanted to post a picture and ask: does the water dish look too big for the tank size? I am concerned the snake will have nowhere cool to go because my mini-UTH takes up a lot of one side (it is attached to a picture frame glass, but I don't have it all the way under the tank because my plastic shoe box isn't too big. But, I have to have it mostly under to get the hot side hot enough. So yeah, is the water dish too big? I don't want to get one that is too deep because I am afraid the snake will have a hard time getting out. Take a look and let me know. As for conditions in the tank, it is about 30C at the hottest and about 75-80 for humidity. Is that okay?

Hmmm.... can't upload pics now b/c they are too big, and I am at work and don't have the right program to make smaller. Anyhow - the dish is big. I'll post pics this afternoon

Is 30 Celsius the surface or air temperature? If it is the air temperature it's too warm. If it's the surface temperature your probably right on the money. Can you just move the UTH a little so less of it (or the picture frame) is in contact with the container? Do you have a thermostate to control the temperature of the UTH if it gets too hot?

Chris

Okay - here are the pictures I have. Top view so you can see the size of the water dish, and side view so you can see how far under the tank the mini-UTH on it's piece of glass is.

I have the tank (which is a plastic rubbermaid shoebox) on erasers so its off the ground a bit, like UTH instructions recommend.

For size perspective, that is a halved paper towel tube for the hide (got idea from Kathy Love's book). The thermometer obviously isn't going to be like that. I should be getting a probe style one this week that I ordered on eBay. It's just there to give me an idea. When the snake gets bigger I'll move it into the 20-gallon tank I have, and probably attach that stick on thermometer right above the substrate so that I can have a quick-glance reference.

And hey, is there a difference between a rheostat and a thermostat? Or are they the same thing.

Anyhow, I am excitedly waiting the day I can go pick up my hatchling! I just need to decide if I want a pastel motley or a normal motley...

you might want to add another hide in, the water dish looks fine to me, and a rheostat is like a dimmer, ...

I would say that 80% is too high for humidity. Too much humidity isn't good for corns.

Yeah.... I thought it was a little high.... how do I get it down, other than drilling more holes in the tank? Maybe I need a more accurate hygrometer...

Hey Sabrina- Corns are native to the humid Southeast USA. 80% humidity durng the warm summer months will be fine for them. Your only problem with humidity will be keeping it up in the winter, when your heating will dry the air out in your home. This is easily dealt with by using a larger water bowl, and/or humid hide, and then only if you have a bad shed or two.

Your setup is almost identical to what I have been using successfully for years. The one "half tube" that spans both the hot and cool side is also what I have, and will be fine for you. The layer of Aspen also makes the whole container a hide as they can burrow down anywhere they want to.

If the extra $$$ is not a hardship for you, get a thermostat. As mentioned above, a rheostat is only a dimmer, which needs to be watched when the room temps change.

One final observation. Get a heavy rock, some velcro, or an elastic cord to secure that lid. They can sometimes edge a corner up and slip out, even if the lid "snaps" shut, so play it safe..

Best of luck with your new snake

Scott

ScottyK said:

Hey Sabrina- Corns are native to the humid Southeast USA. 80% humidity durng the warm summer months will be fine for them. Your only problem with humidity will be keeping it up in the winter, when your heating will dry the air out in your home. This is easily dealt with by using a larger water bowl, and/or humid hide, and then only if you have a bad shed or two.

Your setup is almost identical to what I have been using successfully for years. The one "half tube" that spans both the hot and cool side is also what I have, and will be fine for you. The layer of Aspen also makes the whole container a hide as they can burrow down anywhere they want to.

If the extra $$$ is not a hardship for you, get a thermostat. As mentioned above, a rheostat is only a dimmer, which needs to be watched when the room temps change.

One final observation. Get a heavy rock, some velcro, or an elastic cord to secure that lid. They can sometimes edge a corner up and slip out, even if the lid "snaps" shut, so play it safe..

Best of luck with your new snake

Scott

Click to expand...

I agree with the humidity being okay. I have cornsnakes all over the place where I live and the humidity this time of year is almost always above 80%. I would not keep it that high all of the time....but if you can fluctuate it between 50-80 degrees, you would be in great shape. :cheers:

Chris

You should consider securing the lid somehow. Hatchlings are surprisingly strong and you'll have an escapee on your hands.

I have my shoe boxes in a rack where the shelves are tight against the top and bottom, even with that I have binder clips on the ends... not sure why, the lid cant come up with the way the boxes are wedged in the rack. But better safe than sorry.

This is an older pic of my set up, I now have 9 shoe boxes in my rack making it 3 per shelf.