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Help! Emergency!

Kilala

Kilala

lemme go! I'm sleeping!
I have a very young cornsnake. but I have no lighting. Actually, i HAD the lighting and everything set up long before i brought him home, but.. well, it's a long story. I have managed to bring the ambient temp to around 70F, and i have his enclosure right next to a lamp w/o the lampshade. So basically, he's next to a lightbulb. I won't be able to replace the lighting for at least a week.
Please, somebody give me some advice on what to do! He seems healthy enough.. but i don't want to take chances. He also just ate, by the way.
 
Corns don't necessarily need lighting - it's more for our benefit than theirs. The best heat source for them is a UTH (under tank heater) that's regulated (thermostat). If you do a search for make your own rheostat there's an excellent thread to make one for a pretty low cost. Also an indoor/outdoor thermometer (think Walmart) is great for measuring temperatures on the warm and cool sides and give pretty accurate readings.

~Katie
 
If you read some of the threads on here you will see that lighting is not necesary for corns, do you have a uth? or do you have a heating pad around the house? you can buy one at wal mart or somewhere like that for probably $15 if you have a heat pad (UTH) place it on one side of the tank with a hide over it, but make sure you keep another one at the opposite end with the water bowl as a cool hide. my corns often slip under their water bowls where it is really cool and that seems to be there fav. spot unless they are digesting. but if you can find a uth that should keep your temps right and you wont have to buy new lights. :)
 
Not much of an emergency, really... :rolleyes:

The snake will be fine at 70 for the days it takes you to get the uth and thermostat purchased and installed and functioning with a mid 70s cool side and mid 80s warm side. Just don't feed the snake until you've got the mid 80's temps available.

And welcome to the forum. :)
 
PtDnsr said:
Corns don't necessarily need lighting - it's more for our benefit than theirs. The best heat source for them is a UTH (under tank heater) that's regulated (thermostat). If you do a search for make your own rheostat there's an excellent thread to make one for a pretty low cost. Also an indoor/outdoor thermometer (think Walmart) is great for measuring temperatures on the warm and cool sides and give pretty accurate readings.

~Katie
Click to expand...

you must have posted when i was writing! :) lol!
 
Really? It's not an emergency?. Ugh, now I feel like i've made a complete fool of myself by overreacting, lol. Sorry for being so rude and not even introducing myself, i was too worried about my snake to think about that. By the way, his name is Czar (pronounced as in julius cesar). I just love the little guy to death, I'd hate to see anything happen to him. As far as pets go, snakes are on par w/ dogs in my book. He just ate today.. will it hurt him?
 
There's a chance he could regurgitate if the temp isn't warm enough to digest. Can you warm up the room at all?

Nanci
 
I've been trying to warm up the room w/o much success...I'll just have to keep trying.
 
When you do decide to get a heat pad, get a reptile UTH (Under Tank Heater) and NOT a human heating pad .
For one thing , human heating pads are not designed to be run 24/7 and usually have auto shutoff circuits which would make it worthless for snakes. They're also a fire hazard if run that long. (the human ones)
 
Well, thanks for that info, Flagg. You just stopped me from making a terrible mistake! I was about to get out a heating pad meant for humans as a temporary heat source. By the way, Czar is doing great! I was worrying for nothing. Yesterday I managed to bring the floor of the enclosure to about 80F(maybe a few degrees more) for at least 5 hours. Keep in mind that I live in michigan, so it's hard to maintain a steady temp even indoors. It dropped to a little over 70F at night. Anyway, Czar is happy as a clam today. The fact that i had just fed him didn't seem apparent, the lump in his belly is barely noticable. I guess that 5 hour period at 80F did him good.
 
reptilesupply.com has UTHs at a good price, and the best price on a thermostat, 19.99 for ZooMed 500R. It's a good thermostat for the money, I use several of them and they work well for corn snakes with UTHs.
 
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