Hide Question

Hi All,

We are in the process of preparing a new home for our first corn snake, an amel sunglow (thanks to Kathy Love) named Slithers, who will arrive on Wednesday. Yesterday, we were at East Bay Vivarium, in Berkeley, CA buying a 20L tank and associated stuff. The store was great, helpful staff and more reptiles than you can shake a (climbing) stick at!

Anyway, here's the question. I have a 1' length of 1 1/2" black PVC pipe for one of the hides (let's hear it for $.45 tank decorations) and I'm going to cut it lengthwise about 1/3 of the way up. The guy we talked to at East Bay Viv suggested placing it right up against the side of the tank, with the cut side out, so that you can see into it. I like this idea but would that make the snake feel more exposed, defeating the purpose of the hide? How are you all using pipe as a hide? Partially buried in the substrate? One end completely buried?

Yes, I know I'm obsessing.

I personally would put it with the cut side down in your substrate so the snake truly feels safe and hidden. I know there are commercial hides that are open to the glass, I don't know if the snake truly feels hidden or not. I guess you'd have to see how the snake aclimates to the hide in that angle. You can always change it if you feel the snake is not using it like you thought, or stresses when it see's you looking at it. Hope this opinion helps a bit

It would really depend upon if the glass of the tank is see-through or not from the inside. Personally, a long tube may seem like a good hide, but most snakes prefer to be able to curl up and as yours gets bigger, it won't be able to in a PVC pipe.