Got my new baby yesterday and...

Hey all. Got my new Motley Corn yesterday. Am so excited. Got a few questios to ask.

1) The pet shop told me that I needs a UVB light turned on for 12 hrs and off for 12 hrs because snakes need the sun's rays to get their nutirents. ???? I didn't think corns needed UVB?

2) When I put him in his/her <Name Unknown Yet> tank yesterday, he was very active. Even tried to escape within 5 mins. lol That was cute to watch. But now he just stays on the branches on the cool side of the tank. The temp on the cool side is about 74 F. The warm side is the right temp to. But I only seen him there for like 5 mins yesterday. And now he stays on the cool side. Is this normal? OK? Should I be worried?

3) The pet shop also told me to feed him/her tonite. Now I only got him yesterday so shouldn't I wait a few days before giving him food?

4) I bought some frozen pinkys and they are packaged 2 in a bag. I tried to get them apart yesterday but they are stuck together like glue. Now, how in da world do i get them apart. Do I partial thaw them to get them apart and then re-freeze them. They are to expensive to throw away. I paided $1.99 each for the lil buggers. lol

5) And last but not least. I took a few pics yesterday. They not very good pics cause he was in the tank trying to escape. lol And S/he is small so had to zoom in a lot. But how do I attach the pics in here? This may be a dumb question lol but I never done it before.

Thanks everyone. Sorry for making this long to read but I wants to have everything as perfect as I can for my new baby.

Oh and i forgot to mention that my humidiy meter is reading at 55/60%. Is this ok? To high? Is there anything I can do to reduce it?

(I thought we'd already established that your petstore was less than reliable concerning cornsnake care...)

No, your snake does not need a UVB light, for digestion or anything else. The pet store is wrong.

It's ok that your snake spends time in the cool side. That is perfectly normal. If you provide the correct temp gradient, the snake will go to the temperature that is right for him at that moment.

It's common practice to wait several days to a week before feeding your snake. Some experienced breeders here will feed immediately upon settling the snake in, but they also have the knowledge to deal with a snake if it starts refusing to feed.

Here are some feeding guidelines from a large cornsnake breeder. (VMS Herp)

Don't even think about feeding your new pet immediately. Sadly, this is the first thing most newcomers to reptile keeping try to do. Odds are very high that your new lizard or snakes will be too frightened to feed. Attempting to feed under these conditions can have several consequences:

(I removed the points about lizards, and live prey)

Snakes frequently seem to associate the presence of the food item with the recent trauma of shipping, and will remember it! This is likely the reason for a juvenile snake refusing to feed after shipping. It simply associates the food item with the traumatic event. We recommend waiting about a week before attempting to feed snakes.

Also, avoid handling your new reptile before attempting to feed. It's more important that it resume a regular feeding schedule than anything else.

Most of the reptiles we sell are nocturnal and feed best in low light conditions. It's best to offer food in the evening or early morning hours, before bright lights and a lot of household activity disturb your pet.

Feed very sparingly the first few weeks after arrival. Feed snakes smaller meals than normal and give lizards fewer crickets than normal. The stresses of shipping can often upset their digestive systems, and large meals may be regurgitated, causing additional problems.

*******************

Your humidity is fine.

Take the pinks out of the bag and break them apart. If they absolutely won't break, thaw in cold running water until you can get them apart, then immediately wrap and refreeze the one you aren't going to use.

To attach pics, go to the section below that says Manage Attachments and follow the instructions. You search your computer for your image files, basically.

Is that everything??

Glad your baby is doing well!

Nanci

Tks for the awesome advice Nanci. When i say you on i knew you would answer me ASAP. lol As do ev1 else. Tks again. appreciate it.

LMAO I must be blind and stun casue I can't find where it says manage attachments.

newsnakeowner1978 said:

Hey all. Got my new Motley Corn yesterday. Am so excited. Got a few questios to ask.

1) The pet shop told me that I needs a UVB light turned on for 12 hrs and off for 12 hrs because snakes need the sun's rays to get their nutirents. ???? I didn't think corns needed UVB?

2) When I put him in his/her <Name Unknown Yet> tank yesterday, he was very active. Even tried to escape within 5 mins. lol That was cute to watch. But now he just stays on the branches on the cool side of the tank. The temp on the cool side is about 74 F. The warm side is the right temp to. But I only seen him there for like 5 mins yesterday. And now he stays on the cool side. Is this normal? OK? Should I be worried?

3) The pet shop also told me to feed him/her tonite. Now I only got him yesterday so shouldn't I wait a few days before giving him food?

4) I bought some frozen pinkys and they are packaged 2 in a bag. I tried to get them apart yesterday but they are stuck together like glue. Now, how in da world do i get them apart. Do I partial thaw them to get them apart and then re-freeze them. They are to expensive to throw away. I paided $1.99 each for the lil buggers. lol

5) And last but not least. I took a few pics yesterday. They not very good pics cause he was in the tank trying to escape. lol And S/he is small so had to zoom in a lot. But how do I attach the pics in here? This may be a dumb question lol but I never done it before.

Thanks everyone. Sorry for making this long to read but I wants to have everything as perfect as I can for my new baby.

Click to expand...

Corn DO NOT need any UVA/UVB light. You don't need a light at all. It is a waste of money.

It is completely normal for your corn to spend more time at the cool end (every corn is different). It depends on their body temperature and how warm/cool they want to be.

It should be ok to feed him tonight. To separate the pinkies, insert a knife inbetween the two and prise them apart. Never refreeze. Don't buy them if they are stuck together (they shouldn't be)

You paid a lot for the pinkies try and get them cheaper. In the UK I only pay about 20-30p (approx. 40-60 cents) each.

To insert an image use the button above the text box that has a mountain and a sun on it (when writing a message) and insert the url

tks for the tips wood. and DUHHH on me. lol now i see the manage attachments. lol i wasn't lookin in post reply part. lol

Never refreeze?

woodz61 said:

Never refreeze.

Click to expand...

Why not? I've never had any problems with my snakes eating thawed mice that were re-frozen.

I've refrozen mice before. Just once, and if not eaten then they get thrown away, I've not had any problems with any of my snakes with refreezing. Maybe I'm flirting with danger, but so far I've not had any problems with refreezing mice if they have been refused.

Freezing disables any bacteria that may be lurking (and there will always be some) as it defrosts they start to grow, when you refreeze you are refreezing a larger amount of bacteria. Then when you defrost again more bacteria is present and will grow even quicker which can pose a great health risk to your snake.

You never defrost raw meat such as chicken and then refreeze it because of risk of high levels of bacteria (such as salmonella) so mice are exactly the same.

Important rules are;

1) Never leave a defrosted mouse for too long before feeding to your snake.
2) If your snake refuses a meal do NOT keep the mouse until next feeding time THROW AWAY.
3) NEVER REFREEZE

woodz61 said:

You never defrost raw meat such as chicken and then refreeze it because of risk of high levels of bacteria (such as salmonella) so mice are exactly the same.

Click to expand...

What does me eating chicken (which I don't care for anyway) have to do with a snake eating a mouse?

woodz61 said:

Important rules are;

1) Never leave a defrosted mouse for too long before feeding to your snake.
2) If your snake refuses a meal do NOT keep the mouse until next feeding time THROW AWAY.
3) NEVER REFREEZE

Click to expand...

Who decided these important rules? Is there something to back this up or is it just a matter of "this is how I do it so everyone else should too".

I have thawed, refrozen, and thawed again and the mice were eaten and the snakes lived.

snakepunk said:

What does me eating chicken (which I don't care for anyway) have to do with a snake eating a mouse?



Who decided these important rules? Is there something to back this up or is it just a matter of "this is how I do it so everyone else should too".

I have thawed, refrozen, and thawed again and the mice were eaten and the snakes lived.

Click to expand...

I was using chicken as an example and I was referring to defrosting and refreezing raw meat not eating. Also when most humans eat meat it is rarely raw and cooking does kill some bacteria.

Snakes don't eat cooked mice hence no bacteria killed.

It is your decision to thaw and refreeze mice. It is proven to be a health risk with increased levels of bacteria. Your snakes may well be fine, as the same as humans, every snake reacts different to bacteria.

At the end of the day the way you look after your snake is up to you.

I am giving my advice from my personal experiences and advice I have received over the years to the new herper. It is his decision to either follow my advice or not.

The most important thing when it comes to different methods of care is the snake's welfare.

Everyone is different

Tks for the advice ev1. It will def come in handy.

I've found if I thaw and refreeze a mouse it stinks much worse when it is thawed a 2nd time. In my opinion, it's not worth the possible risk to my snakes to save $.50 or so. Plus I am currently breeding my own feeders so the cost is not an issue.

If I have a snake that is currently in shed and not eating or for whatevcer other reasons, I try to schedule them so if it is refused there is another snake waiting to take the uneaten mouse.