Yay! I can get one.

My mom is going to be sending me money soon so I can get a corn snake. I made a little list of things I think I need. I don't know if I got everything on the list: Under Tank Heater, Aspen, 2 hiding places, Digital thermometer with probe, stick on humidity gauge, heavy water dish, food mice, and some decorations. Is that all I need? And what are some average prices for these things? Also, I'm a bit freaked out about things biting me. I had some praying mantises, and they almost bit me. Does it hurt when corn snakes bite?

I have a 10 gallon tank, but I need to get a good lid. I might make one. Is there anything else I need?

Welcome to the forum! you must be pretty excited about your new pet! I'm pretty new here myself but everybody is so nice and full of helpful information!

The FAQ sticky is a good place to start for basic info: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28341

I'm sure the experts will have more specific information but I figured I would just let you know what I've experienced so far. Please keep in mind though, the prices I'm quoting are from memory so may not be completely accurate!

The prices for everything will depend on where you buy them. If you go to a petstore like Petco or Petsmart, they can run a little high but I didn't know this when I first got my snake...
At Petco, I bought a 10-20gal Heating Pad for about $23,
Aspen, I think at Petco was about $8 for a small bag (10-20gal) but I was at walmart last night and found a good sized bag of Aspen for only $5. You should have seen me dancing in the aisle when I found it!!
As for hides, store bought ones are easy to find but can get expensive. You can use things around the house like toilet paper roles (if you do a search on this site for toilet paper tubes, you'll find some really cute pictures of corns peaking out of their tubes!), upside down clean butter tubs with a hole cut out, etc. I bought some silk plants from walmart for $3 and just used suction cups to attach them to the sides of the tank.
Walmart has digital probe thermometers for $7. I use the digital probe one on the warm side of the tank and then on the cool side, I use a stick on thermometer right above the bedding line that I got at Petco as part of a package with a humidity gauge for about $6. However it is my duty as a cornsnake.com user to advise you that regular stick-on thermometers are not always completely accurate and not the best to rely on.
Petco has packages of frozen pinkies for $4 for a pack of 3 but I've heard you can buy in bulk online for overall cheaper prices.
It's always a good idea to look around and see what you already have at home and visit multiple stores and/or websites to compare prices.

My snake has never bit me so I can't answer from firsthand experience but I've heard on here that it does not hurt at all. Maybe the equivalent of a pinprick but don't worry about this and especially don't let your snake sense your nervousness.

I hope this info helps a little bit! Again, welcome to the forum!!

Don't forget the thermostat to regulate the temperature of your UTH. This is probably going to be your most expensive piece of equipment, I would say around $50 for a good (not best) one.

Shouldn't the UTH have a thing to set it's temperature?

maneatingmoo said:

Shouldn't the UTH have a thing to set it's temperature?

Click to expand...

Usually UTH don't have any kind of temperature adjustment, but even if they did, it would not be good enough. A rheostat (the temperature adjustment thing) would not turn the UTH off in case of hot days and it would not crank the temperature up in cold days. You would be the one doing those things, meaning, CONSTANT monitoring of your vivarium (kind of impossible at night).

And what's a good website to get all of the supplies and food from? The nearest petco is 2 hours away, and if I need to go there once a week or however often they need feeding, that will be a problem. How long do frozen mice stay good in the freezer?

My I suggest http://www.reptilesupply.com/ I got a UTH, thermostat, and prob thermometer for $50 bucks shipped. Here is were I get my mice from they are very good qualitly http://www.themousefactory.com/. Hope this helps and good luck with the snake hunting

Is humidity very important? I have one of those stick on hygrometers in my room for my plants, it says it's in the 60s in the day and about 80 at night. I don't want to spend 15$ on a hygrometer that I don't need.

no you dont really need one.

So is 70-80% humidity too high? I read about respitory infections and stuff like that from high humidity.

Oh BTW it's been raining alot lately so that may be why the humidity is so high.

It is a little humid but I think you will still be ok. at least you know it will have good sheds

Not to hijack your thread or anything, but what is a good model of thermostat for around $50? I hate to spend $100 on a really nice one, mostly because I'm a poor college student, but I'm curious as to what other people have for thermostats. My rheostat is very hard to keep a constant temp on.

As for heating pads, I'd invest in an Ultratherm pad from The Bean Farm. Just google it and you should find it. It's worked amazingly well for me, and you can restick it to other tanks, unlike the ZooMed ones.

Oh and I had my friend's year old snake bite at me (We think because she was hungry) and it was more shock than anything. It didn't hurt after a second, and even when she actually did bite me, it was only a pinprick and there was no mark.

This is the thermostat that I have 2 of. http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75 and this is a good price. I know what you mean with the whole college thing. good thing snakes are easy and relativly cheap to keep.

The one I found was $21, it's called the ReptiTemp 500R

And that thermostat works well for you, Cassie? Yeah, I'm glad Sammy doesn't cost much at all. I get his mice online, so it seems like it hardly costs anything after the initial cost!

Both of them work great they just need alittle adjusting here and there when the temps change. but it keeps the temps about 80-84 which is right where I want them. You can bulk order enough food to last a year. haveing them in tubs makes it cheaper also. Another suggestion if you plan on getting more tanks you should get a heat cord that way you can heat more than one tank for the same price as one UTH. Hehe