New baby cornsnake, new owner, a few questions

Well hello. I am the proud new owner of a baby cornsnake. I did my research before buying, got a suitable terrarium, heat bulb, thermometer, water dish, made a few hiding places, placed suitable substrate but now...

I was told, when purchasing, that my baby has been taking one warm dead pinkie. Here's the deal with that: I am sort of a wuss. I can not bear to kill a pinkie or any mouse, for that matter. Now, my wonderful boyfriend offered to do so for me, but I want to be able to feed my baby even when my boyfriend can't make it. You know, care for it properly.

So, does anyone know about techniques to switching a baby corn's diet from warm dead to purchasing the pre-frozen pinkies and thaw them to room temp before feeding? That way, I won't have a big problem feeding my baby.

Second question has to do with heat-source recommendations. When using a heat lamp, is it necessary to get the reflective wall stuff for that side of the terrarium, or is it better without? Or, does it even matter?

Thanks much.

If your baby is taking warm fresh dead i recon that it would take a f/t pinky (thawed in warm water). Try giving it a fresh dead and a f/t at the same time.
As for reflective backing for the light I don't recon that you will need it, the lamp is for a hot spot at one end of the tank not to heat the whole thing.
BTW good luck and enjoy your new pet and welcome to the forum.

Thanks for your help and the welcome.

I have found a slight problem so far, though. The lamp itself I am using with the UV bulb (seems I was given a bit of wrong info at the store, but I'll clarify that later) hasn't gotten the warm side of the terrarium up to 80 yet (about 78 last I checked), and its been going over an hour. I have put a towel over it, but I am concerned of a fire hazard for when I go to bed this evening.

Ok, as for the black light. The dude suggested that I get a black light in case I have trouble sleeping with lights on, since he said I should leave him warm all night/day. Its like he read my mind with the whole light when sleeping thing. However, on a few sites I looked at, it said to let the temp of the terrarium drop a bit at night. So do I leave him warm or let him chill? Also, I decided to get a bulb and lamp because a bit of a lack of money. Buying the heat pad and dimmer would have been 22 dollars more.

So, any insight?

If your room doesn't drop below 70 f I would say turn the lights off at night.
During the day I would use a spot light, to get the heat right, to hot use a smaller bulb, to cold larger bulb.
I use heat pads with thermostats, lots more efficiant and I think more reliable.
I do not uv lights at all for my corns, but it is up to you.

My room gets COLD. Being in Cali with the whole energy crisis, my dad went head-on into the whole saving-energy thing. So for two winters now we've been on low-heat mode. It sucks. I have a quilt and 2 blankets for myself. Seems the heat vent just doesn't want to work in my room. So, I probably should leave the light on for the night then. At least for tonight.

Tomorrow I am going to the pet store (the place where I bought my snake and supplies is about 35 miles from home, but it was highly recommended), where I am going to pick up some pinkies and possible heat source changes. Do you think the addition of a few basking rocks will help with the heat? Otherwise, do you think that the human heat pads with the temp gague will work? Like, will they last all-day usage?

Thanks again for all your help, btw.

Actually, corn snakes need BELLY heat to digest their food properly. What I, and many others, have done is to get a smallish under the tank heater. They run about $17 from the national chain pet stores. You just need a little one and place it on one side of the tank (I'm assuming you have a 10 gallon) and make sure one of the hides is at least partially over the heat. It will also need a place to hide on the cool side of the tank.

What I have done, to increase the air temperature, is to place the day and night lamps on the same side of the aquarium as the under tank heater, and placed a branch beneath them for basking.

Some will say that the lamps are not necessary at all, since corns in the wild usually get little sunlight, but I like to give the corn their regular day/night cycles. It certainly can't hurt.

But it is absolutely imperative that you get belly heat, or the snake could have health problems. Basking rocks are not recommended for corns, and could cause serious burns.

One side of the tank should be in the low 70's and the other side should be in the high 80's.

I would also highly recommend you buy Kathy Love's book "The Corn Snake Manual." It is a wonderful resource.

Good luck, and welcome to herping.

i rejected the UV light i got and now have a standard 60w bulb on during the day and a small heat mat on full during the night. they seem happen enough.

food wise, mine are pigging down two pinkies and as i live in the UK (and feeding live food to snakes and reptiles is illegal) i feed them f/t pinkies warmed in warm water.

hope that helps and welcome to the forum LuckinSpades!

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9712

There are many reliable sites out there with information as well.

Good luck and welcome to the obsession

Errrr cypher how would anyone keep a chameleon then? They are very picky aboput only eating live crickets, silkies, wax worms,etc.

no, u cant feed rodents or birds to them! noone cares about insects!

Ok, so an underside heat source is a must. Overhead heat is unnecessary, but I can still use it if I feel so inclined.

And cecandy - What I meant by basking rocks is buying a few regular rocks, sanitizing and cleaning them, and putting them in the terrarium. Then they get the whole hiding spot and place to bask if they want. If they still will burn with that, then alright.

I noticed that some people assumed I had a 10-gallon tank. I do not. I went for the 20-gallon tank so my snake would grow into it and not have to cost me more with changing. The person who was helping me in the store said that I shouldn't have to block off half of the aquarium, but a few help sites I went to said that baby snakes should have a smaller area. So, should I create a makeshift piece and block off a section of the terrarium so my baby feels more secure? I do have hiding spots on the warm and cold side, so that isn't an issue.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Be careful with any heating device be it a light bulb or a mat both can get to hot without a thermostat. Make sure you have a reliable thermometre to take the temp (I use the digital ones with an external prob). To take the temp. on the warm side place the thermometre on top of the substrate.

Luck,

I thought you were referring to the basking rocks that you buy at the pet store that have internal heating devices. Your version sounds pretty good to me, but I don't have firsthand experience.

I've heard/read that a 20gal long is a bit big for a baby, but people say that as long as you have several hides, the snake should be fine. Personally, I don't think I would create a division in the 20 unless the snake is showing signs of stress.

The thing I keep in mind is that the baby is used to extremely confined quarters. I know I would feel out of sorts if I went from living in an opaque walk-in closet to the WhiteHouse...but I'm probably putting too much human emotion into it.

I have no idea what the dimentions of a 20 gal is but I keep my last years keepers in plastic containers measuring 30 inches X 17 inches.I make sure that the water bowl is against the wall on the cool end, as the snakes tend to travel around the out side not in the middle much. I also feed them in these containers and never had any problem with them not finding the mice, they live in a lot larger area in the wild.

Thanks, candy, wanted to clarify that.

Let's see. I just went out and bought an under terrarium heat source. So far it hasn't brought the terrarium on the warm side up to optimal heat, though. I am giving it about an hour to heat up to be sure, checking every now and then. Right now, my substrate is 2 layers of paper towels. That way I can see when he soils it, and it will be easy to change. That and its cheap =P (see a trend, yet?)

My father said that the snake will probably move to the cold side if it gets too warm, but I have read that a snake might not know its getting burned until its too late. Basically, I am really concerned about the little guy.

I believe the rule of thumb about "too hot" is: if it is too hot that you can NOT rest your hand on it, it is too hot for the snake. With that said, my under tank heaters heat up the glass bottom of the aquarium to the point where I cannot rest my hand on it long. However, above the substrate (I use Repti-bark for now), it is a very cozy temperature. If your paper towels stay BETWEEN your snake and the glass bottom, you will probably be okay. But the hand test is great, and freeeeee!

My snakes have not ventured down below the substrate on the warm side, just the cool...they DO have animal instincts! But I do believe that if you have a heat source, and your snake is on it while it is in the initial heatup stage, your snake might not realize it is getting too hot and burn. But, if it is already hot, I think the snake would stay away if it was too hot. I don't know this for sure, though...just some observations.

And, just a thought, since you do have a larger aquarium, you might want to try covering about half of the top (on the warm side if possible) which will trap the heat to some degree, especially if your house is rather cool. Hot air rises, ya' know? Maybe a sheet of styrofoam...something with some insulating power.

Right now, I have the heat lamp on again, as well as the heat pad, just to make sure he stays warm until the heat pad gets up to its proper temperature. I have a towel covering as much of the top as possible, but I cannot put it over the lamp (its a work lamp and its just resting on top of the screen) as the towel singes a little. He's just been sitting in the hide box I made him from a cut-up black shoebox (black absorbs heat!), and been pretty docile. The temperature is getting back up toward the high 70's again with both heat sources, and I have been checking every 20-30 minutes or so.

New quick question: Whats a good price to pay for frozen pinkies? I just paid 1.19 a POP for them over at Petco, and I have a feeling that is a little pricey. I'd hate to drive the 35 miles back to where I bought the snake, but I fear I might have to.

The easiest way to buy is online. In packages of 50, they run like 25 cents each. I am in the Dallas area and just searched all the phone books, online places, forums, etc for places/people to buy from. I just bought a bag of 50 fuzzies for $12.50 from Big Cheese Rodent Factory (but I drove out there to pick them up), yet paid almost $3.00 over the weekend for two at Petco....grrrr.

Just look everywhere you can think of, try to find out if anyone breeds in your area for themselves, and offer to buy their surplus....there are lots of options, you just need to get creative. And make sure, if you can, that they are well cared for and fed good quality rodent chow. The mice I bought from Big Cheese look pretty good and there were a variety of sizes...bonus!

Some one correct me if im wrong but i think that the under the tank heater wont heat the air as much as it will heat the sub. So taking the air temp wont be accurate.
both my warm side and cool sides temp are about the same. maybe a degree or two off, but when i put my hand on the sub I can feel a little warmth. About the pinkies I get mine from my local reptile store and they charge .99 for all live feeder mice. with the exeption of jumbo. its a couple cents more. You can bye them in bulk and get them cheaper. there are a couple recent posts on frozen mice. I would cheak it out.

Hope this helps

Yeah, I should check out the phonebook (duh, *slaps forehead*). I checked the website of the store where I bought my pinkies, and they ranged from $1 each to down to .80 a piece if I bought a pack of 50. However, as I have read, the quality of frozen pinkies goes down after you open the vaccuum packaging. If I am feeding my baby one a week, I don't think they'll last quality-wise by the end of the year. After how long do you figure before I start feeding him more than one? He's only around a foot in lenth right now, and about (estimate, mind you) a half inch at the thickest.

Tyre - How would you figure I make sure that the sub is getting warm enough, then? A meat thermometer or something? Keep in mind that I am using paper towels. I am just really worried that my snake is getting the proper heat he needs.

The heater is called Heat Wave, I believe, if anyone is familiar with that. I have the 8X8 one, which covers just about 1/3 of the terrarium (a few sites recommended that coverage). Will it get too hot if I don't use a dimmer? It didn't say temp ranges on the box OR in the manual (which kind of ticks me off), so hopefully someone has some exp with that.