a few things

[joedr]

Hi, I have had a corn snake for just over a year now, it is nearly 2 years old and i have never had a problem, firstly it has not eaten for around 4 weeks now (when it did last eat it only ate one mouse, normally it eats 3-5) it shed its skin aroung 2 weeks ago but it did not shed in one whole peice. when it was younger it used to shed in 2-4 segments but for the past year it has been shedding just fine. aswell as it not shedding all in one peice there is a section at the top of its girth where the skin has not come off, it has been like this for 2 weeks and it is beggining to come off with ease when i rub the scales. i dont know if it is a male or female snake but i know males may go off there food this time if the year. there has been times where he has not eaten the week or even 2 weeks before shedding but never 4 weeks. normally it would have lost weight by now but it still seems like it has just eaten, i am worried that both these problems could be related???

oh by the way he still seems very active, always trying to get out of his tank!!!

it would be great if you could shed some light on this as when i went to the pet shop i am not sure if what they told me was true or not..

Cheers

Joe

[Alex Dew]

Im sure your snake is fine. Try to keep its vivarium at a good humidity level so that it has good sheds in the future. Also, with a damp towel, rub off any skin which should of come off in the last shed (but do this softly).
Your snake has probaly gone off feeding because of this time of year (like you said).
But keep us updated.

Cheers
Alex

[joedr]

Thankyou, my mind is now eased, i was reading something about using olive oil to get rid of parrasites and i thought if it is ok to do this i will rub a bit on the dry skin and when i woke up thismorning his skin looked a lot more shiney and smooth. looks like most of the skin has come of now...

would i keep the vivarium humid with a spray bottle of water???

once again thanks for your help. hop the attachment works so you can see a picture of my south african red albino corn snake - AKA Tango.

P.S. only bought his new vivarium a few days ago and the little bleeder has already escaped once!!!

he turned up to be in a plastic box with towels in it.

[CornCrazy]

I make humid hides for mine when they have trouble shedding. Simply use an old butter bowl with lid (or something of that nature), wash it really well, cut a hole in the side, and place damp shpagnum moss or paper towels in it.

[joedr]

Hi thanks for that, i will definatly try it.

Have a nice day too.
Joe

[MegF.]

Nice snake!

[Taceas]

Heheh, if it's a boy snake he's probably got mating on his mind right about now. That would explain the not wanting to eat thing and also the out and wandering around the cage thing. He fits into the right age group, 2 years and up. This is mating season for corns, and he's out looking for a girl to hook up with. =)

If it hasn't eaten in a couple of weeks and looks to have just eaten, you may have a female who's ovulating perhaps. The last 2/3 of their body swells up and does look like a snake that's just eaten. And when they get farther along on egg production, they will stop eating altogether because it's uncomfortable for them to be so full.

For the shed, you can do it the easy way and get a container that will both fit into your vivarium and big enough to for your snake to fit in. I use moist sphagnum moss in the container for moisture. I let it soak in a bucket of tepid water for 30 mins, then wring it out by hand. This'll serve two functions..to help the snake shed better, and if it's a female, to lay eggs in. I know you haven't bred the snake, but if its a female some females lay without having been bred.

Hope that helps. =)

[joedr]

Thanks for the advise Taceas. if Tango was a female would the underside of the snake go softer than normal??? because it has, especially the last 2/3rds of its body.. i gave him/her a bath yesterday, in tepid water and then rubbed a little olive oil into the skin, the dodgy part of skin is looking better already, he/she loved it. I have just put 2 hides in his tank, one on the warm side and the other on the cool side and tango seems to like these and has stopped running around the tank like a lunatic.

Thanks

Joe

P.S. May be a stupid question but if it were a female and it did lay eggs then they wouldn't hatch as they are not furtalised would it??? i was never good a biology

[Taceas]

Yeah, I've noticed on my female the belly feels more squishy than the usual muscular self when she's ovulating or is gravid.

Another thing I thought of after posting before, if she's close to laying that can cause females to wander around looking for a place to deposit the eggs. If no such conditions are found in the cage, they'll wander and can become egg bound. I guess some would rather die than just lay them anywhere.

So adding a moist hide should get her to calm down and cormfortable enough to lay, if it is actually a female.

And you're correct in your thinking, the eggs would not hatch as she has not been bred. They'd just be like most chicken eggs you buy in the store, duds. =)

Hopefully something happens soon, whether it be eggs or a shed. :)

[joedr]

thanx again.

would damp tissue do in a hide instead of this moss, as i am in england it is rather cold and the only moos i will beable to find is on my roof. lol.

i have a feeling it may be female now, another thing i have noticed is that when she! is still you can see it breathing (or what looks like breathing) in the middle of the body. i have noticed this before but it seems to be heavier than before, could this be something to do with eggs???

[Taceas]

Damp tissue or paper towel would work for now, yes. But it dries out faster than the moss, so you'd have to keep wetting it down. If you have an old dishtowel around, that might hold moisture better than paper products.

You can find sphagnum moss at a garden store or greenhouse for little to nothing. Its one of the primary potting ingredients for some species of orchid. And since I'm also into orchids, I always seem to have a little moss lying around.

I think the breathing just becomes more noticeable when they're full of stuff on the inside. Instead of breathing subtly, it's more pronounced. To better answer your question, I sat upstairs and observed my gravid female and her breathing does look different than when she's not full of eggs. They have to breathe more often because the area inside is displaced with eggs, so to get the same amount of oxygen they have to breathe more often. Kind of like after you eat Christmas dinner I'd reckon. =P

Here's a pic of my female I took just a few mins ago, she's getting so chubby from the eggs she's having a hard time fitting all of herself in her hide.

http://www.mainecoon.net/~rain/Snakes/MotleyCorns/Hecate/Hecate031204.jpg

[crazyboy]

i think it probably has to do with breeding. also if you are generally feeding it 3-5 mice per feeding then you should probably up the size of the rodents. just curious what size mouse are you feeding it.

[joedr]

adult mice. i am not going to feed it that much anymore, sticking to 1-2 mice per week now as i believe my pet shop gave me the wrong info.

taceas that is one nice looking snake.

my snake is franticly trying to escape. should i put the damp material on the war or the cool side of the viv???

cheers for the help :D

[joedr]

I cut up a dish cloth and put it in luke warm water for 15 minutes, rinsed it out and put it in his hide. i have put the hide so half of it is on the cool side and the other half on the warm side so the ambiant temp will be just right. is that ok???

she went in it for a bit but at the end of the day the snake will go in there to lay eggs if it needs to...

is there anything else i can do???

[CornCrazy]

I always put my moist hide on the warm end of the tank. The moist hide is mainly to help with shedding issues. It does offer a place for a gravid snake to lay her eggs. I have rarely seen an un-bred female lay eggs. I know it can happen, but most often I think she simply reabsorbs the eggs if they aren't viable. You made a comment in another thread about egg-binding...if the female hasn't been bred, and she DOES lay eggs, they will be infertile and you shouldn't have to worry about egg-binding.

[joedr]

ok thanks for that. i am going to leave the moist cloth in there for a while anyway as she did have a bad shed last time and seems to like it... still trying to escape though...

cheers
Joe

[leia]

I'm new too, and my snake is still on smaller food, but that seems like a LOT of food. I thought for larger sized mice, you should only be feeding once a week to every other week.

What do you guys think?

[CAV]

It really depends on the size of the snake. I have an adult female Butter that is nearly 6 feet. A single adult mouse doesn't even show and will be passed in less than 2-3 days. I also have an adult female Snow that is less than half that size, only eats a small adult and looks like a blimp.

As far as feeding is concerned, you really have to use good judgment and let the snake guide your routines.

[joedr]

So generally speaking i should feed my snake 1 or 2 adult mice per week. i am glad i found this out now, before it was too late, i love my snake and dont like to see it ill, it means a lot to me but i did not realise how much until its bad shed, that was the first time i thought i may have been looking after badly because before then he/she has always looked fine. well he is looking a lot better today. its scales are clearing up although there are a few bad bits left. what are the symptoms of scale rot??? just to make sure.

P.S. tango said hi :cheers:

he looks like he has lost a bit of weight dont you think. you can see the dip in his back.

ill try feeding him again tommorow

oh just ooone more thing. should i spray my snake with water. i read another string where someone does it???

[CornCrazy]

He looks overweight to me. Can you get a more clear picture? One that isn't so blurry???

[joedr]

i dont have any better pics at the moment. there on there way though. i will put them on when i have them (shortly)

cheers for the help.

Joe

[EtherRex]

Joe, you can order Spagnum moss from This (http://www.livefood.co.uk) site in the UK. They also have an excellent forum that is used by a lot of knowledgeable snake keepers in the UK.

You are getting sound advise here from these very helpful people but if you want to post on the above site about the shop that sold this corn and gave the bad advice, people would be interested.

There is a section for comments on shops and your comment might stop somebody else getting bad advice and endangering their new pet.

Good luck with the snake, she's lovely, if a little porky!

note. posted in the other thread also.

[joedr]

thanks. gettin a bit worried bout her now. did not eat tonight (been 4 weeks now) i know it is the time of the year and all that but with it being the first snake and not knowing muich about looking after one dont know how she/he really is. looks ok, still trying to escape from cage and still energetic. fresh water 2 hides (one with damp cloth in) right temp. fresh water as far as i can see i am looking after tango just fine but still woried

too much centimental value for him/her to get ill or die.

:cry:

[CornCrazy]

How long have you had this snake? Could she have been bred before you got her?

[CAV]

Sounds more like "she" could be a "he".......;)

[joedr]

i have had the snake for just over one year now. in the past i have followed instructions from the pet shop and the snake has been fine up till now, this is the first time in the year that it has been of its food for so long.