First Post/Post Eating Question

[Technophil3]

I've recently picked up a 3 foot corn from a buddy at work (just couldn't afford to keep him). He was fed live feed since a baby which kind of concerned me; I was planning on feeding him frozen. I did so last night for the first time and he took it right away and nearly devoured it in the matter of minutes. But now, he's not coming out of his hide (on the cool side of the tank). I know snakes need the heat to help digest food, and I've seen him pretty active on the warm side in the past couple days. My question is should this be alarming at all? I would also like to open his hide to make sure he actually ate the mouse, but I don't want to disturb him if he's digesting. I feel like a noob for posting this, and I feel like I don't really have anything to be worried about. But this is my first snake and I'm already super attached. I've most deff found a new hobby :D
Thanks for taking you time to read this and from what I've read on the forums, I'm really happy to now be a part of this amazing online community!

[bitsy]

Hiding away to digest is very normal. As long as the warm side is the correct temp (mid 80s at floor level) and there's a hide there for him to use, he'll go there if and when he needs to. Don't worry about him staying on the cool side. Being active on the warm side is also fine.

He certainly seems to be working through all the possible behaviours - he might be getting you in training for life as a worried Corn owner! Welcome to our world...!

[Technophil3]

Thanks so much for the timely response! I have to work tonight and wont be able to observe him when he's normally active :( I'm working on getting him a hide for the warm side where he can completely escape, right now he just has climbing stuff with a spot he can curl up in between that's somewhat covered. I'm waiting till next payday and investing in a bigger tank for multiple hides (would like to step it up to a 40).
Once again, thank you so much! I can already tell he has alot to teach me xD

[Nanci]

If he didn't eat it, you'll know soon enough!! I would say, you'd be smelling it already. He will probably hide for 24-72 hours. I feed snakes in a separate container for a few reasons. You know if they did/did not eat. You can clean the viv and scrub the water bowl without the snake's "help." Substrate won't stick to the prey item. No, I have never heard of ingested substrate creating an impaction, but It is still worrying to see a snake swallow a big chunk of aspen.

The snake will pick the right temp. You don't have to worry about him preferring the cool side, especially in Florida.

In my experience, most cornsnakes and kingsnakes that have been previously fed live, even WC adults, will eat FT mice quite willingly without any special tricks.

[bitsy]

A hide doesn't need to be anything special - the Corn won't care as long as it can get out of sight and feel safe. You can just use a cereal box until you can gethold of another "proper" one.

[Technophil3]

I keep waiting for that smell, but then again...I wouldn't know if it was the mouse or my roommates xD And why blame an innocent critter >.> The only reason I fed him in his viv is because I only have the one tank at the moment. I don't really want to pick him up right after he eats. His previous owner fed him in the same viv as well. Once I upgrade him to a palace, I'll start putting him in the 20 gal viv for feeding time since that's what he's used to. My only question would be when to move him back to the 40? Both viv's are going to be fully functional (I've already started to look for a new baby corn once I get the funds).
On the pre-killed side of things, I saw a few people post about how not to switch the prey like that at adult hood (which I personally thought was a bunch of malarkey). I'm just glad this was proven false; I really dont want to put Red through a mouse attack :(

[Technophil3]

A hide doesn't need to be anything special - the Corn won't care as long as it can get out of sight and feel safe. You can just use a cereal box until you can gethold of another "proper" one.

LOL! I was actually thinking about doing that after I ate a bowl of cereal this morning. Funny you should mention it. Get out of my head :P

[Nanci]

All you need for a feeding container is a Sterilite box. You don't even have to melt holes in it; there are air holes where the handle goes in. You can move the snake back as soon as the mouse gets to his stomach- about a third of the way down his body. You'll see it stop moving.

The largest bin in the picture is what I use for adult corns and kings.

[Technophil3]

Do you have any issues with the corns snapping at you after feed? Or are they pretty docile?

[Nanci]

Most are fine. Some stay in feeding mode for a while- I only have a couple that do this. I let them settle longer or pick up the front section with a hook sometimes. Buzztail is notorious for striking anything that comes within range after feeding, in hopes that she will find more prey. Some are a little rattle-y and flighty, usually the younger ones. I carry them to their vivs in their feeding containers and open the containers very carefully so they don't go flying.

[CentricMalteser]

what i would do is I would be more inclined to put the one hide you already have on the warm side, as aspen should be thin on that area and therefore would feel exposed if on the heated side with no cover

on the cooler side, while u sort ou a hide, u can have thicker layer of aspen, so that he can stay cool and bury himself and thus have cover


Thanks so much for the timely response! I have to work tonight and wont be able to observe him when he's normally active :( I'm working on getting him a hide for the warm side where he can completely escape, right now he just has climbing stuff with a spot he can curl up in between that's somewhat covered. I'm waiting till next payday and investing in a bigger tank for multiple hides (would like to step it up to a 40).
Once again, thank you so much! I can already tell he has alot to teach me xD