Questions from new snake owner

I bought a corn snake on Dec. 11/04. The breeder said she is about 5 mos.
old. She had been doing great. Feeding on pinkies about 2 per wk. Very alert and friendly. However she shed for the 1st time (with me) and it was
not complete it's more like flaking off. She is still feeding. I put her in a warm bath yesterday and started a humidifier. I also noticed a strong odor almost like a urine smell is this normal? We change her cage about once a
week and her water daily. I never notice her in her water though. She seems to poop alot unless it is regurg. I don't know if I could tell the difference since I've never seen either. Anything I should be doing differently or looking for. I do not want her to get sick. Thanks so much.

Just a note, but unless there's something you're overlooking (ie. incorrect temps in the tank, or not waiting the full 48 hours after a meal before you handle the snake) a regurg should never happen.

As for the shedding, did I misunderstand? She SHOULD have been shedding once per month (roughly) so I have no answers as to why her first was with you, after so many months. Do you mean it was her first shed in her new home, or that she shed "for the first time ever" while in your care...?

The odor, I have no answers for, and I don't mean to frighten you, but I feel these other matters shouldn't be overlooked.

Can you post the details of her housing? Temps, size, substates, hides... even her feeding/activity habits. Anything that can help us give you some better answers as to why this is happening.

Re: New snake owner

It is her first shed with me in my new home. Her tank is a 10 gallon glass
aquarium with an under the tank heater on one end. Hides on cool and warm sides. Water dish on cool side. Warm side averages about 78 cool side about 70-72. She is extremely friendly not shy at all seems to like being held and seems curious about everything. Most of her skin is off now the last bit coming off her tail just a few minutes ago while being held. Oh, the substrate I use is that reptile pad you buy pre cut to fit the aquarium. Also checked her over very good her eyes are clear she appears very healthy. was I over reacting? I cleaned her tank again tonight maybe I will just start changing her more frequently than once per week and see if the odor subsides. Thanks alot for your help.

Asking questions to which you don't know the answers is NEVER overreacting.

First things first. The reason for a regurg could be caused by the temps being too low. It's sometimes hard to tell what the surface temps are over the UTH (depending on what kind of substrate used and depth, type of thermometer, and whathaveyou), but the warm side should be around 83-85 (in my opinion) for proper digestion, and the cool 73-75, with nighttime drops of 68-70-ish.

The hides are good, small enough for the snake to feel protected (they like tight fits), but of course with room to move/grow. And of course water on cool side is good too. Is the bowl large enough for the snake to soak in? Some snakes like to soak around shedding time, or you can add a humidity box if you like (very easy to make).

As for substrate, could you mean astroturf? It may or may not have anything to do with the poor shed, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to look into a more natural substrate. Some like aspen chips, but I like forest bed as it seems to be the most natural, safe, and easiest (scoopable) to spot clean (just my opinion though).

10 gallons is sufficiant for a hatcling, but when it reaches a year old, you'll need something with more floorspace. 20-25G should work.

As for the smell... I still don't know. Hopefully someone else will come along that can help you out.

It's all personal preference, but I hope I could help you out in some way. Regurges and bad sheds are never a good thing, so it's always good to ask. I'm relieved to hear that it's her first shed with you, and not her "first" shed. :laugh: Is the bath helping now? The most important is the tail tip and the eye caps. If skin doesn't shed around the tip of the tail, it can lead to problems such as the tip of the dail becoming "dead" and falling off.

Can you buy forest bed at a pet store? How do I know if she is regurg.or if it's just poop? Her water dish is large enough for her to get in but I never see her in it. Thanks alot. I will keep a close eye on her. I will look into another substrate also. What I see in her tank are spots of brown with
white in them almost like a small bird dropping. Is that normal poop or is that
regurg? Thanks again.

Of course! It might be called something else where you live, but there are several that are basically the same type. Bed-a-beast I think is one of them. It comes in a brick (packed) and you put it in 3 or 4 litres of water (in a bucket) and let it expand for 30 or so minutes. It might take a couple days to dry completely in the tank, but wet it basically feels like slightly damp soil, and dry... well... dirt! lol

What you describe sounds like very normal poop to me. Regurg looks like a half digested mouse covered in slime, and stinks all to high hell. I've never experienced a regurg *knock on wood* but from what I understand, there's no mistaking the two.

If you want to monitor the poops, the best way is to use paper towels for a few weeks (but be careful of the UTH. It can get pretty hot if there's no substrate).

Now get into the photo room and post a pic of your new little one! lol!

Jean said:

We change her cage about once a
week and her water daily.

Click to expand...

sorry i cant really help you either, i have never come across an odor from any of mine.
as for changing her water daily, thats good, keep doing that.
as for cleaning her tank out every week, do you mean the whole thing cleaned out? or just spot cleaning? (like just clearing up poop)

cleaning the whole tank out once a week is not neccessary as it really stresses them out as they then do not recognise the smell or anything in there, it realyl freaks them out and they can become very agitated by this and they will not settle easily.
try spot cleaning whenever needed then she will not have to be stressed out.
i personally clean my whole viv's out once every 2-4 months, they dont need anything more than that.
good luck with her and i hope you find out soon whats causes it all.
:shrugs:

When mine was on pinkies, he would poop more out of the tank than in (usually in water) and now that he's on fuzzies, he doesn't poop much at all. But when he does it's usually just after waking up and exiting a hide. I've almost always caught him right when he does it so I scoop it out (along with a good amount of substrate around the poop) and voila! Clean tank.

Maybe it's bad, but I brought him home on sept 30 and I've never changed the entire substrate, but once a week (or two) I do remove EVERYTHING from the tank, inspect it all, move the substrate around and inspect the glass underneath (etc) to make sure nothing has been missed.

With astroturf though, it MUST BE WASHED AFTER EVERY POOP with whatever soap/water solution is safe (sorry, I don't know if you can use soap or bleach on it), as you can't obviously spot clean it, but it is very important to keep it clean to prevent bacteria growth. if you clean only once a week, is there any chance that the substrate can be the cause of your smell? Or is it coming directly from your snake?

Where are all the snake experts?

You know maybe it is the substrate. When I am cleaning the tank it is the
entire thing. I had no idea that would stress her. I am going to the pet store tomorrow to look for that other bedding you guys were talking about that sounds much better. Thanks for everyones help. I need to recharge my camera so I can put Rubys picture on.
I also have a gecko that I started feeding a pinky to when I feed my snake and I do notice a stronger odor from her as well so the pinkys could have
something to do with it. I also think the humidifier has really helped. things arent so dry now.

Jean if you can get some asphen, its the best since since sliced bread for corn substrate, and you can always see the poop and a full clean out every 2 monthes is around right with asphen.
Just spot clean it on a dailly basic til the next clean out is needed.

I personally can't STAND aspen, but to each their own.

Some people don't spirit, and for those people i recomend beach bark chips, (like the ones on my aviator) as they are almost as good as asphen, and a great asphen substitute.

I ended up buying some aspen. Store was out of the bed a beast. I think I
will try both over a while and see which seems to do best. She immediately started to burrow under the aspen I guess thats what she is supposed to do.
I also bought a lubricant spray called shed ease in case she has problems next time. Has anyone used this? Thanks.

I use T-Rex Bio Mist when the shedding process starts. Its quite good and not too expensive but I think that anything simalar would be good as long as its for snakes. Also you could try a box with some damp plastic moss in it while you snake is shedding. Oh and my Amber also burrows in her Beech chips, its quite sweet and she loves it!

Just another little tip.... when I do a full clean out (ever 2months or so) i always leave about 1/3 of the old stuff in so the viv still has their teritorial scent in there.

shed ease is good stuff from what other people has said in the past (differant forum though) but i have never used it. T-Rex Bio Mist is basicly the same stuff and has similar praise but again i haven't used it. I usually just spray 3 times with water using a fine mist spray bottle when it's shedding time to raise the humidity a little.
Heres a pic of my misting bottle


At £0.62 its a bargain for the job it does