Greetings from Santa Fe

[trabern]

Hello! I've been lurking here for several weeks, and our family has decided (well, I decided and convinced them) that we'd like to get into corn snakes. I'm drawn by their beauty and by the genetic gold mine out there. This site is impresive in how helpful and organized it is!!

I'm not nearly so interesting as other folks here and folks new here--just your basic late-in-life parent who happens to be a freak for animals of all types. We don't have a snake yet, but I've got the UTH, tank(s), sterlite boxes, and even frozen mice. I am concerned about temp and humidity, as Santa Fe, NM sits at 7000' (half mile higher than Denver) so the air is dry and thin and we have cold winters.

I've never had a snake but I raise doves (I've bred every known morph except crested!) and call ducks and golden pheasants (birds being the another antique, dinosaur-age creature like snakes) as well as African ciclids, pond turtles, and various 4-leggeds. I am so intregued by genetics, it is clear I should have been a biologist of some sort instead of a criminal defense attorney. (Not to mention the fact that I enjoy spending time with the creatures more than spending time with clients.) Both my daughter and I are avid dancers (ballet/jazz/Nia/Duncan/mod) when we're not cleaning out habitats and cooing to creatures.

Thanks to everyone already for everything I've learned here! And any advice on how the altitude affects things, please chime in!

[zwyatt]

I've never had a snake but I raise doves (I've bred every known morph except crested!) and call ducks and golden pheasants (birds being the another antique, dinosaur-age creature like snakes) as well as African ciclids, pond turtles, and various 4-leggeds. I am so intregued by genetics, it is clear I should have been a biologist of some sort instead of a criminal defense attorney. (Not to mention the fact that I enjoy spending time with the creatures more than spending time with clients.) Both my daughter and I are avid dancers (ballet/jazz/Nia/Duncan/mod) when we're not cleaning out habitats and cooing to creatures.

I'd say all that sounds very interesting. It definitely sounds like you could have been a biologist. It's never too late :)

I don't know much about altitude. Illinois isn't much on heights :rolleyes:
As far as humidity goes, you might buy a hygrometer from your local pet store and just see what your ambient humidity is. Then if it's too low you can decide on how to go about fixing it. You may find that it is just find. Lots of people who have low humidity just use moist hides around shedding times and have no problems.

Glad to have you here and welcome :wavey:

[trabern]

Thank you for the welcome, Zach. The idea about moist hides is very helpful, as I am looking and collecting things for hides right now, and will keep that in mind.

And actually, if I ever get far ahead enough financially in life, I would ADORE going back to school to study biology. In fact I've been fantasizing about it lately.

[trabern]

I am happy to report I brought my first corn snake home on Sunday from a local breeder! This is an unsexed snow that is probably a coral snow (if I have the term right, amel+anery+hypo) hatched in September. She's (?) a beautiful shade of pink (so pink we call him/her a she) right now although I have read that snows often change color as they grow to adulthood. She fed tonight for the first time for me and ate two pinkies in the first 4 minutes in the feeding container! After eathing she was very active and excited and exploring her new digs, making me a very proud mama.



Before the feeding she was getting comfortable enough in her new home to climb a bit and soak in the water dish (perhaps a coming shed?).

The breeder is the herp specialist at our only locally owned local pet store in town, and has just installed these beautiful vivarium set-ups that feature a lot of hanging plants (plastic plants that have suction cups that attach to the glass sides) and grass (also plastic) that look very naturalistic and make the perfect setting for a beautiful snake. I took his lead and decorated my tank with hanging gardens and put grass amongst the hides. Now its a joy to look at it even when I can't see the snake.

Now I have figured out why folks spend so much time helping others on this forum....they have to do SOMETHING relating to cornsnakes on those two days you can't handle them after a feeding!
:crazy02:

I can't wait until 48 hours passes and I can handle her again.
Thanks to everyone here for all I've learned lurking around and I'm sure to pop in with questions regularly.

Trace in Santa Fe
0.0.1 snow

[Paul24]

Do you have any pics of your viv? i am interested to see all of these hanging plants and what not

[Paul24]

Very pretty snake by the way!

[trabern]

Thanks Paul. I will take some pics after I let the little snake alone for a couple days after her big meal. I love the rock setup in your avatar.

[peep_827]

What a pretty baby!!! :) Where exactly did you get him/her? I just lost a baby snow, and I wasn't going to replace her but Santa Fe is only about a 45 minute drive from my house . . . I have to go to Bernalillo today anyway . . . :rolleyes: Uh-oh.

So I should say - welcome to the forum from another New Mexican!!! I live in Rio Rancho, so not far from you at all. I have had some issues with heat/humidity, but nothing serious. I run humidifiers in my house anyway, but I've had very little trouble with bad sheds. I've had more trouble keeping my temps more or less consistent than anything, the weather has been so erratic this year! Luckily corns are pretty tough temperate snakes, and can deal with quite a bit of variations in temperature. I currently have 10 corns - 2 in tanks and 8 in tubs in a rack. The snow that I lost was a tiny baby that ate well but never grew . . . just one of those things, I guess but still. :cry:

[marty.warwick]

Now I have figured out why folks spend so much time helping others on this forum....they have to do SOMETHING relating to cornsnakes on those two days you can't handle them after a feeding!



IT'S SO TRUE. :rolleyes: