A mirror?

[jjunner]

when i was holind my corn he seemed rather intrigued by the mirror beside me, i was wondering if i were to put a mirror in his cage (just a small one) would it be fun for him or just stess him out because he might think its another snake?

[kenster]

don't know how it is with snakes, but if my chameleon sees himself in a mirror he gets mad. he thinks it is another male in his territory. I would imagine this would be the same with snakes, unless they are smarter than lizards!

[Iris]

Yeah..I noticed a similar response from my snake. He went right up to the mirror and kept flicking his tongue out and stayed really still for like 5 mins. But I thought snakes don't have very good vision..maybe they can see things clearly if they're really close up?
My bird is in love with his mirror and thinks it's his mate he's seeing or something I guess. He's always sitting in front and trying to push his face through, lol. Birds are really really different from snakes though of course so I don't really know how a snake feels about it..

[nova]

my corn seemed very interested today, in a non violent way.

[pdrau]

I wonder if a mirror would work to stimulate slow breeders. Maybe if they saw some competition it might help.

Pondering....

Peter

[Colleen]

:) My little guy sat frozen and stuck at his shadow on his hide!!
So I would think that he wouldn't like a "buddy" in there. But they all react differently to so many things, it might be worth a try. I think he'll let you know if he doesn't like it!

Let us know how it works out, be interesting to see.
Colleen

[Simon]

I would think that putting a mirror might stress them out a bit.... but it wouldn't hurt to try. If putting a mirror in there doesn't effect it's next meal or two then I wouldn't think that they mind. If it does, I would say remove it at once.

Hey Nova,
isn't that a picture of a candy cane corn from South Mountain Reptiles under your name?

[nova]

yes it is the picture, i downloadfed it months ago when i did some banner work for him, it looks real nice so i used it as my avatar

[Simon]

Yeah that is what I thought.
I am really a big fan of candy canes. Don't you just love them?

So nice! :D

[nova]

yes unfortunetly i do not own one:(

[Hakunum-Gutata]

Well jjunner, as far as I know snakes really don't have very good eyesight at all(and they don't see much better when things are up close, but their blurry tricolor vision is well adapted to detect all sorts of movement, especially small creatures close to the ground). They respond mostly to movement and smell. I'm guessing your snake is seeing a very blurred and almost colorless image of himself in the mirror along with any other reflections of even the slightest moving objects. He is probably flicking his tongue at the mirror trying to get a scent reading of "the other side of the room" to no avail. In my opinion you should just leave the mirror out. You cover 3 sides of your snakes terrarium so that he doesn't have to defend all four sides of his domain so I think he would be really preoccupied with the mirror if he sees sudden movement, especially his sudden movement, in it. Plus, I tend not to do things that I have doubts about when it comes to my snake. Because no matter how much I want him to, he can't talk to me. So we all may think it's cute when he "checks himself out" in the mirror, but we can't always know for sure what it's doing to his insides. (Plus, he's probably not interpreting it as himself or even another snake, simply something else that appears to be moving. Not to mention he may be seeing your much larger blurry, moving reflection.)

If you want to put something fun for your snake in his home, I suggest a limb or two, assuming you don't already have one. You should be able to find them at any exotic pet store, or get a couple from outside, rinse them off and bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for about, oh 20 minutes, less time for smaller ones. Then when they cool off, place them in the cage.. I have two (from the store) in my Kernel Corn's tank and he just goes to town on them and it's good exercise, too. But let us know how the mirror thing goes if you decide to put one in there. Just keep an eye on him. I said snakes don't talk, but that doesn't mean they don't communicate with us, and I'm positive you know your little guy better than the rest of us.

Sorry I went on for so long, I tend to be long winded, but I hope I've been helpful. :p

Best of luck to you and your little one (as vain as he may be. just kidding)!:D