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New Corn Snake...Black in mouth?

OhioBuckeye
02-01-2009, 04:31 PM
hey all I picked up a beautiful corn snake about 3 weeks ago. I also picked up the recommended size "hopper" mice for him (frozen mice from RodentPro, Thawed at least 4 hours). The corn snake is a yearling.

We've tried to feed him twice now but he did not eat. We recently put a overhead basking lamp in and it has brough the heat up to the lower 80's. I'm hoping that will help.

We have noticed a blackish color to this lower front mouth. Any thougths on what this might be?

It looks like he's shedding now. I base this on the fact that his eyes are starting to cloud over a little and I think it's shedding skin.

Any thougths on the blackish color and what I can do to make sure I'm feeding him properly.

Lennycorn
02-01-2009, 04:56 PM
Hi Buck.
Welcome
First I would suggest reading up on the stickys in each forum. Some will help out with set up and such.
Since he in shed I would leave him alone until then but after could you take a pic of the mouth, that we help.
When in shed, some snakes won't eat so that might be another reason.

Look for any muces or sounds until hes done.
Sorry I can't help more.

Jadie.Glitch
02-01-2009, 08:11 PM
Whoa, okay first off... to feed a snake:


Put frozen mouse into a sandwich bag
Put bag into cup
Put REALLY hot (not scalding because you don't want to cook the mouse) water in the cup and completey submerg the bag
Leave it there for 5-10 minutes
Feel the mouse and make sure that it's hot and not frozen in the middle anymore
Take snake out of tank and put it into a small box or a plastic tub with a lid (I'd poke some holes into it for air)
Place the thawed (and still hot) mouse into the box or tub with the snake
Leave the snake to do it's thing for 30 minutes or so
If it still hasn't eaten in the 30 minute span then repeat steps 2-7 with the thawed mouse in order to warm it up and then leave it with the snake for 8 hours or overnight with no interruption so that it has time to consider eating it.


You're right, the milkiness under it's skin means it's preparing to shed. The milkiness will go away and in a few days to a week the snake should shed. It's a good idea to use a clean squirt bottle and spritz your snake once a day a little bit while it is "blue"(milky) so that it gets plenty of moisture under it's skin. Also, make sure that it has plenty of clean water and it's ideal to give it a water dish that is big enough that it can get inside of it and soak if it wants to. Your snake will most likely not eat until it has shed so don't try feeding it until after that. It will most likely be just a waste of food.

Snakes do not require heat lamps like other reptiles. It is best to purchase a UTH (Under Tank Heater). This give the snake the proper "belly heat" so that it can digest and thermo-regulate it's body.

Not sure what the black stuff is... like someone else said, wait until it sheds and then snap us some pics so we can see what's up.

Hope that helps a bit...

Jadie.Glitch
02-01-2009, 08:12 PM
Oh, welcome to the forums, btw! 'Grats on coming here to research! You are very responsible in doing your best to find out what's wrong with your baby.

Lennycorn
02-01-2009, 08:24 PM
I must be the someone else!

Jadie.Glitch
02-01-2009, 09:28 PM
:roflmao: Yep, that's you! Lol!