10 Day Regurg guidelines ?

[Tom Bordone]

I'm a new corn owner (its my first snake as well). I think he's about 3-4 months old, and I've had it since Christmas. I've been feeding it a pinkie every five days, and it reguritated for the first time the other . I saw the posts about waiting 10 days after a regurge before feeding again. Does this apply to small snakes as well ?

Also, I've never seen it drink from its water dish, but I've notice that if I spritz water into the viv it will lick drops of water from the walls. Does that sound like it might have trouble with drinking ?

[Taceas]

The 10-day regurge rule applies to all size of snakes in my opinion. It just helps them to overcome the stress of regurging and to build up their stomach acids once more.

And maybe he hasn't found his water dish yet. Seems hard to believe, but snakes mostly go around the edge of their cage and if it's a small bowl in a relatively large enclosure, chances are he may not have found it. To me snakes have to be pretty desperate to drink drops of water off of stuff within their enclosure.

It might help others to help diagnose your problems if you give us a bit of background as to his enclosure and what furniture you have in there? Tank size, how many hides, water bowl container, substrate, and most importantly tempreture.

Livng in Virginia, I can't imagine that you would have to mist his enclosure, even where I live we have a pretty humid winter. I've never had to mist my corn snake enclosures. If they have a rough shed, I'll put in a bowl with moist sphagnum moss or wet paper towels so that they can govern their own humidity needs. Too much humidity can pose problems just as too dry of an enclosure would.

I would try moving his water bowl to a wall of his enclosure, so that he'll find it when he's roaming around. Other than that, no clue.

Welcome to the forum, hope you learn lots and become as addicted to corn snakes as the rest of us. ;)

[Tom Bordone]

Thanks for the info - I've moved the water bowl and we'll see if that works for him finding the bowl. The viv is a glass tank (H-13", L-30", and D-12"), with a screen top. The temp is around 70 at the cool end and 98 at the warm end. I have a fake branch at the cool end, and fake ferns at the warm end for a hide. The snake seems to like to hide in the fern leaves, which reach to the top screen. I'm using a heat lamp (on about 12 hours/day) and U/V lamp that is always on. The fern tops might be a bit warmer since it is under the lamps. The substrate is fir bark (Reptile Bark brand). Does this sound about right. I was going to buy a heat pad for the bottom pet store that sold me the snake said the lamp arrangement was better.

[tyretosmom]

so you senoirs correct me if im wrong. 98 is to warm for your snake. I would bring the temp down. What watt is the bulb you are using? That could also be why you are having to mist your viv. I just had this problem and found out from this (VERY HELPFUL) forum that lights tend to dry out your viv. You can find more information on lights vs. Heating pads on the Husbandry and Basic Care forum under heating problems.

[MegF.]

I'm fairly new to this too, but I agree that 98 is too high. Warm end should be around 80-85 I think. Too high a temp could explain the regurge.

[Taceas]

98 is definately too warm for the warm end. It should only be around 80-85.

Lights are better in that they provide a light to see the individual snake and also simulate daylight for the reptile itself. However, corn snakes are primarily nocturnal. Active in the evening, night, and early morning hours. So you really don't need a UV lamp. I don't believe corn snakes benefit from UV lamps all that much.

For a cage with a height of only 13 inches, I don't use any wattage over 60 for a bulb. The best bulbs I've found for showing off the colors of the snake are the GE Reveal bulbs. Sam's Club loves me when I come down, as I buy like 8 boxes of them at a time. =D

In all honesty, it doesn't sound like you have enough decent hides for him to feel comfortable in. And if the closest thing to a hide happens to be on the warm end, he's going to regurge or poo out partially digested food. You're literally forcing him to stay on the hot end of the tank.

Put in a couple of opaque containers, one on each end with some holes in them. Snakes like to hide and feel secure. A hide could be anything from a small box, to a broken terra cotta flowerpot, or a paper towel tube.

I think if you cut the wattage of the light bulb down to something more manageable you won't have to mist the enclosure, and put a couple of decent hides in there he'll be a lot more comfortable within his viv.