New Member and New to Snake Keeping
 

Hello out there!

My name is Justin, and I'm a pre-medical and biology major from Colorado. I have wanted a snake pretty much my entire life- but parents and roommates that were completely opposed to the idea never allowed for me to have one. Now that I'm living on my own, I have figured out how to accommodate a decent sized terrarium so that I can finally have a snake of my own. I've had two lizards, a dog, and a lot of freshwater aquarium fish in the past, so animal care isn't new to me, though I admit I am nervous about specific temperature and humidity requirements, particularly humidity. Living in Colorado it is very dry here, and during the winter my place can get pretty chilly.

I am still doing my research, and want to get my setup completely installed and stable at least a couple of weeks before actually getting my snake. I've decided on a corn snake for the species, hence why I have found this forum.

Looking forward to chatting with all of you and gaining as much knowledge as possible!

Welcome to the forum. Corn snakes are quite forgiving regarding care, but setting a vivarium up with their basic requirements is simple. Humidity is about the last thing to worry about. It is really important just at shedding time. The humidity in my snake room
varies from 34 to 45%. I seldom have problems with sheds because there is a water bowl/dish in each rack system container that I use and the corn can soak in if necessary.

Thanks for the welcome, Twolunger!

Good to know on the humidity, and hopefully I can get the habitat set up and stable without too much trouble. There seem to be a lot of varying opinions on particular setups and even some controversy, so I'm still researching to try and give myself the best starting position possible. My main goal is health and comfort of the snake, second is to make the enclosure visually pleasing as it will be in my living room.

I am definitely excited to be able to add a snake to my home. Corns hit all the points that I was looking for in a snake, plus I'm fascinated by their genetics and can't wait to look further into that.

Welcome to the forum! Cornsnakes are a great snake to keep whether you're a beginner or experienced keeper.

There is virtually everything you need to know on this forum, the search function will help you find specific topics. Feel free to ask questions on anything you don't find!

Pictures are a must, when you get your new snake. :)

P.S. I lived in Colorado for a few years, in Castle Rock.

Thanks for the welcome, MysticExotics! I actually grew up in Castle Rock, lived there for the first half of my life. It has grown so much I don't recognize it anymore.

I'm sure as soon as I get my snake, I will be spamming everyone I know with pics. ;) The forum has been great so far, already managed to search up a couple answers to questions I had. Sometimes the differing opinions are a bit confusing, but slowly I feel like I'm getting a good handle on what I'll need.

Is that a Tessera in your avatar? That's the morph I hope to get, though really color and pattern don't matter to me as much as health. Especially since I seem to love every different color and pattern combination I find. But Tesseras seem to be my favorite so far.

I left almost 16 years ago to come back to WA state, I can imagine how much it has grown.

Yes, my avatar is a Miami Tessera. I produced him in 2011. He's the start of my line of Miami Tessera's.
I have two clutches that have hatched, four more clutches to hatch (two of them should start hatching next week).

It's a fun morph to work with. There is no shortage of them out there being a dominant gene, many have/are being produced, so you should have quite a few to chose from. It is one of my favorite genes to work with.

Sometimes the different opinions boil down to what works best for you, like feeding inside or outside of the enclosure. It doesn't hurt to ask for clarification, so you can make your own decision.

He's beautiful! I love the Miami colors, and I look forward to hearing about what the new babies are like.

Thank you! Miami is my favorite morph, and has been my focus since I started.

The thread with all of my planned pairings is HERE and there are links to individual clutches that have hatched.

Welcome and congratulations on choosing Corn Snakes! They're amazing, curious and a lot of fun to raise!

-Tonya

Thanks for the welcome, Tonya! I'm excited to finally be able to have a snake, especially one that really hits all the checkboxes for what I was looking for in both a pet and the ideal snake. I am really looking forward to learning more about them.