New Mommy, tell me what I'm doing wrong!!

Hey all,

I'm a new mommy, just brought my baby corn home about a week and a half ago. He (or she...seems too soon to tell without getting him/her probed, seems to be male by the shape if his tail/telling bulge under his vent...so I've assumed male until i do get him probed) is amelanistic, mostly orange/pink with bright red spots with a little yellow border. He's about 7 to 8 inches long (would you guess 2 months old? more?).

He's been feeding pretty easily, just have to let him know the pinky's there for the gobbling =]. I've been feeding him 1 pinkie (thawed of course) every 4-5 days or so. Think this is too often? Digestive flow seems to be working well (if you know what i mean ;]) and I'm gonna have to clean out his substrate soon.

I've been using 100% fir bark reptile substrate bought at the pet store. It's about an inch thick on the bottom of his tank. 10 gallon tank by the way with plenty of places to hide under. I have an UTH that I turn on at night when i turn off his basking light. I've got a thermometer with a probe set right on top of the substrate right underneath the light, and on top of the UTH. I'm a little worried as my dorm room doesn't have the air conditioning turned on until mid March and it has been sitting in the 60-70s here the past week. I have his tank right next to my desk (where I'm seated almost 24/7 except for classes and work) so I monitor the thermometer pretty constantly. It's been getting to about 90-95 F during the daytime and down to mid 80s at night, which I've read is recommended, but I'm worried about the tank getting too hot. It was around 100 F yesterday at the hottest part of the day, which is when I promptly turned off the light to cool it down. I'm worried that the adjustment of light on/off during the day to adjust the temperature is bad for his light cycle?

Also, he's starting his first shed with me and I'm nervous that he's having some trouble. Last night he started and got the skin from his head to his neck off just fine, but then seemed to have some trouble only about an inch away from his head where the skin started tearing and not coming off in a good chunk like I've seen friends' snakes do. I got worried it was too dry so I gave him a short bath with some warm water in a bowl (he's so small he fits comfortably in it!) and I put a dampened paper towel in the tank with him overnight as well. I dont have a humidity gauge, so I'm not sure of the levels in the tank. I'm just worried since his eyes havent glazed into the blue as I've read about and seen other corns do, but his skin is definitely duller than normal. He also hasn't gotten any more shed off than what he got off before i gave him a bath. Is there ever a time that I should help him along when he's having trouble like that? Or should I only help him out when its down at his tail and he's gotten everything else off?

I'm sure this is all just new mommy jitters but aah! Jeez sorry for the novel! If you end up actually reading all that, let me know what I am doing right/what I should change! I want my baby healthy!!

/salute

Lindsay

Congrats on your new baby!

First off, for a young snake, a feeding schedule of every five days is just fine. Be sure to look over the Munson Plan as a good guide to how much to feed and when to feed it.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50106

It's generally recommended to ditch the basking lights with corns (they don't need them) and use under tank heaters to regulate the tank temps. Be sure to get a thermostat to control your UTH because unregulated they can get way too hot and end up burning your snake.

A good guide for tank temps is around 75 degrees on the cool side, and 85 on the hot side. If the ambient room temp is over 85 you can turn off the heat sources in the tank to compensate. Don't worry about light cycles because as stated above corns don't need UV light.

If he lost the skin on his head and then it broke off, it means he's now stuck in a shed and needs your help to get out of it. A wonderful "how to" on this is posted here:
http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56170

Be sure that the temp of the water is luke warm, and should actually feel cool to the touch. What's warm to you is scalding to a cold-blooded animal.

Hope that helps you out some.

First of all, his tank shouldn't be that hot. If the UTH keeps the tank consistently around 85* at night, then try tossing the light and leaving the UTH on all day. It'd also be in your best interest to get a thermostat. His warm side should be at 85*F, and his cool side in the 70's. You can drop the temps into the 70's at night, but it isn't necessary. Also, the heat lamp will dry the tank out, which may have something to do with your bad shed...

Moving on, you probably missed the "blue" stage. I don't have an amel myself (yet!), but I've frequently heard, just skimming around the boards here, that their "blue" stage is a lot harder to notice because their eyes just turn pinkish! They return to "normal" a few days before they shed, too, which may also be why you seem to have missed the "blue". As for helping him shed, the bath was a good idea. Next time, though, put a small washcloth in the bowl with him, folded up once or twice, for him to slither through. This will help him get the shed off himself. Make sure the water isn't too hot for him (think mid-80's, tops--pretty cool to the touch for us humans), and leave him in the "bath" for 10 or 15 minutes. He should be able to get the rest of his shed off by himself when you do this. You shouldn't ever really "assist" his shedding, as you risk damaging his new skin when you pull off the old.

I hope this helps. =) Don't feel bad about the lengthiness... We all get worried for our babies some time or another!

It's hard to tell age by size due to multiple factors. To determine the sex of your corn the best thing to do is have it popped by someone who has done it before. Anything else would just be an educated guess until he is old enough to probe.

1 pink every 4 or 5 days is fine. The Munson Plan is a good guide to use. Here is a link: http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthr...ht=munson+plan

When are going to shed they first get dull (called going blue) then they clear up again and then the actually shed a few days later. When they go clear after being blue it's a good time to give your corn a little extra humidity. Put a moist paper towel in his favorite hide or give the cage a light misting, something like that. If he has problems shedding all the way, a bath like you gave him helps. Another good thing to try is putting him in a plastic tub with a damp cloth or damp paper towels for 20-30 min. Another is wearing wet gloves and let him slide between your fingers.

You will want to look into getting one or two Repti Temp 500R Thermostats or something equivalent so the UTH and basking light can turn off automatically if it gets overly hot. The UTH alone should be enough for heat unless your room is very cold or drafty. If there is a window in the room then you don't have to worry about the light cycle, the ambient light is enough. The basking light may be adding to the shedding problem by drying out his skin. I'm not very sure about the basking light, some people use them but most just stick to just using UTH for heating.

Hope that helps.

Sorry for posting a lot of what was already said. I'm at work so it takes a while to post something and I forgot to preview my post.

Just to confirm what's been said, that there's nothing "blue" when an amel is in blue - eyes just go cloudy pink.

Thanks so much guys. I'm going to try the washcloth ideas definitely. I havent gotten a good look at him today as he has pretty much stayed hidden in his favorite hide the whole day...without moving. Which worries me. But tomorrow I will give him a washcloth-bath and see where we get from there. Thanks again!

I use a humid hide. I rescued a baby corn in a bad shed and one night in there took all the old shed off.
My other corn uses one during blue till shedding and hasn't had a bad shed yet.

I'm a big fan of the bath idea bearing in mind that I'm fairly new to this and I've only had my snake for 1 shed but when I tried to put him in luke warm water he started to drink and then had a whale of a time. Plus how could it hurt and 2 days later he shed perfectly.

As I said though I'm inexperienced and might just have been lucky.

Just to agree with what has already been said, corns don't need special lighting at all. The lamp is making the tank too hot and probably sucks all the humidity out of the tank. Get rid of it and get a small undertank heater. The 5 x 7 inchers are good for all ages.
I would also recommend soaking him for another 20 minutes in a plastic tub with wet paper towels before helping him get any more shed off.