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New Member Introductions Getting more and more new members here, so I think we need a forum for them to introduce themselves. You old timers can do the same, if you would like.

New member from UK
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Old 04-10-2018, 04:45 PM   #1
Katharine
New member from UK

Hello all. New member from Newcastle.

I am fairly new to keeping corns, only had mine for 4 years, both of them are adopted from a local vet so I don't know their ages.

My interest in keeping snakes as pets started when i was regularly volunteering twice a week at a zoo while studying for college. Unfortunately I am unable to continue with this because of work commitments 😔

I have done lots of reading before I got my snakes but any advice or help from more experienced members of this forum would be appreciated 😊.
 
Old 04-10-2018, 05:34 PM   #2
Reptile Lover 23
Welcome to the site
 
Old 04-11-2018, 05:42 AM   #3
Twolunger
Welcome to the forum. Our local zoo built a reptile house and that's where I spent most of the day when I drove there. All the other animals were nice, but reptiles were special.
 
Old 04-11-2018, 05:59 AM   #4
Patmart
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharine View Post
Hello all. New member from Newcastle.



I am fairly new to keeping corns, only had mine for 4 years, both of them are adopted from a local vet so I don't know their ages.



My interest in keeping snakes as pets started when i was regularly volunteering twice a week at a zoo while studying for college. Unfortunately I am unable to continue with this because of work commitments



I have done lots of reading before I got my snakes but any advice or help from more experienced members of this forum would be appreciated .


Welcome from Shropshire West Midlands uk
Pat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Old 04-11-2018, 06:03 AM   #5
Patmart
Hi I’m going to our local zoo today it’s only small no big animals but they do have lots of snakes
Can’t wait
Pat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Old 04-11-2018, 06:33 PM   #6
DollysMom
Glad you are here.

I live right next door to the Brookfield Zoo, which is the largest of several zoos here in the greater Chicago area. My son and daughter-in-law got married there and we had cocktail hour in the giraffe house where one of the giraffes made a good attempt at eating the bridal bouquet. So I'm another zoo lover.

By the way, with four years under your belt you have a year more than me since I got serious 3 years ago. Study can go a long way to make up brevity of experience. I learned a lot really fast by hanging out here. I continue to learn since I joined my local herp society and have also attended the Midwest Herpetological Symposium these past two years.

So please hang out and ask any questions you may still have. There are many ways to do things right with corn snake an a few major things not to do. A lot of it is making choices as to how best meet the snake's needs. For example here in the US, under tank heating with a thermostat is most often used. In the UK, heating is often provided by some kind of lights. It seems that corn snakes in both countries are thriving. And knowledge is always being added. You and I just skipped "the way it used to be".

Again, welcome to the forum!
 
Old 04-12-2018, 06:12 AM   #7
Katharine
Thanks for the support means a lot.

I never intended to get any pet snakes although I have been interested in then since i was kid. My interest in them started when I was at a zoo as a kid (can't remember where it was) and took part in the "meet the reptiles" talk with my sisters.The keepers brought out a huge boa constrictor and asked if the kids in the audience wanted to go and hold it...took about 35 kids to hold the snake. I was hooked after that lol.

With my corns i use heat mats that are controled by micro climate mini stats and a digital thermometer to check the temps are accurate.

I did and still do alot of searching on forums for information / advice about corn behaviours or feeding issues. I did not know that Dakota was a male when i got him, i only realised early January a year after i got him that he is a male because of his breeding behavour i.e. restlessness, digging bedding up, not eatting and trying to escape viv. I found information on this forum about all this which really helped to put my mind at rest. The first time he stopped eatting for weeks he had me worried. It is different having my own snakes which i spend alot more time with, compared to the ones i used to care for twice a week when volunteering as i have got to know what is normal or not based on their personalities / characteristics.

Most recently i was searching for posts related to "sneezing" noises. My male corn who i have always kept on aspen had rhinitis (inflammation of the inside of his nose). I took him to a vet which specialises in reptiles because he had been sneezing for atleast 3 weeks. I wanted to check it wasn't the early signs of an RI. She checked his mouth, heart beat and listened to his lung and said everything was fine. He wasn't showing any signs of a RI that you would expect such as posturing with head up and breathing with open mouth or the purring kind of noise you hear. I just took him to get cheked as a precaution and because i am aware of how serious an RI can be.

The vet recommend that i change his bedding to lignocel which is a lot less dusty and has no sharp pieces and prescribed him a weeks worth of metacam 0.4ml to take once a day. So far he seems to be improving and isnt sneezing as much as he was. It has been a bit of a battle to try an syringe it into him but mostly i have been successful. Since hes been very restless from the beginning of breeding season (and still is) im guessing hes managed to get a bit of dust from the aspen inside his nose from digging all the time and this is whats caused it.

I am very OCD with keeping written records for both my snakes for when they have shed, eatten, their body weight, spot checks and when they get a their vivs fully cleaned. I also make notes on general observations to look back on. I don't know what others think of this but for me i like to have information to look back on.

I have been reading about variouse snake / reptile conservation projects in the UK that i am going to look into and see how i can get involved with these

Sorry for the long reply haha, I am just really enthusiastic about my snakes.
 
Old 04-12-2018, 06:35 AM   #8
Patmart
It’s nice to see someone cares so much about her babies
Thank you I’ve just ordered me some lignocel for my 2 cos I didn’t like the sharp bits in the aspen
I’m on 2 forum on Facebook
Thank you again I’ve learned something today
Pat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Old 04-12-2018, 07:15 AM   #9
Katharine
Your very welcome 😊 I would certainly not class my self as an expericenced reptile keeper, but i thought sharing that post might help other people. I appologise if people think im coming across as a "know it all".

I had seen lignocel mentioned a few times on different reptile forums when i was trying to find out about it, but I didn't know any other reptile keepers that i could ask who use it to see if it was any good.

Friends i know who keep reptiles use either reptile carpet, bark chippings, aspen etc. I guess it just depends on preferance and species. I know people with corns who keep them on chippings whereas i like to keep mine on a subsrate they can burrow in thats not too hard.

The vet said she uses lignocel because it does not affect her astma as much and its much less dusty then aspen, when u open the bag and tip a bit out u can see there is a lot less dust stuck to it then with aspen. I won't use anything other then lignocel from now on. I really am happy with the quality of it, its very soft and fine and definately a lot less dusty. I am very pleased i ordered it now. I was a bit skeptical because nearly all the reviews were 5 stars and i was thinking they may be fake to increase sales, but having changed the substrate to that i would give it 5 stars.

I ordered it from swell reptiles the site which she get her bedding from (other sites are available lol) and it costs about the same as other bedding. Just its made of alot smaller pieces, looks like very small saw dust pieces so you may need more then one bag to fill a viv and have a bit spare to replace wet patches depending on the size.

I usually use a 26 Lt bag of aspen to fill my big vivexotic viv and still have a small amount left over. I just ordered a 20Lt bag of lignocel thinking it would be enough but because its a lot finer i have ordered a second bag so i definately have enough to add a decent amount to allow snake (which i think is female) to burrow. My male corn is in a smaller glass viv and a 10Lt bag is the same volume as a bag of aspen the same size. Its a bit of trial and error lol.

I have just brought him a new forever home vivexotic large vivarium the same as my possible female corn is in, i just need to build it.
 
Old 04-12-2018, 07:35 AM   #10
DollysMom
You are lucky you have lignocel there. I can't find it in the US. I've heard many in the UK sing its praises. Glad your snake is doing better!
 

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