Big viv for small snake?

Hello there,

I've read that it is not ok to house a small corn in a big viv because the snake might feel insecure, but I saw that some people do that anyway. I have a 4 months old corn that is about 35-40 cm (13.5 to 15.5 in) long and a viv that is 85x35x40 cm (33.5x13.5x15.5 in) that makes about a 30 gallon viv. I currently keep her in a plastic container with a length of about 70% of her length.

So I have two questions:
1. Is it the viv big enough to keep her there as an adult? (from what I've read I'd think yes)
2. Could I move her in the viv sooner, even if she's so small? Of course, I'd provide her with at least 2-3 hides, other decorations such as logs and plants and so on, so that she'll have plenty of places to hide. Or should I consider using something to restrict her roaming area in the viv and gradually increase it as she grows? I'd love to have her in the viv with decorations and stuff instead of keeping her in a plastic container with paper towels as substrate.

Thank you!

Hi I know how you feel when I had my George he was 9 weeks I kept him his box inside his viv till he was about 5 months old
My viv is 3 foot long sorry I’m still in the feet and inches
The viv sounds just right
Good luck with your new little mate
Pat


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Thanks for the reply! So you moved him in the viv when he was 5 months old? Did he seem scared or insecure because of the large viv?

No he was fine he did hide for a few days
It was me I did worry about him he was fine
He is now 13 months old and doing really well
This site is brilliant any thing you want to ask someone will help you
Pat


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I have a corn snake about the same age/size as yours and have kept her in a Viv the same size as the one you have mentioned since I got her. I have plenty of hides and plants as well and she's never shown any problems. During the day she spends most time in one of her hides but at night she roams all over climbing and smelling everything. She's never missed a feeding and seems pretty chill so I doubt the space has any negative effect on her, definitely not stressed.
The 'big, bad world' isn't 3' X 2', so as long as there's places to hide I see no reason why your corn wouldn't be fine.

Thanks for replying! I'm gonna set up the viv as soon as possible and I'll post some pics afterwards. I hope I'll move Nyx into the viv by the end of the month.

Good luck I’m sure it will go well
Pat


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I got my cornsnake when he was about 3 months old I think? Not sure, he was a Petco snake so not much history on him. I've kept him in a 40g his entire life. He's a little over 6 years old now and no problems. After he started getting to adult size I increased the size of his water bowl and hide, removed some of the furniture and he seems quite happy.

I have a mine in a 100x30x45cm glass terrarium, i don't have exact age information but he weights 55gr and is around 60cm long. Its been 2 months since i got him and hes doing fine in there. I have a lot of hides and places for him to climb on and foliage to sneak under. When i say a lot i mean A LOT, like 6 hides.
heres a pic of the terrarium bellow,

since taking this pic i removed some of the random cork bark on the ground cause i had a hard time finding his poo but he didnt seem to care still comes outside every night and roams around

so the pic didnt get posted so heres a link to it
https://imgur.com/2AHtPtt

My baby corn loved her 40 gallon viv. It was really hard to find her sometimes, but she had tunnels all through her Aspen bedding that went from hide to hide, vines all over the place so she could take the sky route... a lot like yours. Well done!

Viv setup

Hey guys, last Sunday I moved her into the viv. I still have to put more stuff in there, but at the moment I think it's ok. The main problem I'm facing right now is that I cannot find a thermostat for controlling the heat mat. Apparently, in Romania, every pet shop sells heating accesories (like mats, rocks, bulbs etc) but nothing to actually control the temperature. At this very moment, I use a couple of layers of cardboard and paper with a shoe box lid on top, to keep the "floor" slightly raised from the area of the viv where the mat is, but it is not enough. The temperature sometimes gets as high as 35C (95F). I found a single type of thermostat named Dual Thermostab TS-500. I know nothing about it, I couldn't find any reviews and, considering romanian wages, it is a bit expensive (about 75-80$). I tried to find one on ebay (UK), but the shipping taxes are as much as the product itself, so for a 24 pounds thermostat I'd pay 20 more for shipping and I'd have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to receive the item.

Here are some pics of the viv (a couple of hours before I moved her there):

Well, I heard a lot of people use the Hydrofarm Jumpstart, which can be found on Amazon. But it seems like it's rather difficult to get US-based Amazon sellers to ship internationally so I'm not sure you would be able to get it in Romania.

Otherwise, I've heard some people like to use rheostats/lamp dimmers instead of thermostats, which you can presumably get at hardware stores for relatively cheap. The difference, I think, is that instead of turning the heat mat on and off like a thermostat, rheostats are adjustable resistors, which means they alter the amount of electricity reaching the heat mat and thus, make it less powerful. The downside is that you have to tweak it a lot to get it where you want it and you have to monitor your cage temperatures more closely since the rheostat won't change the power of the heat mat if the ambient temperature of your house changes like a thermostat would.

Disclaimer: I am completely new to this whole pet snake thing and I do not even own a snake yet so this is all based on what I've read here and elsewhere. Thus, if a more experienced snake owner would like to chime in, the floor is yours!

Hei kaityk, yes, I can found different thermostat models on websites like Amazon or eBay, but IF they ship to Romania, the shipping taxes are more expensive than the product. Especially if the seller is from US.

I found some dimmers that are very easy to use (pic below) and I will buy one of these and a digital thermometer with a probe and I will manually adjust the dimmer so that the temperature will be okay.

Thank you for offering me an alternative solution! It really helped me!