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Snake stays burrowed a lot

A

AneryOwner2020

New member
Hello, new Corn snake owner here. I recently got my first corn snake about a month ago, and I've noticed that he likes to burrow and stay burrowed for long periods of time. Before he shedded, he did roam around his reptarium in the evening/night. After his shed, he doesn't come out anymore. He just shedded about 10 days ago. I thought it was because there wasnt enough hiding places for him, so I got an extra hide and plant leaves to cover the middle of the 10 gal tank, yet he still won't come out as often as he did before. Any idea why, or is this just natural for him? Whenever I pick him up to handle, he's still squirmy. When should he start calming down a bit?
 
If he's a baby it's normal for them to hide a lot. In the wild everything wants to eat them! The first bit of activity was because he was in a new place and needed to find its limits and resources. Corns are crepescular so they are most active around dawn and dusk. As he gets older he will calm down because he'll be less of a food item.
 
My snake is 6 years old and he still hides. That's typical of snakes. Mine does not burrow, I took that option away from him. But he has 3 places to hide, and he's almost always in 1 of them.

As far as when does the squirming go away????
I think each snake is unique and different and a lot of it has to do with you, the owner.

I got my snake as a baby (he was about 6 months old) at he really wasn't squirmy even then. But the breeder I got him from handled the snakes a lot so he was used to human contact before I even came along.

He will literally sit around my neck or coil around my arm and sit for hours and not even move. He's very calm, because he trusts me and he's not scared of me.

The more you handle your snake and show him that you're not going to hurt him, the quicker he will get used to you and mellow out.

If you only handle him 10 minutes once a week, he may never calm down. On the other hand if you take him out of the cage and handle him an hour every day, he will get used to your touch, your smell, and the way you act, etc....

So really it's sort of up to you.
 
Thank you both for the helpful advice and information! I typically handle him 15 minutes a day. After he eats, I leave him alone for about 2 days.
 
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