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Can these items be used with a corn snake?

Gnauty

Gnauty

New member
I recently came across some reptile supplies and cage accessories that I'd purchased for my bro's bearded dragon. I was planning on getting a new aquarium for him, but never got to use the supplies before he passed on.

Now I'm wondering if some of these products can be used without harm in a corn snake habitat.
The first thing I found that seemed very iffy to me is a big bag of substrate. Made from ground walnut shells. I know that snakes can be ultra sensitive to oils from certain types of wood, so I was thinking walnut shells could prove to be a disastrous form of substrate for a corn.
Does anyone here have experience or opinions about using this type of substrate?
I'm thinking I'll either hold onto it until I get another beardie, or give it to my roommate's friends for their Uromastyx.

Another iffy item I found is a heated rock. I've heard they have a high failure rate and can cause some serious problems. I've had a big scare using UTH before where one shorted out and the wiring became exposed. So I was thinking perhaps the heated rock would be fine as long as I connected it to a thermostat to regulate the heat and used silicone to affix the probe to it.
Are there big problems with heated rocks I should be aware of and perhaps just nix the idea?

I found a really nice heat/light dome. If I use this kind of fixture as my sole source of heat are there ways to ensure one of the hides is warm and one is cool? I would think it would just warm the entire enclosure and keep the ambient temp high if housing the corn in a 10-Gal. Any tips on using heat lighting as opposed to UTH?

Also, can anyone recommend an affordable thermostat with probe readily available in the U.S.?

You've all been so helpful already and I hope you don't mind answering a few more of my crazy questions.
 
I'm not to sure about the substrate question myself as i am still new to the snake world :) but...i have heard some serious horro stories about the heated rocks and just about every person i have spoken to have recomended staying clear of these due to inaccurate heating and un-reliability, i would say the best thing to do if you are after something like that, get yourself an ordanary basking dried bark or some other material what conducts heat really well, put this on the heat mat under the substrate and the put the substrate around is. As it has really good heat conducting properties, after 20 - 30 minutes (ish) the object will be at exactly the same temprature as that of your heat mat, providing a nice cosy place for your little friend to relax on.

sorry i could'nt answer your substrate question though.
 
Never use a heat rock. All they are is a concentrated source of too hot of heat. You need widespread substrate heat, obviously.

Heat lighting isn't really recommended either, because if it gives off visible light, it must be turned off at night. That and the fact if I was a nocturnal animal I don't think I'd like more light than necessary in the day.

UTH is the only real choice, especially since what corns need for digestion is pure belly/underside heat. A trusted UTH is the Exo-terra Rainforest UTH... never heard of any problems with that one. Any reptile thermostat designed for a UTH will do, like the Zoo-med one. Check out http://lllreptile.com , good source.
 
You can get a heat lamp that does not give off light. My snake hated the light. I also have the underside heater too. I use the forest biome soil. My snake loves to make tunnels through it & it keeps the humidity better here in Colorado.
 
You should probably just throw away the walnut shells. It's VERY bad for dragons and AFAIK uros. Uros are great on millet, dragons on slate or possibly washed playsand as adults. Corns do best on aspen or paper towels.

Hot rocks are bad also. They burn reptiles. The snake wants to burrow under aspen, or go into a hide, or both, and be near the heat source, but in hiding.

So the heat lamp isn't so useful, either. Lizards like to bask, most snakes, corns included, do not. They want to hide except for a few hours at dawn and dusk. So an under tank heater is the best. At least you know you need a thermostat!! The ZooMed 500R isn't bad, and is cheapest if bought on eBay.
 
I used crushed walnut shells before, because I got it cheap. It looked nice and they snakes didn't mind it (there are no harmful oils on it or anything like that), but it got EVERYWHERE. In the water bowl, in cracks that are hard as anything to clean, etc. If the snake moved through the water, walnut shell pieces stuck to it for a while. And if it gets wet it grows mold easily. AND you absolutely cannot feed in the tank with the crushed walnut shells, because somehow I guarantee the snake will end up ingesting some. So.. it works as a substrate, but requires high maintenance and in my opinion, as someone who has used it, it is not worth it.
 
Thanks for all the help so far!
I just ordered a thermostat w/ probe and a UTH combo for under $35. Now I just need to find a nice tank and proper substrate without breaking my bank.
 
When I was using tanks for my snakes, I found alot of great ones on craigslist for cheap cheap cheap. Just make sure you clean them really good. I used bleach, rinse well.
 
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