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corn snake enrichment

B

blackorchid77

New member
this may sound silly but i feel like my cornsnake is bored sometimes. I feel bad sometimes because I feel like a 30 gallon tank isnt big enough for a snake to roam around like it would in the wild.

I was thinking of having a outdoor cage for it maybe and bringing it outside in the summer sometimes, and also would it be a good idea to spray in certain spots diffrerent smells for it in its tank, like vanilla or peppermint? do snakes have any problems with those kinds of scents, like is any of them bad for them?
 
I don't know about the scents, but I do bring my boys and girls out for some one on one attention in the warmer weather. They hang out while I go for walks, or to Wal-mart, or downtown.... so long as the general public doesn't know about them :)
 
Vanilla and peppermint would irritate their noses more than anything, I wouldn't do any artificial scents in their cages.

What you can do is provide multiple hides that you re arrange weekly or bi-weekly. Same with plastic and silk plants, logs, and branches. Also provide a humid hide if you don't have one already, just for something different. Provide climbing areas, space to burrow, etc. Even just a piece of cork bark laid on the ground can be a nice hide that is easily moved around.
 
Forgot to mention! Building an outdoor enclosure would be awesome. You could even buy a wire mesh viv, I know they sell them. Then you could add hides/water/whatever and place it in the sun outside. Just make sure it's escape proof and to only put them out there temporarily, and never leave them alone. Natural sunlight is good for them (at least I think so) and all the scents of the outdoors would definitely be interesting to them.

But it wouldn't be a permanent home, only a place to put them when the weather was perfect.
 
hmm yes i wasnt sure about the scents, better not try it them. but i wasnt talking about artifical but natural extracts.

I do want to get better hides for him, I already have a moist moss hide and a regular hide. I have some fake leaves but they arent that nice. I want to get a branch really bad for him but they are expensive and i dont think i can manage finding one somewhere or somehow disinfecting it. instead i might make a second level out of wood somehow.
 
blackorchid77 said:
hmm yes i wasnt sure about the scents, better not try it them. but i wasnt talking about artifical but natural extracts.

I do want to get better hides for him, I already have a moist moss hide and a regular hide. I have some fake leaves but they aren't that nice. I want to get a branch really bad for him but they are expensive and i don't think i can manage finding one somewhere or somehow disinfecting it. instead i might make a second level out of wood somehow.
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I seem to remember from my middle school days that Canada is chalk full of trees! If you find a branch that satisfies your own tastes, and is of an acceptable specie of tree, then all you need is an oven! Baked at lower temps, a branch can relatively easily be disinfected. I think I baked mine at 225 for 30 minutes...on second thought the temps might have been a bit lower. At any rate, baking helps insure there are no nasties left hiding out deep inside the wood which is porous.

It should be noted here that an outside viv may prove dangerous if placed in such a way as to cause direct sunlight over the entire enclosure. It will allow for uncontrolled temperatures and leave the snake with no where to hide from the temps.
 
blackorchid77 said:
you bring them to walmart???? LOL

how do you manage that? I need to know!
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I walk to Wal-mart with my snakes in my hoody (I wear super light boy's hoodie's in summer) and I bring a spare pillow case so I can stow them away if they get too curious about people or vise versa.

Right now there's no laws about having corns, balls, beardies, iggies, etc in public (well outside at least, but what management doesn't know won't hurt them). :)
 
Use hard wood branches, no conifers.

I made hides out of old plastic food containers by cutting a hole in the lid. I throw in a handful of shavings for a nest. My snakes love them. Plus it is super easy to get them out of the tank now.
 
Be careful if they go outside. Make sure they're nowhere near other people's property - you don't know when they'll decide to use weedkiller, pesticides, wood preserver etc, the fumes of which could be lethal to Corns.

Also beware of putting it in direct sunlight. In the wild, they'd be able to move somewhere else if they overheat, but in an outdoor enclosure they're effectively trapped where you put them and may not be able to thermoregulate properly.

Definitely no artificial scent sprays near them though.

Personally, I don't believe that Corns have the capacity to be "bored". They're cold-blooded animals, so their primary instincts are to stay safe and preserve their energy. They don't need to be moving around and "doing" all the time for no reason (which for a Corn Snake would be to get safe, get to the right temperature, eat, drink or find a mate).

Also, be prepared for your hard work to go completely unappreciated! In an outdoor tank, you might find that your Corns just stay in their hides all the time. Remember that they tend to be most active during low light - dawn, dusk and overnight - when it would probably be too cool to have them outside anyway.
 
another fun thing for them is take pvc pipe ( found at any home depot or plumbing store, etc) and cut holes, heat to bend, and just make something for them to play on- im actualy designing something thats only in drawings right now and fully researched, but once i have it up and tested, ill let you know how it works :)
 
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