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First time snake owner OKC

Sheyoni

Sheyoni

New member
Hello ~ I'm not much of a forum person, but I've been trying to read everything I can find since finally taking the plunge yesterday and picking up a pretty corn girl. I'm trying to make sure I do everything right, so please let me know if you see me do anything wrong. I may start a progression thread for her, but at least to start off, here's my cute little girl. I was told she is about a month old and has eaten at least twice before being sold. They were unsure what specifically to call her coloring. And just referred to get as albino.

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Very cute! Welcome to the forum!

She is an albino, but in the corn snake community, that's a pretty broad term, so she's more specifically amelanistic, or amel for short.
 
Thank you guys. I'm a sucker for orange, so even if she's a super common morph I'm really in love with her colors.

I wanted to post a picture of her current setup and see what you guys think. I'm not sure if I have too much substrate or what. I just picked up a temperature controller (which I've set to about 85) for her uth and rearranged everything a little so she's gone into hiding in her warm hide right next to the thermometer, and I have a second thermometer inside the cool hide that's currently reading 73°F

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The breeders said they'd been feeding their corns on Thursdays and I brought her home Monday, so I was thinking of trying to wait till Thursday to feed her for the first time just to keep up her schedule and give her time to settle in.

I've bothered her so much today trying to fix her temperatures that I'm sure she needs a few days hands off time.

It's hard for me to leave her alone. [emoji28]
 
Just for a bit of information in case you don't know -

Just because you have a thermostat set at 85 doesn't mean that's the temperature on the warm side. Different heaters perform differently, thermostats are different, some are more accurate than others. Some thermostats have a bit of "Drift" where the temp creeps up and then creeps down, and then back up and then........ (you get the idea).

A lot of us use an infrared thermometer, one of those kinds you point, pull the trigger and get an instant temperature reading. I would recommend you get one if you don't already use one. You can get them at any hardware store, even Walmart has them. That's the only way you'll know what the actual temperature is. You might actually have to adjust your thermostat up or down a bit to actually get it where you want it.

And you want to brush back the substrate from the heater and read the temperature directly on the glass bottom of your tank. Once you have the temp dialed in, it's a good idea to put a piece of duct tape over the knob to keep it from turning. Then you'll be good to go.
 
Thank you. I'll pick up an infrared thermometer tomorrow and play with the settings to get it dialed in better.

I really want to make sure I do everything right for her.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
 
Very pretty snake! Just wondering, what type of substrate are you using?
Karl is right, the temp. 'gun' works great ... and they are usually very accurate to 1 or 2 degrees. The temp on top of your substrate (warm side) is important (81-85), but not so much on the cool side. You just want your snake to have a choice so it can regulate it's own temperature. :)
 
I was given fir chips I think as a substrate, but I've been reading I should change it out for Aspen? When I had rats I used carefresh which is a paper mulch. Would that maybe work as well?

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Most use Aspen for their snake substrate, but it's your choice. Just make sure you don't use something that is harmful. You can't go wrong with Aspen. Then either watch closely when feeding, to avoid any substrate being ingested, or feed outside the vivarium, which many do.
 
Yeah, I was planning on feeding her in the little carton I brought her home with to start. Thank you all for helping me =)
 
Welcome to the forum, you have a nice cutie!

I don't want to alarm you, but I have to rise a warning about fir substrate. I read somewhere it is toxic for snakes, just as pine, cedar, walnut and other aromatic woods. Has anyone heard of this as well?

I would change it for aspen ASAP. If you like the bark appearence, then go for orchid or coco bark, which are considered safe.
 
"Fir" trees are a type of pine.

Cedar should never be used, it can be lethal to snakes. And Pine (including Fir) is not recommended either.
 
Went out and got Aspen first thing this morning and Lin's tank was cleaned out and everything rinsed off before putting the new stuff in. I got some pictures of her right before I put her back in to have a look around. Excuse the chipped nail polish.

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Congrats on your new snake!
Amels can be variable, and are very pretty!

I've seen arguments on both sides about Fir. I've never used it.
I used Aspen for my Colubrids (Cornsnakes and Mexican Black Kingsnakes) and Cypress Mulch for my Morelia (Carpet Pythons and Bredl's).

Feeding inside the enclosure is fine, as long as the prey is not wet. I have always fed inside the enclosure, with no problems.
Some will say that if you feed in the enclosure, the snake will become "cage aggressive". That is false. If the only time you open your cage is to feed, they will associate it with food, but they do not become cage aggressive.

Do whatever works best for you. :)
 
I fed her last night for the first time in the little tub she came home in and she only took a few seconds to grab the little pinky. Most of the rest of the day she was curled up under her rock and this morning was in her warm hide. Previously she'd been sleeping in the cool hide overnight, so it seems like everything is going well. I'm happy to see her doing good so far.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
 
My little baby has eaten twice super easy for me now. Caught her tonight with a drop of water on her head. She was so cute I grabbed a couple snaps.

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