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first time snake owner

Energi2er

Energi2er

New member
I just got a baby corn from a pet shop. I have a 6 gallon tank. I know thats kinda small for him but Im getting a bigger one soon. anyway I have a small heating pad on the right bottom of the cage that is always on, and I have a red heat basking light thats in the middle of the cage sitting on top of it that I turn on in the day and off at night, (Im getting a timer soon too, its on the list) and the overall temperature inside the cage reads 75 - 80.

He has one habba hut (hollow log) for a hiding spot which is on the right side above the heating pad. A water dish (With distiled water, changed daily) on the left. Im using Zoo Med brand Aspen Snake Bedding for a substrate. I have not fed him yet, I have prekilled frozen pinkies, and Im planning on feeding it inside his cage. The pet shop said to cut the pinkies in half and feed him a half a mouse a week until he gets a little bigger. I do handle him alot as he is very tame and he likes to do figure eights through my fingers.

Am I doing everything right so far?

Is there anything else that I need to know or should do?

Do you think the area under the heating pad gets too hot for him?

Is there a time when I should turn the Heating pad off, or just keep it on 24/7?

Sorry so many questions but this is my first snake and I want to keep him happy and in good health.
 
Energi2er said:
I just got a baby corn from a pet shop. I have a 6 gallon tank. I know thats kinda small for him but Im getting a bigger one soon. anyway I have a small heating pad on the right bottom of the cage that is always on, and I have a red heat basking light thats in the middle of the cage sitting on top of it that I turn on in the day and off at night, (Im getting a timer soon too, its on the list) and the overall temperature inside the cage reads 75 - 80.

He has one habba hut (hollow log) for a hiding spot which is on the right side above the heating pad. A water dish (With distiled water, changed daily) on the left. Im using Zoo Med brand Aspen Snake Bedding for a substrate. I have not fed him yet, I have prekilled frozen pinkies, and Im planning on feeding it inside his cage. The pet shop said to cut the pinkies in half and feed him a half a mouse a week until he gets a little bigger. I do handle him alot as he is very tame and he likes to do figure eights through my fingers.

Am I doing everything right so far?

Is there anything else that I need to know or should do?

Do you think the area under the heating pad gets too hot for him?

Is there a time when I should turn the Heating pad off, or just keep it on 24/7?

Sorry so many questions but this is my first snake and I want to keep him happy and in good health.
Click to expand...


The tank size is actually fine for a hatchling.

As far as the heating pad and the light--it depends on the true temperatures inside the tank. How are you measuring the temps? If you're using a stick-on thermometer, rip it off and throw it out. You need to get a digital one with a probe. The ambient air temperature is not as important as the temperature of the substrate. It would also be a good idea to find out how hot the heating pad is getting. You might need to regulate that with a thermostat or rheostat.

If you're going to feed him inside the cage, feed him in a gladware container or something similar. Do not put a pinky on the aspen. You risk an impaction where the snake ingests bedding. Since you're going to be feeding f/t bedding will really stick to the pinky.

I highly doubt that you need to cut the pinkie in half unless the snake is tiny. A small whole pinky should not be a problem for your snake. I would also suggest trying to feed outside the cage in something different, such as a gladware container or something similar.
 
One other thing. You may want another hide in the other side of the tank so that he has a place to hide where it's cooler...
 
Yepp You guessed it it is a stick on the tank thermometer that came with a kit that I bought with the snake it had substrate, the log, the thermometer, the heat pad, and a basting light, So I guess I will add the digital probe thermometer to the list, My question about that is where do I put the probe, Hot side or cold side, or should I get one for both.

and I figgured it wasnt a good idea to just place a pinky directly on the aspen, so What I did was I put like a little cardboard box that runs the entire length of the cold side of the cage. I plan on just placing the pinky on top of that. and he also loves to climb inside of the box, so it serves both purposes.

The snake is 12" long and the biggest part of his body is about .25" he is very skinny for his length. He weighs 5.4 grams.
The pinky that I have for him is 1.5" by 0.5" and weighs 2.5 grams (frozen)

Do you think I should feed it to him whole, or do you think he will choke on it.
 
By the way, I named him Dominoe because his belly is all white with black squares that look like dominoes.
 
Energi2er said:
Yepp You guessed it it is a stick on the tank thermometer that came with a kit that I bought with the snake it had substrate, the log, the thermometer, the heat pad, and a basting light, So I guess I will add the digital probe thermometer to the list, My question about that is where do I put the probe, Hot side or cold side, or should I get one for both.

and I figgured it wasnt a good idea to just place a pinky directly on the aspen, so What I did was I put like a little cardboard box that runs the entire length of the cold side of the cage. I plan on just placing the pinky on top of that. and he also loves to climb inside of the box, so it serves both purposes.

The snake is 12" long and the biggest part of his body is about .25" he is very skinny for his length. He weighs 5.4 grams.
The pinky that I have for him is 1.5" by 0.5" and weighs 2.5 grams (frozen)

Do you think I should feed it to him whole, or do you think he will choke on it.
Click to expand...


You don't need two probes. Just check both sides of the cage.

Snakes will not 'choke' on food. I'd assume that your snake could handle a small pinky without a problem.
 
I place the probe on the surface of the substrate under the hide on the hot side and for the cool side I use that stick on thermeter layed on the surface.
I don't think you need a "basting" light . But that just a thought!

:cheers: Good Luck!
 
The pinky you mentioned is within the 1-1 1/2 times the widest portion of the snake, so there should be no problems what soever. I think we tend to undersize the food we give to our snakes anyway. I know the first time I fed an adult mouse to my corn, I thought there was no way he could eat that huge thing......well, he did with no problems. These days he's on small rats.....still can't believe they can down something with all those appendages when they don't have any!
 
the widest portion of my snake is .25" (one quarter of an inch) so Mathmatically one and one half times the widest portion would be 0.375" so acording to that the maximum size mouse that he could eat would be a 0.375" wide mouse, and the pinky is .5" wide. Now im not saying that he cant handle all of the pinky, Im sure he can stretch and get it all in to his throat. I just dont want him to regurgitate it later. He is not due to eat until Thursday night (June 9th). So If you think it will be ok, then I will give it to him whole.
 
Go ahead and give it to him whole. I have an '05 hatchling that is only 11" and really slender, but he has no problems at all taking a whole pinky, and in fact ate 2 the other day. It's true, we seem to think they wont get it down, but they sure find a way!
 
Why did you feed it 2 mice if it is only a hatchling? how can you tell if it is still hungry after eating one?
 
After a couple of months of single pinkies you can move up to 2 pinkies per feed before moving onto fuzzies (week old mice with velvety fuzz for fur)

If you're really worried about the size of the meals I've got a gross solution for you... Whilst still frozen, snap the head off a couple of pinkies and feed one head at a time for 2 feeds and then feed the 2 bodies for the next 2 feeds. By this time, your snakeling may have grown up to 10% of it's original weight or maybe more and therefor will be a little bigger and a little more able to handle a whole pinkie.

It sounds gross but I guess it's no different to cutting a whole chicken into portions once you've done it a couple of times!
 
Yeah, The pet store said to give it a half a pinky. The pinky that I have is not a day old, its more like 3 or 4 days old, its a large pinky weighs 2.5 grams which is almost half the snakes weight. So You think I should give him half this time, and the other half next week? He has to eat something by tomorrow.
 
It's not really the weight of the food, it's the size. The measurements you gave will easily be eaten by the size snake you described. I'm sure the rats I feed my big male are pretty hefty, but he downs them without a problem.
 
Energi2er said:
Why did you feed it 2 mice if it is only a hatchling? how can you tell if it is still hungry after eating one?
Click to expand...

Going by the size of the lump it left (none, they are small pinkies), and the fact that he went for my hand when I went to move him back to his viv lol. Mouse sizes vary quite a bit, so while 1 large pinky would have been sufficient, 1 small pinky just wasn't enough.
 
totally makes sense... Read my other thread (First time feeding is tomorrow...) to see how the feeding went tomorrow.
 
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