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Habitat size for baby

J

jwag

New member
Hi All,

I'm new here. We will be getting a corn snake for my son's 13th birthday. He has wanted one for about 4 years, but I wanted to be sure it wasn't a passing phase and that he was really ready. My husband has had snakes in the past (many years ago) and I have always enjoyed them, though never owned one.

Anyway, my question is: am I better of getting a smaller, cozier home for the new guy or using the tank we intend to house him/her in long term?

We have 2 glass tanks (from my husband's previous snakes), a 30 gallon and a 55 gallon. We plan to use a UTH with a thermostat and digital probe thermometers at each end (warm and cool) of the tank. All probes will be attached to the glass.

I like the idea of using glass off the bat because I feel better about the UTH with glass, but if a smaller plastic tub would be better in the beginning, I'm willing to try the trick I've read about attaching the UTH to a ceramic tile.

We are going to a reptile show a week from Sunday in hopes of finding a corn that my son likes, so I want to get things all set up and have time to make sure the temps are right before we bring a snake home.

I'm a researcher and perfectionist when it comes to my pets. My friends thought I was crazy for the lengths I went to before our dogs ever came home to live with us....I haven't even told them about the snake. :laugh:
 
Sorry, forgot to ask, does anyone have a good suggestion to divide a large tank? To me this seems like potentially a good option and then the habitat can "grow" with the snake. Thoughts?
 
The 30 gallon will be fine for most of the snake's life. It is great that you are doing research BEFORE bringing home baby, and learning what needs to be done.

Good luck!
 
jwag said:
Sorry, forgot to ask, does anyone have a good suggestion to divide a large tank? To me this seems like potentially a good option and then the habitat can "grow" with the snake. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You can purchase dividers for aquariums. Look on the internet or in pet stores.
 
30 gallons should be plenty big, what I do stress though is to make sure you have a good lid. I'm fond of lids that have a clasp. locks, or requires that it slides off, and cant be removed by just lifting up. The little guys are notorious escape artists.
 
Thanks for your replies. I'm not really worried about 30 gallons being big enough, I'm more worried about it being too big for a baby to feel safe.
 
I am also new to owning snakes but as far as your question about tank dividers you could go to any local glass shop and have them cut a PC of glass the size you would need for a divider. Grab a tube of aquarium sealant and glue it in where you want the divider, when you snake grows cut out the silicone with a razor blade. As long as your using a new single edge blade it won't scratch the glass and you wouldn't have to worry about your baby being able to squeeze past the divider. I guess for that matter you could do the same thing with any kind of material I would just suggest something non absorbent. The only other issue I could see is having to buy another smaller tank heater that wouldn't be used later since the one you have now would probably be to large for the reduced tank size.

Ha, the more I'm thinking about it as I'm writing the more issues I think of. You would also have to cut it with notches so it fit around the trim at the top of the tank and tight to the screen, so lexan or something saw cut would be a better . The screen would have to be reinforced above the divider so the snake can't just push it up and fit threw that way. So all this writing is probably useless, petsmart is having a dollar a gallon sale so a 10gal tank and screen is $20.....cheap and easy and you could sell it on craigslist later if you don't want it. But from what I hear snakes are addictive so you will probably be using it again or it could be the tank you feed your snake in later.
 
I don't think you would have the need to use dividers in a 30g.

I would recommend having several hides through out the 30g if you are getting a hatchling. I would put 6-8 different ones. They can be simple, bandaide boxes, toilet paper rolls, the cave like hides from exoterra, sour cream or similar size tub, with a small cut out to get in and out off.

You can also put a wide range of fake plants, again exoterra has the ones that have the suction cup. They have hammacks as well.
 
A 30 gal would be fine to put a hatchling in as long as there are lots of hiding places & ground cover. You can get fake vines, flowers & suction cups from the dollar store and make your own stick on the side plants and just toss some stuff on the floor of the tank too. The problem with big tanks for babies is they don't feel safe to move around. They are programmed to hide b/c they make such a tasty snack. Lots of hiding spots so they feel safe is key.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm going to start preparing the 30 gallon tank this weekend. My son's birthday is Thurs. so I want to give him the tank then and then we'll go to the reptile show over the weekend to see about a snake to go in it.
 
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