• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Handleing my corn for the first time

R

rehj

New member
Hello Everyone :wavey:

Last Wednesday I found a little baby normal in my house. I decided to keep him rather then letting him back out into the wild.

I put a viv together for him, a 10 galon tank, I gave him some hides, on the cool side and the warm, I have seen him in both, so I think that is a good sign. The only thing I have bothered him for is to change his water, and once I removed a hide to get some pictures of him.

Here are some pics of him, he is the cutest

He always gets defensive when I am near though, as I would expect. I'm not overly worried about getting bit, as little as he is it probably wont feel much different then a clothes pin. I am however worried about stressing him out. Is there something I can do to make him clam down more, and not get so defensive when I am there? or just handle him and let him know I wont hurt him that way. :shrugs:

I have not attempted to handle him yet at all, I figured I'd give him a good week or so to settle into the tank. I will want to feed him soon though, I'm not sure the last time he has eaten, for as small as he is, its very possible that he may not have even had his first meal, As you can tell from the pictures. Anything that can increse my chances of keeping him happy would be appreciated.

:cheers:
~Ron
 
Hey Ron! The best thing you can do to keep his stress level down is to give him plenty of hides. Also, give him time to adjust to his new home, which it looks like you are doing.

Then just some general stuff. The temp ranges should be 80-85 on the warm side. What type of substrate are you using? Since he is a wild caught, once you start handling make sure you check him for mites.

Any specific questions you have, feel free to post them here. There are many people willing to help.
 
I have a few hides for him, my dad raises fish, so he has all kinds of things his fish use to hide and breed in.. so I got some of the ones he hasn't used yet, cleaned them up and put them in the tank, so he has 2 hides on the warm side and 3 on the colder side. I gave him a water dish, that I clean everyday.

Temperature I am having a bit of a problem with, nothing major I don't think. I have a digital thermometer on the colder side of the cage, and it says that the temperature of the air is 82 degrees... is that too warm? I hope not because there isn't much I can do about too warm...

When I do go to pick him up for the first time, should I "just go for it" or should I back off if he gets defensive? I'm going to try to get him to eat sometime this week, I got him a little feeding cage, so hopefully he will take to eating.

I'm thinking since he is wild caught he may take better to eating live rather the f/t mice... What do you guys think?
 
It sounds like you have plenty of hides.

Your cool temp is a little high. But, what is more important is the temp on the warm side. If it gets too high, it can be dangerous for the little guy.

My first snake, was a wild caught cornsnake also. When you go to pick him up, make sure he is awake and aware that your hand is there. He will get in a defensive posture. He will probably strike. Nothing to worry about. Just continue to move in slowly and pick him up.

You are right about him more likely to take live food (if he has already eaten before). Be prepared to try different things. Mine feed very quickly.
 
as for the handleing.... just go for it :) there really is no other way to teach him that you arent going to eat him. :) and if he does bite.. which he probably will since he is so scared... it doesnt hurt... if you dont see him do it you may not even know he bit you since he is so little :) as for feeding... I would try live since he is a wild caught... just make sure it is very tiny :) Good luck with him... He is a cute little one :)
 
oh, forgot to say.... if you arent real comfortable handleing him... because he will be fast and try to get away... you can just hold him inside the tank. That way if he gets away from you then he wont get too far :) The first few weeks of handleing you might want to keep it to just a couple minutes at a time to reduce the stress it will cause him :)
 
As people said, don't back off if the snake tries to scare you. That would send the wrong message. If you can't help but jump when it bites you, look away when you pick it up until it is in your hand. Try your best to scoop it up from underneath. Snakes get worried when things grab them from above.
 
My WC corn ate FT for his first meal with me, and he was an adult! As long as it's piping hot- I bet he eats FT. It doesn't hurt to cut a few little slits in the pink's back, too. Helps the baby grow faster, plus they love the smell.

Anyway, you're doing things in the right order- feed first, then worry about handling.

Nanci
 
Veeryy cute! Looks like you have a nice setup there. Yes definatly provide him/her with plenty of hides.
As for handling, give him about a week to settle down and then go for it. He will definatly bite you, thats a given considering he's wild, when he sees a hand coming for him all the can think of is to strike. Handle him every single day (except a few days after you feed him) and sooner or later he will get used to it, calm down and accept you. This handling thing may take as long as a month or more. And dont worry, corn snake bites dont hurt at such a little size. I had a wild caught corn a while ago. She was a real female dog at the beginning so dont be surprised!
 
What a cutie and a neat find in your house:) Sounds like you have already gotten some great advice and good luck with the handling..Even CB and can be skiddish..I have a baby lavender that it took over a month before he would stop rattling at me and striking..I just kept him well fed:) And when I did pick him up just was firm with it and did it for short periods so he knew he could go right back to his hide:) He is know a lovely little baby and likes to slither around and no more striking..Good luck and keep us updated with pics:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top