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heating your snake

B

bri123

New member
i no heating is very important but what kind of heating do you use ive herd heating rocks cause burns so should you use an under tank heating pad? if so should you use wood shaveings insted of newspaper-will newspaper get too hot for your snake? plz reply
 
Do you already have this corn snake, because you don't know what to feed it, what substrate to use or what kid of heat. As someone in another thread said read Stickies at beginning of each topic, read Kathy Love's book. :shrugs: susan
 
ya i do

i do have one but i just got it and its a bit scared i just wanna make sure im doing it right :-offtopic
 
Unfortunatly you should have done all of this research way ahead of time.
I don't want to be rude but I will if I have to be, it was very irresponsible of you to do that.

I commend you for at least trying to do research now, but you're really not. Read all of the FAQ's as suggested, read all the care sheets. Do some topic searches for questions you may have you'll find most have been beaten with a stick 100x before.
And most of all please pick up Kathy Love's corn snake book as has been suggested, it will teach you much much much that you need to know.
 
ok really no need to be rude but i have done that stuff just makeing sure and have you seen the other peoples threads do u make mean comments on other pepoles threads too
 
If your brother knows, then why are you asking basic questions?
Please research properly for the sake of your new snake
 
bri123 said:
ok really no need to be rude but i have done that stuff just makeing sure and have you seen the other peoples threads do u make mean comments on other pepoles threads too
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When they ask many questions all of a sudden and clearly haven't done any reading that is right in front of their face yes.
If it makes you stop posting and read what we tell you to, then hell yes.
 
sorry well any way i just did that and its not my snake its the famaily snake im just trying to make sure we were doing it right
 
bri123 said:
ok really no need to be rude but i have done that stuff just makeing sure and have you seen the other peoples threads do u make mean comments on other pepoles threads too
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I always try to make mean comments when I see a person asking basic questions in one thread and offering advice in another. After all, snakes' lives are at stake, and I like snakes. :)
 
Oh yeah. Roy is TOTALLY a jerk. :grin01:

I reccomend kathy Loves Book - and the search engine on this site. I haven't even recieved my first corn but everything in the tank is set up, temperatuers have been monitered, plans have been put in motion and I've been reading up since January.... Along with asking a LOT of questions.

I still think I am very unprepared, simply because I haven't had a snake as a pet before. Unfortunetly, it doesn't sound you've done any research at all prior to bringing this creature home. While your brother might know things about reptiles, and maybe even corn snakes!, it's apparent he isn't helping you with this, as you are askign basic husbandry questions that are easily answered by the books or FAQ in the forums.

Really, no one here is trying or BEING mean. Take their comments at face value: the people here LOVE (or at least strongly like) cornsnakes. They don't want to see them hurt or malnourished or neglected in any fashion. Like any animal, cornsnakes DO need specific things in order to survive.

People are just trying to help you. For the more basic questions, just type in 'heating' or 'mouse' or anything else in the search engine. It's helped me countless times.
 
I use a heat lamp with a dimmer attached to it so I can keep a constant temerature. If it gets to hot I just give the lamp less power and it dims down. It has worked pretty well for me so far. I love my snakes to death does anyone know if lamps can be harmful?
 
serafino said:
I use a heat lamp with a dimmer attached to it so I can keep a constant temerature. If it gets to hot I just give the lamp less power and it dims down. It has worked pretty well for me so far. I love my snakes to death does anyone know if lamps can be harmful?
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One thing you want to avoid when using a heat lamp is allowing it to be right against the screen on top of the tank where your corn could possibly touch and be burned. It's a good idea to clip the lamp onto the side of the viv using a lamp clamp.
 
Or use a guard if the lamp is inside the viv'.

In response to the thread topic, yes, I agree with the others here, really research should have been done prior to buying your snake. Before I got mine I did lots of research, how about 13 years worth (that's how long I've been asking for one lol).

But to answer your question; if you have a hatchling corn (baby), then using paper towels or newspaper is fine, this prevents any ingestion of substrate providing that you feed it outside of its tank. Place the heat mat underneath the tank, leaving slightly more cold than warm. This provides a thermo-gradient, allowing your snake to thermo-regulate, this prevents stress and promotes good health and digestion. Really you should also use a thermometer and thermostat to monitor and control the temperature within the tank.

You should provide a hide on both sides of the tank, along with fresh, clean water. You should be feeding your snake once every 4-5 days if he/she is a hatchling, to get into a good habit you should feed in a seperate enclosure with nothing in there to distract the snake from the mouse. This means no substrate either, as ingestion can occur. Once your snake has eaten, wait about 15-20 minutes (make sure that there's one warm area of the seperate enclosure) and then gently place your snake back into the tank (no handling, just a pick-up and put back job here).

Obviously, an escape-free tank is a must, as Corn snakes are master escape artists. As long as you follow this, then you should be okay, as this is just a basic outline on what you must do. I strongly recommend doing more research, and I'd also buy Kathy Love's Comprehensive Guide to Corn snakes, as others have said, it tells you all that you need to know.

To the others, the more experienced Corn owner; I know you love these snakes, and I know what this guy did was irresponsible, but you shouldn't be too hard on him. Hopefully now he knows the basics, and if he takes our advice then his slightly stupid start should balance out.

Hope this helps anyway, best of luck.

Dave (any rep' would be nice) :)
 
For what it's worth; I use a heat mat under the viv and wood chippings over the top. This seems to work fine for my little ones. The heat mat goes under half of the viv so that I achieve a nice temperature gradient and my snakes have somewhere to cool down, the cool spot is where the thermometer is. I'm careful where I put the food as I don't want my snakes eating the wood. I'm sorry I don't know if you have already said this, do you have a place for your snake to hide out? I usually put the food on top of the hide out away from the loose chips.

Does any of this help?

Blessings
Gill
 
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