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Hello!

T

Timmeh___

New member
Hey guys, my name is Tim.
I am 15 years old and have been a corn snake owner since march.
This baby corn snake is named Prism.

Everything was going pretty great until two weeks ago when she decided to regurge 1 out of the two fead pinkies. (She's just hit around 16 grams so thats when I decided to feed her two) It was a temperature related issue, because we found a few what seemed to be bedbugs in my bed so myself and her immediately moved to the spare room of the house. That room was considerably colder for whatever reason, her cage was only getting up to about 82 degrees, so I assume that she finished digesting one of the pinkies and started the next one but couldn't since the room was waay too cold. So I waited
7-8 days after the regurge to feed her half a pinkie, and now a week after the half pinkie, back in the old room, she has kept it down. My plans are to feed her a half pinkie tonight since it has been a week since the last half pinkie, and then in one week do a whole pinkie, and if she holds that down go back to the regular two pinkies.Is there anything else I should/shouldn't do?
Here are a few pictures.
Qj59N8R.jpg

khhb8Po.jpg



Also, this is my tank, should I make and changes?
dFSX61o.jpg


Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!
 
Hi. Welcome! Prism is a beautiful little snake.

I don't have experience with regurge care so I'll pass on that.

Do you have an undertank heater or are you using the lamp for heat? One warm hide and one cool hide are recommended and I can't tell what is what in your picture. I would recommend a digital thermometer that you could put under the substrate in the warm hide to ensure that it is the right temperature in there. Your vine is very nice and your viv looks pretty.
 
My recommendation would be to have a hide on the warm side over preferably a UTH because cornsnakes need belly heat to digest their mice. Also, I second DollysMom's suggestion to get a digital probe thermometer for the floor of the warm side as that is the most important temp.

I do not use a lamp at all - only a UTH under 1/3 of the tank. I have that plugged into a thermostat to make sure it does not get too hot and burn my snake.

Good luck with your new snake! She looks very pretty and your viv looks nice.
 
DollysMom said:
Hi. Welcome! Prism is a beautiful little snake.

I don't have experience with regurge care so I'll pass on that.

Do you have an undertank heater or are you using the lamp for heat? One warm hide and one cool hide are recommended and I can't tell what is what in your picture. I would recommend a digital thermometer that you could put under the substrate in the warm hide to ensure that it is the right temperature in there. Your vine is very nice and your viv looks pretty.
Click to expand...

I do own an undertank heater that came with the tank. I would use it but it didnt come with the elevation tabs (the tank is on a wooden table). I could find some sort of tile to put under the tank, but the lamp is fine. My father has owned many other reptiles before, has told me that he has only really used lights and everything turned out fine. I dont think I will switch to a UTH
untill i have further problems with temperature. I have made changes with the hides (seen in the pictures below)

jagodzinski said:
My recommendation would be to have a hide on the warm side over preferably a UTH because cornsnakes need belly heat to digest their mice. Also, I second DollysMom's suggestion to get a digital probe thermometer for the floor of the warm side as that is the most important temp.

I do not use a lamp at all - only a UTH under 1/3 of the tank. I have that plugged into a thermostat to make sure it does not get too hot and burn my snake.

Good luck with your new snake! She looks very pretty and your viv looks nice.
Click to expand...

Just like the other reply, the table is wooden and the UTH that came with the tank didnt include elevation tabs so it would make direct contact with the table. If I have any more problems with her regurging, I will definitely invest in a UTH.'

These are the changes ive made. I added the old, smaller hide in the corner near the waterbowl, so now there is 1 warm, 1 cool hide.
Thanks for all of the feedback guys, I really appreciate it :D
 
Welcome to the forums Tim.
With little babies, making them feel secure and decreasing their stress goes a long way towards their health. Prism (beautiful name by the way) might feel more secure with smaller hides so she could feel really hidden. Those hides look really big for her. They will be great for when she's a little older.

I would also recommend an under tank heater. Your little baby snake would probably feel a lot happier not having to lay out in the open to absorb heat from above, and with an UTH she could stay hidden and still take advantage of the heat on her belly, where she needs it most. Being in a colder room would have had less impact on her with an UTH I would suspect, and you may have avoided the regurge, which can be a really serious problem. Little stick-on legs to raise the tank off the wooden table are under a dollar, so not having any is not really a good reason not to use an UTH. :)

There is also a regurge protocol on here somewhere, in one of the stickies at the top of the feeding problem category I think, which you may want to review. It's written by one of the foremost experts in corn snake care, so definitely worth considering. I'll try to find it an link it here for you. It's right at the top of the threat at this address: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28342 (sorry, my linking skills are rusty!)

Good luck and enjoy your new pet!
 
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I recommend the under tank heater as well- Snakes don't bask, they are not like other reptiles you or your family may have owned.
They use belly heat to digest their food, they do not hang out in the sun, and they like to burrow, so they need the belly heat not the above heat. Plus, the heat lamps can get way too hot because they are not regulated and they can burn snake scales very easily.
You do not need that heat lamp at all unless you live in freezing temps and need the extra warmth.

You could also clutter the tank a little more, snakes like to hide and they like clutter- you can use paper towel rolls or old Tupperware containers, get creative. They enjoy burrowing and being concealed.

Read up as much as you can on here, the people on this forum are very knowledgeable, kind, and only make the recommendations that they do because they are in the best interest of our snakes. They know what they are talking about. We're all here to help, but ultimately it is your decision what advice you decide to use.

Your snake is very beautiful. Welcome to the forum.
 
Just to add to what Albertagirl said, you can loosely crumple up some paper towels, put them under the hides, and make your big hides cozier until your snake gets bigger. I've also just mounded up substrate to do the same thing.

Most of us use undertank heat with a thermostat to control the temperature and keep it around 85 degrees F. Belly heat is best for our corn snakes. They don't need much light. I have a lamp on my viv because my room is dark, but it is an LED bulb on a timer for a day night cycle that stays totally cool. Even that light is on a dimmer to keep it from being too bright.

The heat of a regular bulb, especially one made to provide heat to reptiles, can make things too dry and makes shedding more difficult.

Snakes, and corns snakes in particular, have some different needs than some other reptiles. Providing belly heat in a cozy hide will help with your snake's digestion. Best wishes and congrats on a great little snake!
 
P.S. I didn't see Zeina's reply until I had posted. No intention of "piling on" here. We are here to help you. So please don't feel overwhelmed by all the replies saying the same things in different ways. On my part, if I had seen that second post I wouldn't have said it a third time! Again, best wishes.
 
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If you decide to go UTH route and really cannot find the feet, you can use a piece of insulation to protect the wood which is actually what I use.

Once again - welcome and good luck with your snake!
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback =)

Now I've gone out and gotten this UTH. It came with the tabs.
PVyLQNX.jpg


Does anyone have recommendations on a Thermometer that I should use with this UTH?
 
My apologies, a UTH is definitely more than a dollar. I thought you said you had one already and were only missing the feet! But good for you picking one up anyway. :)

My advice on thermostats is to get one meant for seedling plants with a digital display. I have a cheaper digital one meant for plants, which I use on my baby cages, and a more expensive one made especially for reptiles which I use on my adult cages. As it turns out, I like the cheaper one way better, and it works exactly the same. On top of which it has the digital display, and cost about a third the price. Something like this works perfect: http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Hortic...438293442&sr=8-2&keywords=heat+mat+thermostat

I also agree with DollysMom, no need to buy new hides, you can just make those feel more secure by "crowding" them with substrate, paper towel, fake plants, crumpled newspaper, etc.
 
I dont know how i feel about getting a UTH afterall. She has been doing fine with her heat lamp and also getting all of this thermostat/thermometer stuff is just so confusing.
 
Don't get a new uth get two bricks to elevate your tank..you can buy em at a home depot for like 70 cents each.

Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk
 
Something I've experienced with many animals is "she is doing fine" doesn't mean that's what is best for her. It's really what is best. When I was doing research on a corn (I'm only three weeks in with my first) that was the number 1 thing I read. No heat lamps, just the uth. When I got Samson he had both. I haven't used the heat lamp. The uth makes him super happy and he goes to nestle over it when he eats. You've already bought it, I'd just stick with it. Everyone can explain the thermometers better. Even I'm confused there


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Thermostats confused me at first, too.
UTHs get very hot - The THERMOSTAT is what is used to control the hotness of the UTH.
The UTH plugs into the thermostat, the thermostat plugs into the wall. Simple. After that, you just put your thermostat to 85ish, and it makes the UTH stay at around 85ish degrees. Without a thermostat to regulate the temperature of the UTH, it can climb into the 100s, and you don't want that

Thermostats are 30 bucks on amazon, it's called a Hydro farm... it says it's for plants but it's used for reptiles as well, it's what I have and most other people do as well.

The thermometer is a cheap little 4 or 5 dollar digital temperature gauge that is put next to the thermostat to make sure the temps are matching up. Both the thermostat and thermometer have probes that will sit next to each other, inside the tank, on the glass bottom above the heat mat. This is important because this is where your snake will get his belly heat for digestion, and this is the best place to monitor the heat.

I know it sounds scary and confusing- but read what I said, slowly, and once you get it set up, you'll totally understand how it works and how easy it is.
I hope this helped!
 
Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate your help
with the uth help. My plan is to order the two suggested
items on the bottom of the previous page. I read up on
some things and now I get how important belly heat is.
I will update you guys as soon as the thermostat arrives.
 
Alright guys, its ordering time.
Now I have a few questions.
1 - Since I'm using a thermostat, and the pad will only reach 85 at night, 88 during the day, do I need some sort of carpet so that she wont go down to the glass? or since its not hotter than 88 degrees, she wont get burned.
2 - I would like some pictures of your guys' setups so that I have and idea as to where everything should be placed.
 
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