Help!

[Brayden...]

Well, my name is Brayden.

My dad bought me an Albino Cornsnake and I'm concerned because I don't
know if I'm taking proper care of it. I've read many websites on them, but
I don't get enough facts from these sites to know and I don't want to search the forum for my type of questions. The snake is a female, about, two feet
long.

This is where I have my snake. The container is in plastic with a vent type lid to place over it with two plastic openings that can be sealed or opened. In
the surface I have papertowel then Rainforest tree bark. It was packaged and is supposedly for reptiles. I have a rock that I bought, it has an entered to it. So he can get in and hide. I usually press the rock down hard, put the bark around it and under the rock I have moved the bark so when he lies inside hes on paper towel. I also have a waterdish, I fill it with fairly warm
water, not steaming but perfect temperature. I have a "heating pad" for
humans underneath it. Today I bought one but it was only for glass aquariums
so my parents are deciding what to do. It automatically shuts off every
half an hour. It has three diffrent heats. Low, medium and high. I am worried if the bark doesn't get the heat or if i am using the right material for her.
I am feeding her for the first time, on Thursday with those "fuzzies" otherwise
known as baby mice and they are frozen. So I have a few questions.

Are you able to tell the age? (I got her Saturday)

Is this big enough for her?

Should I use plastic or glass?

What steps do I do to feed her?

Where should I locate the heat?

How do I tell if shes not feeling well or bothered?

Read all the information I gave above and please tell me what you'd change diffrently or do anything. Add anything for her home. Please I don't want her
to die.

Thanks, Brayden.
Contact me via MSN, [email protected]

 

[Flagg]

The main thing to worry about is the temperature of the tank right over the heating pad. You need a thermometer with a probe to measure the temp there and it should be 80-85 degrees, right on the glass or plastic under the substrate or paper towel. With a heating pad there it is probably far hotter than that. You really need a small reptile UTH and a lamp dimmer or thermostat to control the temperature, which is measured with a digital probe thermometer.

You also need at least 2 hides, 1 on the warm side and one on the cool side. The UTh or heater pad should only be under 1/3 of the tank.

 

[defiant14]

Well, my name is Brayden.

Is this big enough for her?

Should I use plastic or glass?

What steps do I do to feed her?

Where should I locate the heat?

How do I tell if shes not feeling well or bothered?

Read all the information I gave above and please tell me what you'd change diffrently or do anything. Add anything for her home. Please I don't want her
to die.

Just my opinions, and feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but considering she is going to grow it may not be able to just upgrade to a bigger container now. It will help you with your heat regulation if you just get a good set-up together. If you are feeding her frozen, then you want to thaw the mouse out (place it in a ziplock and put it in a glass of hot tap water for a few minutes), then place it in a feeding container (like a Tupperware or something) then bring your snake to the feeding container to eat it. You don't want to handle your snake for a couple of days after feeding because she may throw up the mouse, so put her back in her cage and let her digest for a while. You temperature is important, and she may not feed if the temp is off. It is important to have a good thermometer and monitor the temps in there. Like someone said, you want to heat about 1/3 of the tank so there is a colder side the snake can go to to regulate it's body temperature. Place something on the cold side for the snake to hide in, even a empty cardboard toilet paper roll should work just fine, but you don't want the snake to have to choose between being comfortable/secure and self regulating it's temperature. By having a hide at the cool end and the warm end, the snake can do both.

Hope this helps.

Can anyone shed more light on this for Brayden?

 

[Plissken]

Hi Brayden, welcome to the forum.

I do find it a little odd that you expect answers but don't want to search the forums... I feel you'd get answers faster if you ran a search. I don't understand why you don't 'want' to use it. It is there to help you.

However... since I'm replying now anyway... I'll try to address your questions.

I have two of those exact same tanks which I use for my inverts. They're only a foot and a half long and I don't feel one of those would last your snake for long. You might like to think about upgrading to her adult home. I like wooden vivariums for my snakes.

As to your water bowl; the water need not be warm or hot. Hot water is certainly not a "perfect" temperature. Normal room-temp water will do.

For heat, it is recommended that you use a reptile heat mat. This should cover no more than underneath 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank, and any heat source you use must be controlled by a thermostat, else your tank could overheat. You also need to get a digital thermometer with a probe, so you can accurately measure your temperatures. You must know what the temps are. You want to aim for a gradient of 70-75F cool side, 80-85F warm side.

Now, let's address feeding.

It is highly recommended that you place the snake in a separate container when you feed, this prevents the snake ingesting its substrate, which can lead to impaction. To thaw the frozen mice, I simply fill an old container with hot (not boiling) water and drop in the mouse. When it's thawed and warm, I dry it and drop it in the feeding tub with the snake. My corn will eat food that's just lying there, but my python likes to have his food jiggled on tongs so he can strike. See what works for your snake. After feeding, don't handle the snake for at least 48 hours. The snake needs this time to digest and handling can make her regurgitate the meal.

A few notes about your tank set up...

As another poster mentioned, you need at least two hides, one on either side, so your snake can choose how warm or cool she wants to be when she's resting. For bedding, I can also recommend aspen wood chippings. They're totally safe, easy to clean, and snakes love burrowing in it.

By the way - try not to handle the snake for a few days. Let her settle in. I give mine about 5 days to get used to a new home.

Good luck and I hope I've helped. Feel free to come back with more questions, but don't forget that search function, too

 

[Brayden...]

Alright thank you, I will try and see what happens.

We went to the petstore and another lady recommended a lamp, therefore the snake, will "curl-up" and lie there. I'm unsure if this a good option for the snake.

I did some readjustments in the container, I took out some bark so it was easier for her to feel the heat. I have done the the things and 1/3 of my
container is being heated. But she ALWAYS seems to be under the
water dish, buried under the bark. Is there a reason for this?

 

[Weebonilass]

My guess is that the heating pad (really dangerous actually) is getting too hot and the water dish is the only thing she has to hide under the cool side. Snakes should have a hide on each side, so they have the option of where to go.

 

[bitsy]

We went to the petstore and another lady recommended a lamp, therefore the snake, will "curl-up" and lie there.

You're right to be concerned - this advice is wrong.

Corns aren't active during the day and don't bask in the same way that some reptiles do. Their main requirements are to 1) feel safe and b) be the right temperature.

I agree with weebonilass; my guess is that your Corn needs to be cooler and the only place where it can get near the right temperature and still feel safe, is by hiding under the water bowl. If you put an extra hide in the cool end, chances are that it will now stick to the water bowl - don't worry, some do that and it isn't a problem.

 

[diamondlil]

If you get a thermometer with a probe then you will be able to monitor your temperatures and be on the way to getting everything right for your snake. I'd recommend you get Kathy Love's cornsnake manual. It's an easy to read book that will answer your questions without searching through the internet.

 

[Brayden...]

She seems to be doing fine,
I still have to buy the therometer.

She is back and forth between the warm and cool spots.
So I think thats doing good, her water is be cleaned with
a water-purifier. She buries underneath the bark. If I pick
her up, she seems to be a good, luke-warm temperature.

I have to feed her on Thursday, so I'll see what happens
and take all that advice into consideration.

Thanks a million.

 

[diamondlil]

She seems to be doing fine,
I still have to buy the therometer.

She is back and forth between the warm and cool spots.
So I think thats doing good, her water is be cleaned with
a water-purifier. She buries underneath the bark. If I pick
her up, she seems to be a good, luke-warm temperature.

I have to feed her on Thursday, so I'll see what happens
and take all that advice into consideration.

Thanks a million.

a snake should feel cool, not lukewarm. Please get the thermometer, your hand is not a good substitute.

 

[Brayden...]

Even when she comes from her heating?

She is cool, when she switches.

Soon, I'll buy a therometer and some vines
or plants to climb. (If she'll like it)

 

[Flagg]

You don't seem to realize how serious the heating problem is. You need that digital probe thermometer right away. And once you have it you will find that you also need a proper reptile UTH and something to control it with. A lamp dimmer from a hardware store is the cheapest option for this, but the digital probe thermometer is just as important or you will never have the proper temperatures. This is serious enough that you could lose the snake. If you don't have the money, get your parents to buy it. They bought the snake, so they are responsible for providing it's proper environment.

 

[MegF.]

Just for the record I don't use a thermostat on my heat pad but I do make sure that the temperature is correct. I use a piece of glass to attach the heater to and place that under the tank. I put folded newspaper over the top and secure it to the bottom so that they can't get under it then put substrate over the top of that. I've not had a problem. I do use a cheap thermostat on the heaters for the hatchlings to make sure it doesn't get too warm. My animals tend to rest wherever they feel most comfortable. Sometimes they'll spend most of the time on the cool side and other times on the warm. The fact that she's resting under the water bowl doesn't mean it's too hot, it may just be where she likes to be. That said, you should know what the temps are. A snake should feel fairly cool (although when they've been laying on the warm side for a bit they do feel warmer) and if they feel very warm, it's too warm. I also think you should do some of the research yourself. Commitment to proper care comes with some effort. It doesn't always get handed to you. There is an excellent FAQ section in the new members area that would answer most of your questions without you having to do an extensive search. I'm usually so interested in finding out all I can that I will spend hours researching a new potential purchase.

 

[Joolz68]

a snake should feel cool, not lukewarm.

Even when she comes from her heating?

If the temps are correct, the highest on the warm side would be 85 degrees F.
If the average human is healthy, their body temp should be 98.6 degrees F.
Since 85 is lower than 98.6, doesn't it seem logical that the snake would feel cool to the average human?
I know when I play in the snow and get frostbite, if I run the cold water tap, the water feels warm because it's temp is at a higher degree than my skin. So wouldn't this be the same, just in reverse? :shrugs:

Or am I missing something? (Was never good with Science.)

 

[MegF.]

That theory only works if your hands were the same temp as your internal body temp. Most of the time your hands are a little on the cold side depending upon how cool the air is around us so a snake that's been laying on the warm side could potentially feel warm to us when we pick it up. If you know what your temps are it doesn't matter if they feel warm or cool though. You'll know that they are o.k. there.

 

[BeckyG]

Exactly what Meg said. And I also need to point out that 98.6 is the average human core temp. Skin temps are actually around 91'. And like Meg said, extremities--hands and feet--can be even cooler, especially this time of year.

 

[MegF.]

Yeah, check out my hands right now....they are probably 60 degrees right now!! Feel those fingers....brrrrrrrr!!