My first post:
I got my baby corn snake in July of this year. I had done a lot of reading on corn snakes and all seemed to be going well...He was a great feeder and never regurged. I had two hiding spots...one on the warm end of the cage and one on the cool end. However, I began to notice that when he was hiding, I would always find him under the hiding spot in the COOL end.(This was OK when it was mid July) I measured my temps which were good on both ends....high 70s on cool end, and mid 80s on the warm end.
I found it curious that he was always on the cool end, but it never bothered me UNTIL the weather changed a couple of weeks ago. Then I started noticing that the temp would drop to 68 degrees for the nighttime low on the cool end, but the snake would always be in the same hiding spot on that end. I started to worry that his digestion would be hampered, and I began to look for a reason WHY he was always on that end. Like they say, the devil is in the details.....The reason was that HE JUST LIKED THAT HIDING SPOT BETTER. It happened to be a piece of cage furniture functioning both as a hiding spot and a water bowl. I discovered after reading Kathy Love's book that corns like hiding places that are very tight and narrow. The piece of bark I had on the warm end had about an inch of space between it and the substrate...and THATS WHY he was always on the cool end!
The space under the water bowl WAS IN FACT very tight and narrow. So, I just went out and bought another water bowl to put on the warm end.
I hope that nobody else makes this mistake with their snake. Fortunately I caught the mistake before it became a problem. (Just like when you're out driving...you don't get penalized for "close calls", only accidents. It's funny, I had everything else perfect...the way its supposed to be....EXCEPT FOR THAT!
I got my baby corn snake in July of this year. I had done a lot of reading on corn snakes and all seemed to be going well...He was a great feeder and never regurged. I had two hiding spots...one on the warm end of the cage and one on the cool end. However, I began to notice that when he was hiding, I would always find him under the hiding spot in the COOL end.(This was OK when it was mid July) I measured my temps which were good on both ends....high 70s on cool end, and mid 80s on the warm end.
I found it curious that he was always on the cool end, but it never bothered me UNTIL the weather changed a couple of weeks ago. Then I started noticing that the temp would drop to 68 degrees for the nighttime low on the cool end, but the snake would always be in the same hiding spot on that end. I started to worry that his digestion would be hampered, and I began to look for a reason WHY he was always on that end. Like they say, the devil is in the details.....The reason was that HE JUST LIKED THAT HIDING SPOT BETTER. It happened to be a piece of cage furniture functioning both as a hiding spot and a water bowl. I discovered after reading Kathy Love's book that corns like hiding places that are very tight and narrow. The piece of bark I had on the warm end had about an inch of space between it and the substrate...and THATS WHY he was always on the cool end!
The space under the water bowl WAS IN FACT very tight and narrow. So, I just went out and bought another water bowl to put on the warm end.I hope that nobody else makes this mistake with their snake. Fortunately I caught the mistake before it became a problem. (Just like when you're out driving...you don't get penalized for "close calls", only accidents
. It's funny, I had everything else perfect...the way its supposed to be....EXCEPT FOR THAT!
