• 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.

Howdy

R

Rowdyrod44

JollyRodger
Well I've arrived. Long story about getting my/our first corn snake and for that matter our first snake. But I'll save that for another post, or not. I'll just have to blame it on my 8 year old Daughter whom you will be seeing here shortly. She also gets the credit for our two awesome Bearded Dragons. It goes like this, she finds some animal that there is no way we can keep and then her old softie Dad decides to get her a variation of that animal. In this case it was a frozen stiff baby bull snake that we revived, brought back to health, and he was ticked off being in the enclosure. Didn't like the agressive behavior at all and thus released it. We then researched snakes together, decided on either a king or a corn and she picked out a neat little corn. I'd researched and seem to have things situated for it. Warm side is around 85 though it's from a lamp, cool side is around 75. We have aspen as the substrate, a branch for climbing, a fake plant, a water dish, and a couple hides. We got it on Saturday, held it a bit, but are now leaving it alone to get acclimated to it's enclosure, which I must admit is a bit too large for it at this point. I think it's a 20 gallon long reptile aquarium. But, it'll have to do. I have some pinkie mice to feed it and will probably wait until a day or two and try feeding it in a separate plastic bin. I/We will be looking over this site often and will most likely post our questions as they arise. I already appreciate the plethora of information I've gotten from the knowledgeable people on the site. No name yet for the snake, but that'll come as we get to know it better. I must also thank my wife who is not a reptile person and made the stipulation years ago "ABSOLUTELY NO SNAKES in our house!" Well with much trepidation she has accepted the corn snake to a certain extent, but the main thing is no Divorce papers have been served, yet! If you ask me, with our 4 and 8 year old holding it already I think my wife will be holding our friend within a month or so. Any bets! Oh well, enough is enough. Any advice or suggestions will always be welcome from the folks here at cornsnakes.com. Rodger
 
Welcome to the Forum. Hope you enjoy it here. I would wait 5 days with no handling before attempting to feed :)
 
I'll do that though it'll be hard to keep my daughter away from him. She's dying to hold it again. He's been in hiding for a couple days and probably does some cruising at night. I did some remodeling to his enclosure today and didn't roust him at all. I figured he needed a bit more climing area and a smaller hide on the warm side. I''d kind of set it up more like a desert area and now it's more of a foresty layout. I'm just hoping the basking area light will work for him. I am a bit leery of the UTH at this time and the temp. readings I'm getting are good so far.
 
Hi there and welcome, glad your wife allowed the little snakie and happy to hear your kids are taking an interest in reptiles. Let us know if you have any questions, and we would love to see pics as soon as it is settled in :D
 
Well I checked him after midnight and he was out investigating his new surroundings, then this morning he was back in his hide someplace. Good sign I guess. I'll post pictures soon I hope. :cheers: Cheers
 
I know how difficult it is to leave the snake alone for the first week, but trust me it's for the best. The reason the UTH is recommended I believe, is because snakes need belly heat to help digest their food. I have my UTH hooked up to a rheostat (dimmer switch) to control the temperature. Looking forward to pics when you get to it :)
 
Yes, I understand that. I also have a UVB light that I thought was a good thing until I researched further. I now only use that for when I need to look in the enclosure. It gets plenty of ambient light in the room it's in plus, for now, from the lamp during the day, plus the lamp has a dimmer switch that keeps the temps under control. Why don't companies offer UTH with a dimmer attached? Most of this stuff is what I used for the Beardies. At this point the temps are OK. I use an infrared temp "gun" and that's the surface temp I'm checking. I'm waiting until the weekend to get a UTH and dimmer switch so I can carefully watch the temp in the tank so I don't bake the poor thing. I will leave it alone until the weekend for sure and then let the girls hold it and probably try to feed it Sunday. When feeding do I just toss the pinky into the box I'll feed him in and leave it alone, or should I use tweezers to liven up the pinky to look alive. I've heard feeding at dusk is the best bet. Thanks for the advise. I'll keep reading and learning.
 
Good call about the thermometer and a UTH. I have NO idea why they don't include a dimmer on the UTH's. What a good idea though. You should market it! Sounds like a good weekend plan. It depends on the snake. Mine will eat whatever you throw in his feeding bin, anytime day or night. He's not picky at all, but all snakes are different. Yours may prefer eating at night and may only strike a "live" looking pinkie. It's totally up to you. Keep us updated on how things go. Do you have any pics of the snake?
 
Here is a photo of the enclosure. It's a 20L that will probably be too small in no time. Not sure how it'll look from the iPhone, but we'll see. The fluorescent UVB will just be used when I need to see better inside. The basking light will be removed Saturday. I got the UTH from Petsmart, dimmer switch from Home Depot, and thermometer from Walmart. I'm not sure quite how to run the 10 ft. sensor wire to keep it from bothering the burrowing snake. Research will be done and I'll have it all figured out when I do the installation on Saturday. When the girls are holding it Saturday, I'll get photo's of our snake AKA Tully Mars, though sex of snake is still unknown.
 

Attachments

  • resize.jpg
    resize.jpg
    201.9 KB · Views: 20
  • resize 2.jpg
    resize 2.jpg
    227.6 KB · Views: 21
  • resize 3.jpg
    resize 3.jpg
    205.6 KB · Views: 20
Nice set up. A 20 Long should last you your snake's lifetime, although you may decide to bump up to a 33 galon. But apparently a 20 Long is quite sufficient for most snakes.
 
i aggree, it depends on the snake,i use tweezers for both mine but thats just my personal preference-dont fancy my fingers becoming lunch lol both mine take it fine this way (apart from kasey being on hunger strike at the mo) but you'll just have to try and see. agree with the uth too and also if you haven't got one a digital thermometer-much more accurate reading-welcome to the addiction!!
 
More questions.....
Got UTH, it sticks to bottom outside of tank. I'm using aspen substrate. UTH directions say to not allow snake to come in contact with glass above the UTH. So question 1 is do I need to do this. I know my snake likes to burrow under the substrate and though I will continually monitor the temps, of course i don't want to burn Tully Mars, my snake. If so, I have reptile carpet i can cut to size but how do I anchor that so Tully Mars doesn't get under that? Is tape such as duct tape, or maybe electrical ok to use?

If tape is ok to use, question 2 is answered. But here goes anyway. I have a combo indoor outdoor thermometer that also takes a humidity reading. Main unit takes "indoor temp" on cool side, probe on 10 ft. cord takes temp on warm side. I figure to put the probe on top of the carpet if used (glass if not) and run the cord out of the enclosure to keep excess cable out of the way, then back into the enclosure to the main unit, and velcro the main unit somewhere visible so I can monitor temps. If not tape, how do i keep Tully Mars free of the probe cable when he burrows?

I know questions 3, 4, 5........will follow shortly.

I hope this makes some sort of sense. Your advice will be appreciated!

Thanks...
 
My UTH said that too. I didn't stick the UTH to my viv though as I have a 10 gallon right now and want to upsize to a 20 long eventually. In my opinion, as long as the temperature on the glass is 85 - the snake will be ok. So make sure to put the temp probe below the substrate. You may want to post this in the husbandry and care section to get more experienced responses.
Tape is NOT safe to use!
I don't know what to recommend about the thermometer... maybe run the long cord on the bottom of the tank under the substrate? Personally I only have a thermometer on the hot side, and I run the cable outside of the tank and have it taped to the front of my tank.

Sorry I wasn't able to answer all your questions. They are very good questions, and I hope I helped :) If you would like some more experienced answers I will not be offended. Just post it in the Husbandry and Basic care which gets a bit more traffic :)

Good Luck, and I expect to see pictures of your snake soon :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top