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I have learned a lot.....some VERY VALUABLE advice for the first time owner

F

fsqwert

New member
One of my first posts was concerning whether or not a corn snake will change its activity level according to a change in seasons. My baby Okeetee (June 03) had stopped being active at night from about the beginning of September until about late October when I FINALLY figured out what the problem was. I thought that the problem might be temperature related, and so I tried to fix it by having the heating pad on 24 hours a day. When that didn't work, I was really puzzled.
Finally, I found the answer. The heating pad wasnt doing much to raise the AIR TEMPERATURE in the tank. The heating pad was only raising the SUBSTRATE TEMPERATURE. There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE for all of you first time snake owners. The huge difference is that if you only raise the substrate temperature and dont raise the air temperature, the snake will digest his food JUST FINE, but you will NEVER SEE HIM. He will always be under one of the hides "sleeping" (being dormant)
Do yourself a HUGE FAVOR when you get a corn snake. If you live in a climate where the fall and winters are chilly like I do....Please buy a ceramic heater to put on top of the tank. I learned this after weeks of wondering what is wrong with my little guy. I had a breakthrough when we had a few days of unseasonably warm weather this fall. He came out of hiding. I was like....son of a gun! I bet its the temperature! You would think that having the heating pad on for 24 hours a day would have been good enough, but you'd be wrong.;) So, I went out and bought a ceramic heat emitter at the pet store, and EVERY SINGLE NIGHT he is coming out now, just like he did during the summer months. Thank god I figured out the problem before something bad happened!
To complicate things further, I had one of those fancy DIGITAL thermometers which was telling me that the temp on the warm end would reach into the mid to high 80s at NIGHT. Of course, the fancy digital thermometer was measuring the SUBSTRATE temperature, and not the air temperature. That's the reason I didn't suspect that the temperature was the problem at first. Now I have the ceramic heater all hooked up, but I am finding the need for a thermostat, because when its on, it gets too warm at night, and when its off, its too cold.
I am trying to do everything perfectly here. I want to see if I can raise a "prize winning snake", whatever that means. :p
(The meaning behind my quote)

"Gentlemen...we can rebuild him..." :p
 
P.S. Since I am a beginner myself, with only 5 months of experience, can anybody tell me whether a 5 month old okeetee which measures about 19 to 20 inches is below normal, average, or exceptional in terms of size? Also, I am feeding him one peach fuzzy per week, and I'm wondering if that's enough.
Thanks
Jeff
 
Jeff,

I applaud you for thinking "outside of the box" when it comes to your corn. Good keepers of herps are those who think in their determinations as to what is best for their charges.

However, I can't help but think that you may have overlooked another aspect of your corn's environment. While temperatures definitely affect the activities of snakes, so also does the photoperiod to which they are exposed. Since you noticed a change in the activities of your baby in the fall (when the days shorten), it may be that he was simply reacting to the lowering of available natural sunlight, which serves as a clue to wild snakes that brumation time will soon be upon them.

You stated that your animal was given a substrate temp of 80F. That is sufficient, I assure you. The fact is that cornsnakes derive the VAST majority of their heat absorbtion from their ventral scales rather than from the lateral side. Why do they bask in the sun? Because that is where the rocks are warmest! If they had an under the den heater in the wild, I would suggest that you would hardly ever see corns (especially small ones like yours) out in the open, unless they were seeking water, food, or a mate.

So, now you have added a ceramic heater to the top of your cage, and your baby is now moving around more. I have no way of gauging the efficacy of your vivarium, so please do not take this as an absolute truism, but is it possible that your baby was hiding out more due to the decreased photoperiod, and you have forced him to move around more by making him overheat in his hides?

Again, I have no firsthand experience with your animal or your setup, so there is no way for me to know definitively what is transpiring in your animal's life. I just wanted to relay this information for you so that you could consider it as a possibility and take whatever steps you deem necessary.

Good luck with your baby!
 
It's possible that u could be right, Darrin. The thing is though...the temps on the cool end are almost at room temp at night...in the low 70s. (I have a digital thermometer on THAT END, too) With a gradient like that, I can't imagine that he would overheat. I'm just soo glad that he is finally active. I was worried that something might have been seriously wrong. And anyway, from what I understand, snakes dont have to go through a dormant period. It isn't really necessary. I am thinking about what you said now Darrin, and now Im MORE CONFUSED THAN EVER.....LOL The air temperature has dropped inside my house pretty significantly going from summer to fall. And I just thought that it wouldnt be very healthy for him to experience that kind of drop for an extended period. And of course since I got him during the summer, in my mind... ACTIVE=GOOD, NOT ACTIVE=BAD... LOL I haven't really noticed him sitting in his water bowl like he might do if the temp was too high. And besides that...if I waited for the temps to rise to the level they were when he was naturally active, I would be waiting from September until MAY. That just doesn't seem right to me.
Also, the time when he did come out, when we had those unseasonably warm days I talked about before...the daylength wasn't that much longer than it is now. It was only a few weeks ago. And yet, he came out. So if he was responding to the photoperiod, you would think that he would have stayed under his hides during the unseasonably warm weather. That's why I hope that what Im doing now is the right thing to do.


Jeff


"Gentlemen...we can rebuild him..." :p



P.S. Maybe you could help me out, Darrin and tell me what would the signs be that the temps are too high for him? Sitting in the water bowl is one sign, I know. What would be some others? I mean...the temps are actually what they are supposed to be...they arent too high...except if I leave the heater on too long during the night, and Im gonna fix that by getting a thermostat. But, most of the time the temp right below where the heater is pointed only registers 84 to 86 degrees....now, of course thats 84 to 86 degrees at night too, which might be a tad too high, but like I said..on the other end of the tank...its in the low 70s at night. And also, the 86 degrees is probably the hot spot in the whole tank since the thermometer is right underneath the heater. Thanks for your advice, Darin
 
If the additional heating element is only causig the warm side temps to be in the 84 - 86F range, I would say that you were fine with the setup you currently have. However, I would certainly watch out for the sings that the photoperiod is having an increased effect on your animal's behavior.

The only thing I can caution you about is that "more heat" is not always the answer, as I'm certain you know. It's just the easiest of the corn's environment for us to control, and so we tend to look to it first.

Signs of the corn being too warm would include, soaking in the water dish, moving to the coolest portion of the vivarium, and being more aggressive (flattening the head, excessive tail buzzing, and striking). There may be other reactions in individual corns, but these are fairly common reactions to being too warm in most snakes.

Good luck with him!
 
I actually have only one heating device on right now....since I found the heating pad to be useless or so I thought...I turned it off....the ceramic heater is the only thing running
 
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