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Little worried here and want to ask a few things.

T

TDog77

New member
Hello all, this is our first post here and our first snake ever (we are actually more excited then the kids) and she is a 6 month old Fire Corn named Scarlet. Maybe we are just nervous new owners but we wanted to run a few things by all you snake pros.
1. We left her alone for the first 48 hours and kept the house pretty quiet in order to allow her to settle even though she was past due on a feeding and other then the first evening she has stayed buried under the aspen shavings. On the third day I rooted her up for her feeding and she took the first pinky fine but when I left her alone to swallow it for 10 minutes and came back she did not really want the second (she actually gently took it then spat it out and went to hide) so I did not push the issue anymore in fear of causing a regurg and just let her go bury again. Should I be worried here as she normally eats two?

2. I have two water dishes in there including inside the lengthy hide but I have no freaking clue if she has had any water as she has stayed under the shavings the whole time. Should I do anything here or let nature takes it course.

3. I am going to leave her alone for a full three days since the first feeder before I try and handle her for the first time and am thinking of also taking out a bunch of the aspen since there is now 2 inches in there and i don't think she is ever going to be visible if I leave all that in there. I would leave it a little thicker by the UTH in order to give her as much variation in temp as possible but would make it pretty thin on the rest. Her hide is a full length pipe cut in half running all the way from the cool side to the warm allowing her not to have to leave the hide in order to seek a different temp but as far as I can tell she prefers to be under the shavings like a little mole. What do you think about this idea?

4. How short should we keep the initial handling sessions in the beginning?

Finally I will offer and early thanks for any help
 
Hi welcome to the forum my corn snake he loves to hide under the bedding yes it normal and your new snake needs time to get use to her new home. So you you should wait for a week before trying to feed her. Then after the week is up then try feeding and wait 48 hours then try handling her. And in the beginning you could start off only handling her maybe 5 minutes then put her back in her cage. And if she is okay with that then the next day make it 10 minutes and go from there. :)
 
I think the basic rule for a new snake after arrival is about one week - ten days before handling or feeding. I wouldn't be too worried yet that she only ate one instead of two of her normal two pinkie meal because shes still settling in.

It's pretty normal for a new arrival in a new environment to either explore vivaciously for the first while it's in its new home, or to completely hide for awhile before coming out. My yearling still hides 95% of the time, if not more, and I've had her for a year now. I personally wouldn't remove any aspen. If that's where she feels safe it's not hurting anything in my opinion. My yearling will go from hiding under her aspen, to being in her hides back and forth. One idea might be to add some more above substrate hides, fake plants, vines, etc, (If you haven't already). I have 3 seperate hides in my yearlings enclosure, one on the warmer side, one one the cooler side, and one inbetween. I plan on adding some more foilage in hopes she'll come out more, and not feel so shy out in the open because she is still pretty small in a 40 gallon breeder tank. What size tank/viv/enclosure do you have your 6 mo. old girl in?

I and others might suggest starting with 5-10 min holding sessions, then going up another 5 mins every 2-3 times you hold her until she can comfortabley stay out and be handled for 20-30 mins. Just be aware of your snakes behavior, if she seems stressed like becomes super flighty after being handled for awhile, that's usually time to put her back. If shes flighty as soon as you take her out that's pretty normal she just needs to become accustomed to being handled. So don't put her back in her home because shes flighty right away, but after time when she's more tame and becomes a little frantic after being held for awhile. Hope this helps some =]. Hopefully others will chime in and maybe give some insight of their own.
 
Welcome to the site! I'm pretty new too (I got my babies in October), but I will tell you what mine did.
The first several weeks I had them (I have two) they spent most of their time under the aspen. Eventually they have settled in, and I see them a lot in the evenings now. My advice to you is to offer a variety of hides and get some plastic vines for him to climb on too. Mine seem to love that. I have found, that both of mine absolutely love paper towels tubes, and I even spent a good bit of money on the various fancy rock looking hides. Go figure, lol.
I handle mine from anywhere from 10 mins to 30, depending on how agitated they seem. You'll have to dig yours out, otherwise you'd never see him. He's probably exploring quite a bit after you all go to bed. Mine did. Every now and then (at the beginning) I'd catch one of them out, and as soon as they were aware of me they darted back under the aspen. In time they seem to have gotten used to me. Now I often find them out looking around in the early evenings.
I try to handle each one every day, unless they are going to shed, or just ate.
Also, I feed mine in separate containers. A lot of people here recommended that to me. I just use a Gladware container. It gives you an opportunity to check the cage out and spot clean while he eats.
I hope my rambling helps. Good luck!
 
I think every one has given you a pretty great run down. I would wait 72 hours after this first feeding to handle her. This gives her plenty of time to digest and settle down. Increasing handling increments can go as see fit, if she is calm you can handle her longer, if she seems really persistent to get away, give her a break. I also am with visceral on the aspen thing. I would not remove any. That is where she feels safe and I don't see the point in causing her any undue stress by taking away her hiding place. I have 9 snakes and I only ever see my hognose out at any given time, one of my corns will come up to the glass when I or a cat nears the cage, hiding is a very normal behavior that should not be taken away.
As for the water- I've only seen mine drink on rare occasions- I'd imagine that she is just fine.
Enjoy your new baby and welcome!
 
I appreciate all of the rapid help and lengthy responses, which did trigger one more question....Do you usually find the poo piles under the shavings if that is where they like to spend most of their time and are they pretty large and obvious?
 
Poo size is all in how big the snake is. Some will poo under the shaveings but others will come out and tool around and poop and then go back under. Its really kinda different with each snake :)
 
i have a girl who spends her days under her aspen shavings, but in the evenings she has taken to climbing out and seems to want to be held (or escape haha) but she does poop on top of the aspen and not under it, making it easier to spot and clean
 
I only give my snakes, new ones included, ONE water bowl. then they have more room.
My new snakes I don't handle at all for a week, but I also feed them in their tubs except the tiny ones that I put in other containers to feed.
 
A helpful hint is to search the perimeter of the tank/viv/enclosure for the poo. That and the perimeter of their hides or other objects in their housing. Snakes tend to poo near the edge of something, instead of out in the open.
 
TDog77 said:
Hello all, this is our first post here and our first snake ever (we are actually more excited then the kids) and she is a 6 month old Fire Corn named Scarlet. Maybe we are just nervous new owners but we wanted to run a few things by all you snake pros.
1. We left her alone for the first 48 hours and kept the house pretty quiet in order to allow her to settle even though she was past due on a feeding and other then the first evening she has stayed buried under the aspen shavings. On the third day I rooted her up for her feeding and she took the first pinky fine but when I left her alone to swallow it for 10 minutes and came back she did not really want the second (she actually gently took it then spat it out and went to hide) so I did not push the issue anymore in fear of causing a regurg and just let her go bury again. Should I be worried here as she normally eats two?

You want the first couple meals to be smaller, anyway. And there is a wide variation in pink size. Generally, it is best not to push a snake to eat more than it really wants to.

2. I have two water dishes in there including inside the lengthy hide but I have no freaking clue if she has had any water as she has stayed under the shavings the whole time. Should I do anything here or let nature takes it course.

You only need one water bowl in a central location. It is quite rare to see a snake drink, unless they come out to investigate after a fresh bowl is put in. If she was _not_ drinking, she would be dead in days, therefore, she is drinking and you don't need to worry!

3. I am going to leave her alone for a full three days since the first feeder before I try and handle her for the first time and am thinking of also taking out a bunch of the aspen since there is now 2 inches in there and i don't think she is ever going to be visible if I leave all that in there. I would leave it a little thicker by the UTH in order to give her as much variation in temp as possible but would make it pretty thin on the rest. Her hide is a full length pipe cut in half running all the way from the cool side to the warm allowing her not to have to leave the hide in order to seek a different temp but as far as I can tell she prefers to be under the shavings like a little mole. What do you think about this idea?


The baby feels safe and happy under the shavings. Why would you want to take them away and stress her? She will come out more (maybe!) when she is comfortable, but not at all if she is afraid. You can lure babies out by providing lots of leafy vines for them to take cover in, where they can observe you in safety.

4. How short should we keep the initial handling sessions in the beginning?

5-15 minutes or so? Just see how well she tolerates it.

Finally I will offer and early thanks for any help
Click to expand...

(my thoughts are added above)
 
When feeding the second pink or at least attempting to do so should I do it immediately after the first is completely swallowed or giver her a little time. The way I did it this last feeding was give her the first and then I immediately left the room to give some peace and quiet then came back in 10 minutes (figured it should be gone by then) to give the second. Would it be better to just hide in the room and visually watch the first one finish then follow up with a quick second attempt.

P.S I have to add that I can tell I am going to really like this forum, there is some really great info and plenty of good help.
 
When I was feeding my first corn snake I would just put 2 pinkies in there with him and he eat one and then after he was done with the first one he would eat the 2 one. And so happy that you like this forum you will get alot of great advise and people that will go all the way to help you. ;)
 
When feeding two pinkies to my snake I would wait until the first one was down the neck and closer to the stomach. You should wait until the snakes mouth is completely closed and their tongue is flicking again. Then proceed with the second pinkie. If you watch the snake, you'll notice it doing an S like motion with its neck to move the mouse down its esophagus and into its stomach. I usually wait until they're basically done doing that motion, or atleast not doing it steadily to feed the second pinkie. Based on my own experience this procedure has worked well, my yearling always ate her double pinkies when she was on them, and I've never had a regurge. Good luck! And welcome to the forum =].
 
Welcome to the forum! I am fairly new and have already learned alot. I have 3 corns who are about 4 months old. I agree with others who have suggested greenery. All three of mine are out a lot more since I added some plants. Especially my anery Pandora. She is always doing what I call the "garden of Eden thing"....she drapes herself on her plant and hangs her head down to see what's going on.

Pandora and Athena are currently on double ex small pinks. I put the pinkies in the feeding containers first, add the snake, and then leave them alone to eat. My blood is somewhat skittish and I scared him off feeding once because I added the pink after he was in the container and I dropped it. That's why I do it the other way now.
 
@Nanci: I have had a hatchling go without water for a week accidentally and she did not show any sign of a problem. Also I traded some hatchlings to the USA and the receiving side told me it had taken a week and a half to arrive from the breeder whom picked it up in my country (they were watered at his place fortunately). I am pretty sure the hatchling of the poster is drinking, they all do when we don't look, but they don't die from not drinking for a few days.
 
remember when i got my corn, she was so scared of me it was so sad. she didn't come down from her tree if anyone was in the room. thats lasted for a whole month. fortunately she accepted dead mice i left at the bottom of the tree. horrible times. but yeah they hide alot
 
We placed some greenery and she is out and about during the night all the time now. She had started to come out some before then but she is cruising all the time and is easy to grab and handle without hunting much. she is quite the sweet little thing and as docile as can be usually picking one person to coil up and hang out on. Neat little creatures they are.
 
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