Man... times have changed

[njriderac]

When I was just a young lad under 10 (mid30's now), I had many different snakes. A burmese I raised from a hatchling to 8ft, Boa from hatchling to 7ft, a few others mixed in here and there. Gave them away to trusted people when I went to college.

Point A) I kept my snakes on astroturf I bought at sears, I took poop out immediately and every couple weeks hosed/scrubbed them -> I never had any sanitary problems....

Point B) When I saw their eyes turn greyish, I took them out and soaked them in a bucket of warm water (2to3" of water depending on snake) for an hour or two. In my 10yrs of snake keeping I never had one partial shed and the snakes always shed in about an hour tops. Pet shop owners marveled at the pristine condition of my snakes.

Point C) I fed them stunned mice/rats by hand in their vivs. They never bit me when I reached in to pick them up for holding.

Now, 25yrs or so later.. i'd like to get a corn snake so I can share the experience with my young son.. and WOW - the confusion going on!! Do I use aspen, bark, or carpet because turf doesn't let them burrow (are corn snakes burrowers? news to me, thought they are hiders). Oh, and all this bark product - well it all has bug! :shrugs:

You better use the right substrate or the humidity will be too low and you'll have shedding problems. And if you use a shredded substrate, you'll be causing problems when they try to shed..nothing to grip on! Oh, stay away from that carpet stuff - your snake will get stuck in the loops and die!! :smash:

I live in a well populated suburb and I can't even find a petshop that has live pinkies..guess i'm going the frozen route..do I slice their backs? if so, how many times..do it wrong and your snake will be wearing a pinky helmet!

Do I use a UTH? Yah I like those. But now..where to put the darn thermometer..:dunce:

I'm almost considering forget it.. get him a goldfish!

So anyway - I do have a couple of real questions..

1) where DO i put the thermometer for my auto thermostating UTH 3000 (kidding) if I use astroturf or carpet?

2) are there real problems with this repti-carpet stuff? I thought it would be a good alt. to astro-turf - cant I just microwave repti-bark?

3)What happens if i buy my snake, he doesn't like frozen pinkies, and I can't get live ones?

4) How do you keep the humidity up? If you spray everything 3 times a day - all iti does it make a mess

signed,
thisissupposedtobefun

 

[starsevol]

Let's see...
I have a rack with heat cable routed underneath. I have a temp control that sits on the wall, but I leave a thermomiter on the heat cable that is routed into the shelf. It's hard to explain
I use newspaper for substrate. It's cheap, non injestable and they love hiding between the pages. It's not really pretty but I have alot of snakes and it works fine for me.
I don't worry about humidity, but all my snakes have water bowls.
And all my snakes eat frozen/thawed prey. These days most hatchlings are raised on those. Just get a good feeder, preferably from a breeder on here (these people are GREAT), and you should be just fine!

 

[Rich in KY]

1) where DO i put the thermometer for my auto thermostating UTH 3000 (kidding) if I use astroturf or carpet?

LOL I want a autothermostating UTH 3000!

But really, you put the probe inside the tank, on the bottom directly above the UTH.

2) are there real problems with this repti-carpet stuff? I thought it would be a good alt. to astro-turf - cant I just microwave repti-bark?

The least expensive way to go is newspaper or paper towels. Yes you can use repti-carpet, keep it clean and give your snake extra hides. As far as the bark, many people will bake it. I don't know of hazards of microwaving it.

3)What happens if i buy my snake, he doesn't like frozen pinkies, and I can't get live ones?

While this is a possibility, there are methods to get problem feeders to eat. Such as using an anole or scenting pink with tuna juice or chicken broth.

4) How do you keep the humidity up? If you spray everything 3 times a day - all iti does it make mess

This is not that hard. As long as you keep fresh water in the viv and maybe mist once a day when the snake is in blue, humidity should not be an issue.

 

[SnakeCreations]

When I was just a young lad under 10 (mid30's now), I had many different snakes. A burmese I raised from a hatchling to 8ft, Boa from hatchling to 7ft, a few others mixed in here and there. Gave them away to trusted people when I went to college.

Point A) I kept my snakes on astroturf I bought at sears, I took poop out immediately and every couple weeks hosed/scrubbed them -> I never had any sanitary problems....

Point B) When I saw their eyes turn greyish, I took them out and soaked them in a bucket of warm water (2to3" of water depending on snake) for an hour or two. In my 10yrs of snake keeping I never had one partial shed and the snakes always shed in about an hour tops. Pet shop owners marveled at the pristine condition of my snakes.

Point C) I fed them stunned mice/rats by hand in their vivs. They never bit me when I reached in to pick them up for holding.

Now, 25yrs or so later.. i'd like to get a corn snake so I can share the experience with my young son.. and WOW - the confusion going on!! Do I use aspen, bark, or carpet because turf doesn't let them burrow (are corn snakes burrowers? news to me, thought they are hiders). Oh, and all this bark product - well it all has bug! :shrugs:

You better use the right substrate or the humidity will be too low and you'll have shedding problems. And if you use a shredded substrate, you'll be causing problems when they try to shed..nothing to grip on! Oh, stay away from that carpet stuff - your snake will get stuck in the loops and die!! :smash:

I live in a well populated suburb and I can't even find a petshop that has live pinkies..guess i'm going the frozen route..do I slice their backs? if so, how many times..do it wrong and your snake will be wearing a pinky helmet!

Do I use a UTH? Yah I like those. But now..where to put the darn thermometer..:dunce:

I'm almost considering forget it.. get him a goldfish!

So anyway - I do have a couple of real questions..

1) where DO i put the thermometer for my auto thermostating UTH 3000 (kidding) if I use astroturf or carpet?

2) are there real problems with this repti-carpet stuff? I thought it would be a good alt. to astro-turf - cant I just microwave repti-bark?

3)What happens if i buy my snake, he doesn't like frozen pinkies, and I can't get live ones?

4) How do you keep the humidity up? If you spray everything 3 times a day - all iti does it make a mess

signed,
thisissupposedtobefun

Hello and welcome TISTBF

Your post made me laugh me fanny off! Mostly because I relate to it. I had much the same experience, information overload. However, I took a little common sense mixed with what I knew worked and then added what I'd read here. Some of it makes sense, most of it is based upon other peoples experiences. And that is makes sifting through it all worth it!

1) put it where it will capture the warmest temp. That is, under the substrate over the warmest place on the bottom of your viv. Remember that the goal here is to make sure your snake has enough heat to digest and not too much so he gets burned.

2) you can use the turf products, but I've found that Aspen, straight up, is the best substrate. It's absorbent and my snakes DO burrow.... to hide

3) I have snakes that prefer live, but have yet to have one that won't switch for me. There are tricks and evil ways to trick the - not gonna be smarter than me - snakies Here's the deal - it's a supply and demand thinggy. It's not always easy to find live. In the summer when hatchling rates are high, it's damned near impossible. The other issue? When your snake gets old enough to eat hoppers and adult mice, you'll run the risk of injury. Even if you stun your mice, you'll find that there are certain percentages will still fight back. Bad ju ju for your baby. So it just makes sense to get them on frozen/thawed when they're still young.

4) I gotta say that I live in just about one of the driest states there are. Most of my snakes have perfect sheds. I make sure that there is a water dish large enough for them to soak in and if I'm concerned? I put in a moist hide when I see they're going into blue. That is a container (like a plastic butter dish with an opening) filled with damp moss. I always take it out after the shed. Send em for a soak, I see nothing wrong with that either!

Take care, and don't over - think it all. It IS supposed to be fun.....

Enjoy!

Tonya

 

[MerlinsPop]

LOL... I understand.

Years ago, I kept a wild caught northern brown snake for a few years. Not knowing anything at all about them, I did the best I could. Found out they eat small fish, crickets, worms, etc. Cool. Those were buyable/findable.

Kept it in a 10 gallon tank with a lid. On repti-carpet. I thought to buy two so I could scrub one and let it dry while the other was in there. No extra heat of any kind, although he was always in a pretty warm room. He escaped at least twice. Found him both times (once set a trap that worked great).

Bottom line... I had no idea what I was doing, but he seemed to do just fine. Now I have corns, and I'm trying to do things much better (but still making my fair share of errors and omissions, I know), and I'm all tied up in knots worrying about it!!

Don't give up and get a goldfish!! They don't seem to enjoy being taken out and played with, at least not more than once.

 

[wade]

Take care, and don't over - think it all. It IS supposed to be fun.....

Enjoy!

Tonya

Now that is one of the wisest statements I've heard in a while.

 

[Ohana]

1) where DO i put the thermometer for my auto thermostating UTH 3000 (kidding) if I use astroturf or carpet?

I use tile as my flooring so what I do with my thermostat is I just put in on top of where the middle of the UTH is and I have the corner of a hide that holds it in place. Works great, give me a good reading and I am never dissatisfied.

2) are there real problems with this repti-carpet stuff? I thought it would be a good alt. to astro-turf - cant I just microwave repti-bark?

I know a rehabber that still uses indoor/outdoor carpeting (astro-turf) I used to use it as well when I did lots of rehabbing. It was easier to deal with and I could wash it easier for vivs that had snakes coming and going. Now that I only have two permenant snakes I use the tile and just offer lots of hiding places and also lots of coverage. Mine do fine.

3)What happens if i buy my snake, he doesn't like frozen pinkies, and I can't get live ones?

From my personal experience I have never once had a problem with a baby corn snake eating F/T even if it wasn't quite warm enough they still gobble down their food. Colubrids are just good eaters, (from my personal experience). I always had the Boa's and Pythons be a little more picky for me.

4) How do you keep the humidity up? If you spray everything 3 times a day - all iti does it make a mess

I like yourself have never had a problem with sheds. I think I got one partial shed and that was because I had a snake go missing for several weeks. I little soaking and the remainder came right off. I do leave fresh water in bowls deep enough for each snake to go for a dip if they like. I usually soak mine after they go from Blue to Clear eyes. I will get a shed within two days. I do live where they are indigenous so I think this helps as well.


Good Luck and I am sure you will be fine with a corn snake.

 

[njriderac]

I use tile as my flooring so what I do with my thermostat is I just put in on top of where the middle of the UTH is and I have the corner of a hide that holds it in place. Works great, give me a good reading and I am never dissatisfied.

Interesting.. tile? do you have any pics of this? Is the thermostat remote or something? or do you have a cord?


Thanks to all - good info

 

[holly tayls]

njriderac :: Welcome! I use reptibark / Eco Earth. We had AFT Geckos and used that in the humid hide for them. Found a local store that sold 3 for teh price of 1 as most other stores so bought 6 bricks from them and then we moved over to Corns and saw that this was "approved of" here as a substrate. My thermostat is set with the probe secured to the bottom of the viv directly on the glass right in the middle of where the undertank heater is. I also have a thermometer (digital) attached with it. I covered the bottom w/ about 1/2 inch of finely ground aspen (I was only able to find the coarse stuff when I bought it) and then covered it with the eco earth.
Put the "warm" hide in the corner right over the heatmat and it works great. I also have another thermometer that goes through a small hole in the hide to read the temp ATOP the substrate INSIDE the warm hide. That way I can regulate the temp. They tend to run 88-90 on the glass hottest point and 78-82 atop the substrate inside the hide
never mist it and have had only complete sheds. my relative himidity stays about 45-50%

 

[njriderac]

My thermostat is set with the probe secured to the bottom of the viv directly on the glass right in the middle of where the undertank heater is. I also have a thermometer (digital) attached with it

Sorry - but is this thermostat IN the cage under the substrate? Where exactly do you have the thermometer?

I also have another thermometer that goes through a small hole in the hide to read the temp ATOP the substrate INSIDE the warm hide. That way I can regulate the temp. They tend to run 88-90 on the glass hottest point and 78-82 atop the substrate inside the hide

What type of thermometer is this?

Thanks

 

[MerlinsPop]

Sorry - but is this thermostat IN the cage under the substrate? Where exactly do you have the thermometer?


What type of thermometer is this?

Thanks

I'm not holly, so she'll have to tell you the brand of thermometer she uses, but generally, yes, the thermostat probe is placed on the glass under the substrait inside. There's nothing to stop you from putting it outside directly on the heat mat, too, for that matter. Use the thermometer reading to fine tune the thermostat. Use whatever setting on it that gets you the inside temperature you're after.

 

[holly tayls]

Ha Ha Holly is the name of our first Corn and I am a male... I put the thermometer and thermostat probe directly on the glass INSIDE the viv right in the center of where the heat mat is. I use 2 of the same thermostats and they are general (nothing special) digital versions that I got from the local pet store. The second thermostat I put on top of all the bedding inside the warm hide

 

[MerlinsPop]

Ha Ha Holly is the name of our first Corn and I am a male...

Oops!

I'll buy the next round for the error! :cheers:

 

[v_various]

When I was just a young lad under 10 (mid30's now), I had many different snakes. A burmese I raised from a hatchling to 8ft, Boa from hatchling to 7ft, a few others mixed in here and there. Gave them away to trusted people when I went to college.

Point A) I kept my snakes on astroturf I bought at sears, I took poop out immediately and every couple weeks hosed/scrubbed them -> I never had any sanitary problems....

Point B) When I saw their eyes turn greyish, I took them out and soaked them in a bucket of warm water (2to3" of water depending on snake) for an hour or two. In my 10yrs of snake keeping I never had one partial shed and the snakes always shed in about an hour tops. Pet shop owners marveled at the pristine condition of my snakes.

Point C) I fed them stunned mice/rats by hand in their vivs. They never bit me when I reached in to pick them up for holding.

Now, 25yrs or so later.. i'd like to get a corn snake so I can share the experience with my young son.. and WOW - the confusion going on!! Do I use aspen, bark, or carpet because turf doesn't let them burrow (are corn snakes burrowers? news to me, thought they are hiders). Oh, and all this bark product - well it all has bug! :shrugs:

You better use the right substrate or the humidity will be too low and you'll have shedding problems. And if you use a shredded substrate, you'll be causing problems when they try to shed..nothing to grip on! Oh, stay away from that carpet stuff - your snake will get stuck in the loops and die!! :smash:

I live in a well populated suburb and I can't even find a petshop that has live pinkies..guess i'm going the frozen route..do I slice their backs? if so, how many times..do it wrong and your snake will be wearing a pinky helmet!

Do I use a UTH? Yah I like those. But now..where to put the darn thermometer..:dunce:

I'm almost considering forget it.. get him a goldfish!

So anyway - I do have a couple of real questions..

1) where DO i put the thermometer for my auto thermostating UTH 3000 (kidding) if I use astroturf or carpet?

2) are there real problems with this repti-carpet stuff? I thought it would be a good alt. to astro-turf - cant I just microwave repti-bark?

3)What happens if i buy my snake, he doesn't like frozen pinkies, and I can't get live ones?

4) How do you keep the humidity up? If you spray everything 3 times a day - all iti does it make a mess

signed,
thisissupposedtobefun

Astro turf will work, I know people who use it just fine. Aspen is the most popular substrate here (as noted by a poll a while ago) just do NOT use pine or cedar.

I never had a need to soak my corns. If you're worried, just spray them with a squirt bottle. They don't come from humid environmenst like your other snakes, they are native to the US. "Pet shop owners marveled at the pristine condition of my snakes." Uh, as long as a snake isn't looking bad it's looking good. I should hope the pet stores snakes were pristine too, if they knew anything!

depends on the snake, it isn't like a corn bite will hurt you anyway. I feed out of viv, some people feed in. I think it's more of a "if there is a problem with the snake biting you when you go to pick it up, stop feeding it in viv" rather than never feed in viv. But you don't want it to ingest substrate, if you're using aspen you will have to feed out of viv (or risk impaction).

Things are confusing because there are a lot members here, and there is more than one way to do just about anything. Listen to advice and use your judgment, you'll be fine. Corns are pretty hard to kill ; )

I don't bother slicing the backs. Some people do - again, it would be something to try if your snake has regurges, and it my aid digestion, but I've never felt the need to.

2) I"ve heard people have mite problems with repti bark.
3) get one already eating frozen pinkys, no problem. I'd never get a snake that is eating live for just that problem, I don't want to deal with live mice and it would suck if I couldn't switch him over.
4)don't spray things 3 times a day, where did you hear that? I spray my bad sheder once or twice when he's just out of blue (finfang doesnt shed well, my two other are fine and don't need extra moisture) Depends on the snake and where you live, you'll figure it out. Again, if you have a few bad sheds it's not like it's going the snake.

 

[MerlinsPop]

3) get one already eating frozen pinkys, no problem. I'd never get a snake that is eating live for just that problem, I don't want to deal with live mice and it would suck if I couldn't switch him over.

Four does not a significant sample make, but I bought 4 babies that had only eaten live, for about 2 months. I gave them 3 or 4 days to settle in, and all 4 chomped f/t like they've never had anything else.

 

[v_various]

well, yes, corns are easier to switch over than say, a ball python. I guess for me it's a just a totally fool proof way knowing they already take f/t. I mean, what would happen if they didn't switch? As rare as that might be, I'd rather not have to worry about it all (for I am a big girly wennie, and do not want to feed a live mouse to a snake ever).
Just wanted to let him know it doesn't even have to be an issue, if you just get one that's already chowing on f/t.

but to the OP, ya merlinspop has a good point. Corns are easy to switch, and I wouldn't pass up a good deal on a corn just because it's eating live at the moment. Since you're already fine with feeding live, it's no big deal if you need to try fresh killed one or two times to slowly switch them if you have too. And I'm sure most will eat f/t right off the bat anyway (again, just from what I've read here. I've never had to switch one myself).

happy snaking.

 

[Ohana]

Interesting.. tile? do you have any pics of this? Is the thermostat remote or something? or do you have a cord?


Thanks to all - good info

Sure here is Niblet's Viv

and Maize's

My thermometer is just a cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer from Wal-Mart and the remote is just a cord with a probe on the end. It works great.

 

[Nanci]

I used to use reptile carpet. It's awful to clean! Aspen is _so_ much easier. Plus they love to burrow in it. Plus, when they burrow under carpet, they're hard to get out!

Every snake I have that was fed live has taken FT no questions asked. Slicing the backs makes the mice easier to digest and a study shows the snakes grow significantly faster on sliced mice. Just snip about four little snips down their back with a small sharp scissors after thawing.