My first thread!

[benniandra]

Hi, I'm Benny and i just got my first corn snake. I need answers to some of my questions, so I hope you'll be open to help me a bit.

I fed my snake on last Monday, which was his first day at my house. Is that okay and how often should i feed him?

My snake spends almost all of his time in his rock/hide and I make sure every day that he's in his cage so I always check if he's there, but I know that i should not bother him the first week at home. But i just check him out for few seconds every day, could that lead to any problems later? Is he going to spend more time outside? Should i leave him alone without checking if he's still in his cage?:uhoh:

A photo of my snake eating the first pinky i gave him!

Well thank you for your help:crazy02:
Benny

 

[Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)]

Welcome, Benny . I'm pretty darn new to snakes, myself, so I'm not one to give advice. However, with both of my snakes, I left them alone for several days before I fed them. And, yes, they spend most of their time hiding, from what I can tell. I don't need to open their cages to check on them. Probably because they're both about 3 1/2 feet long, and even when they're buried deep in their substrate, I can always find at least a part of them pressed against the glass. I don't know how one deals with new baby snakes, though, when it comes to checking on their whereabouts. My two were adults when they came to me.

 

[K. Rene]

Welcome, Benny . I'm pretty darn new to snakes, myself, so I'm not one to give advice. However, with both of my snakes, I left them alone for several days before I fed them.

Hey Irish that is good advice. We generally wait 5 days for our new snake members to settle in to their new home before feeding. But it's a little late for that advise lol.
* Babies should be fed once a week (5-7day) it takes them about 3 days to digest and expel the remains.
* Remember not to handle them while they are digesting. I usually wait till they poo to hold them so they don't poo on me lol.
* Also most everyone uses aspen shavings for substrate especially for little ones, there is hardly no smell and no oils in it that irritate the snakes skin.
* Another note, we generally feed our snakes in a separate empty container. Feeding them in their tanks is dangerous because they could ingest some of the substrate and that can be fatal, especially for a little one.

Snakes do like to hide a lot but after they get done digesting mine generally cruise around their vivs. Let us know if you have more questions.

 

[benniandra]

thank you'll for you help!! means alot

 

[benniandra]

Let us know if you have more questions.

Now i have a pretty big problem!! i woke up this morning and my heat lamp was not working!! and i live on a place where there is no animal stores, so what should i do? the temp in the cage is about 70f :nope: Can i use a regular 75w halogen lamp? Now i only have a UV lamp running:uhoh:+ its sunday so all electronics shops are close:shrugs:

 

[KingCrimson<3]

Don't feed your snake until you get the temperatures back up. People on this sit recommend heat mats or under tank heaters over heat lamps because heat lamps dry out the enclosure and only change the ambient temperature of the air. However, in a pinch a halogen bulb should be fine for a little while. Also corns don't need UV, so you don't need to worry about that, though it shouldn't hurt.

Hope I was helpful.

 

[benniandra]

thank you so much!! got a lamp today, buying a mat tomorrow and the temp is little over 80.. hope its okey to feed him now?