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New Corn...

R

Recalcitrantron

New member
A friend of my wife is a teacher at a local school. She had a 5 ft, 7 year old corn snake in her classroom, but the school decided she could not keep him anymore so he now lives with us. Came in a nice long tank and a heating pad for underneath part of it. He seems healthy and is very easy to handle. He shed 2 days ago and we fed him his first mouse today. He was being fed a mouse every 2 weeks so we will just continue what was done before. So, is there anything important we need to know? How often will he shed? What are some other methods of heating part of the tank for him?

We named him "Reggie" after the snake in the cockpit of the plane at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of my favorite movies.

Appreciate the advice.

-Ron
 
A heat pad is ideal - Corns need belly heat to digest properly. It should cover about a third of the area of the tank, at one end. Temps need to be mid-to-high 80s at the warm end, low 70s at the cool end - buy a thermostat to control the mat if it's too high. Anything near or over 90 degrees is a cause for concern.

Measure the maximum temperature inside the viv, at floor level (i.e. where the snake is), immediately above the heat mat, to find the actual temperature.

Corns don't need extra light, so as long as the room where he is has natural sunlight, he'll be fine.

Give him plently of hides - minimum of one warm end, one cool and and one in the middle, so he can thermoregulate. Plastic foliage is a great way of adding ground cover for the snake, and visual interest for you.

One adult mouse a fortnight is fine for a healthy adult. At 5' 7", he sure doesn't seem to be stunted on that regime.

My adults shed between 4-6 times per year, but there are no hard and fast rules. Basically, he'll shed as often as he needs to and you'll get used to his individual pattern so you can spot departures from his norm.

Good luck with the new arrival!
 
Congrats on Reggie! This is a great place to be for all of the support us "new" (and old) snake owners need! It helps keep us sane when we get a little worried and so far my snake has been good at keeping me on my toes! *like a ballerina* LOL

Oh yeah, do you have any pics? We LOOOOOVE us some pics here!!!!
 
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