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New owner query

H

hantiboo

New member
My brother has recently become the owner of Lola.
Lola is beautiful. He's been told she is a Snow X Blood cornsnake.
For the first couple of weeks she fed fine on 1 fluffy mouse once a week, then he was advised to either double her feed to 2 mice OR 1 mouse twice a week. When he tried these Lila wouldnt feed. And she didnt do so for 4 weeks. Lola has now fed (Monday evening) on 2 rat pups. Only now, she's become aggressive thrashing around her viv and has escaped twice today. Each time he has found her within an hour BUT she has started trying to bite and constrict on him.
I don't own a snake but have always wanted one so I'm no expert. I have told him to make sure the viv is secure and to leave her alone til her next feed. Lola is approximately a meter long. Would once weekly be sufficient to feed her??
I am going to get on my laptop and post a pic soon ;-)
 
GthXfqPK

Me and Lola just over a week ago
 
Every 7-10 days should be fine. She may occasionally miss feeds, but this shouldnt be too serious. Try giving her mice that are about as wide as the biggest part of her girth.
She might be showing aggression because she isnt very tame, or she might be in 'blue' which means shes about to shed. Do her eyes look bluey? Has she been 'scratching' herself on her hides, decor, etc.?
The photos wouldnt show up on my device, unfortunately.
 
She is beautiful!

I agree with the others, she is feeding too frequently. Look up Munson's plan, it is pretty right-on for feeding corns. They don't need to be fed so often, just need to be fed the right amount. As for being aggressive, let her be for a few days, see if she sheds. And why is she escaping so much? What does the enclosure look like? It doesn't sound very secure.
 
Hello! She's lovely!

How is her tank being heated and what kind of thermometer is being used to keep track of the temps?

A meter long would make her a little over 36" without seeing a full body picture I would call her an adult and say she should be eating 1 adult (small to med) f/t mouse every 7-10 days.
 
The viv is wooden with glass slide panels on the front. I'm not 100% sure how she was managing to get out if I'm honest as I live over 400 miles away from my brother (he's in Manchester, I live in North Scotland!) so I'm relaying any info onto him via FB and phone!
Heat wise the viv is heated by a heat bulb on the 'roof' of the viv but Lola's viv is also sat on top of his Bearded Dragons viv which again is heated via a bulb (so Lola has heat coming up through the bottom of her viv and heat coming down too) he has a stick on thermometer to check average temperature but without speaking to him I wouldnt know the temp just now. I will ask in the morning and 're-post. I have advised he needs to get a proper thermometer to check temperatures.
 
Her sudden aggression seems to me like she's too hot. They can get cranky if their temps are not correct, and corns don't need it very hot at all.
 
Pretty sure everyone here wouldn't suggest the stick on dial thermometers. My snake's tank has one but only because it's paired with the humidity gauge (which came with the tank) and I've seen over 20 degree differences between it and my probe thermometers. I use the dual probe thermometers (one on cool end and one on hot end) securely fastened to the very bottom of the tank.

Most don't recommend the use of the bulbs for heating either: 1. it dries out the air which sets you up for bad sheds and 2. corns absorb heat through their belly so UTH (Under Tank Heater) paired with a thermostat is widely suggested.
 
He did have a heat mat under the viv but took it away when he realised how hot Lola's viv was. Would the heat from the lower viv be enough? I have asked Simon (brother) to check the temperatures the probe he uses for his dragon.
 
I don't have experience with wooden vivs, personally. Korben's is a glass aquarium convert but thinking from a scientific point of view wood isn't the greatest heat conductor so I'd doubt it. When using the heat mat... did he pair that with a thermostat? Running without regulation they'll top out at like 49C degrees which is way too high and will, essentially, cook the snake.

If he were running the heat mat unregulated and the bulb (I'm assuming unregulated as well)... it was probably way too hot. Again, I'd just stick with the mat and a thermostat.
 
IMG-20130417-WA0001_zps913366f6.jpg

This is Lola's set up. The heat mat was unregulated and my brother didn't realise that energy saver bulbs still got hot. So far I only have a cool end temperature - 78.4f
 
You can just see the temperature probe wire on the left of the viv in this pic. Turns out Simon took my advice and ditched the stick on gauge ;)
 
I'm not an expert, but the temperatures sound about right. I second that maybe she was being fed too often, and was getting stressed by it. I agree with other statements saying to let her be alone for a while, so she can de-stress!
 
Trying to follow the thread/situation and have a few questions/clarifications...

Was the unregulated heat mat still being used when Lola started exhibiting the aggressive behavior? The unregulated heat pad, combined with the lamp and the heat from the viv under it could have been making it WAAAAAAY too hot, causing active and aggressive behavior.

I'm assuming the temps posted (78.5 cool 85.1 warm) are after removing the unregulated heat mat? If that's the case, the cool side is a little warm but not bad, and the warm side is now about perfect, so not much else should need to be changed.

Has Lola's behavior settled down any lately (primarily since achieving the posted temps)? If so, then I think it's fairly safe to say her aggression was the result of over heating. If not, then it could be a result of her wonky feeding schedule, or it could be a result of poor handling (not abusive, but in-frequent handling, frightening handling practices, and even condoning aggressive behavior by letting her get away with her defensive acts when trying to be handled). She could be entering or already in the shedding process. Hell, once you rule out heat it could be one or more of a plethora of things. Could just be an ornery snake.

I'd leave her alone for a week or two. Then start a proper feeding schedule. Then start with regular handling to try and tame her down a little bit. I'm far from an expert though, so if anyone else chimes in differently, it would probably be best to listen to the pros!
 
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