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new snake owner

A

aintlikeitl00ks

New member
hey i live in the fl keys and i was outside one night and saw a common corn snake or rosy rat snake feeding on a lizzard, should i keep feeding it lizzards? my snake is 27 inches long i've had it for about 5 days and has eaten 3 lizzards how much should i be feeding it? how do i determine wether it is amale or female? should i be handleling my snake alot?:confused:
 

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well

Since you already have him and are keeping him apparently....

You should take him to the vet, get a fecal done. This can be very cheap. He will probably have parasites and the vet will help you take care of this. The vet can also sex this snake for you, you cannot really do it yourself. You could also get someone at a pet store or a breeder do it, but it should see a vet.

Secondly, You can start him on mice. You can try using one of the same type of lizards he has eaten, and rub it all over a pre-killed thawed mouse of appropriate size. A good size indicator is that you fed him a mouse the same size around as he is at his widest point. You can rub the lizard all over this mouse and try to get him to eat. Also try feeding him a lizard, then RIGHT after he has mostly swallowed it, offer him a lizard scented mouse. Usually the feeding mood is strong and they will happily accept the next item.

Good luck! Get to a vet soon! :)
bmm
 
Do you mean that you have the wild snake as a pet? If so, do like Bmm said and get a vet. Then you should start to wean the snake from lizards to mice as they shouldn't be fed a diet of 100% lizards. Two days after feeding you can hold the snake for five minutes or so (and then work up) to tame it. If you go to a specialised reptile vet then he/she will be able to sex the snake for you- It's not something that should be attempted without experince.:).
 
It's a nice snake! Good Job.

How's the snake for temperment?

Make sure you treat it well and get it used to you. Get it used to dead mice, it's just easiet. And like they said, VET VET VET!

Rainey
 
i carry my snake often, at first when i caught it, it bit me 3 times but now it is really nice too me and never bites, it seems to like his racoon skull alot. ok i will take him to a vet as soon as i can i am going to buy another corn snake so they can breed but how big are they when they reach sexual maturity
 
just make sure, when you buy the new one, that you keep them appart (in containment) for 3 months. just so that if there are any mites or parasites that it gets cleared up before they come in contact they don't transmit it to the other.
 
yes

Make SURE you keep them apart for months. 3+ months. And the wild caught one you have now MUST go to the vet before you place them together or breed them at all. This is not an option, its a fact. :) Good luck!

bmm
 
Get The Corn Snake Manual by Bill and Kathy Love from corn-utopia.com
It has just about all the info you ever would want to know about corns.
 
Hey, aintlikeitl00ks:

You said you were going to release it once it bred...if it's a male, and if you are willing to spend at least $100 on a breeding-size female, you might get to breed next year. If you buy a hatchling, you'll have to wait 3 years for the female to be breeding size. If the snake is a female, breeding CANNOT take place until it grows AT LEAST 10 inches. This would be AT LEAST a year, and maybe 2 years. And for some reason, you don't seem like the type to spend $100 on a snake. By the time you get to breed them, the snake CANNOT be released. Wild snakes can only be kept for a couple of weeks at most before they should not be returned to the wild.

Here's what you should do if you want a snake:

RELEASE the one you have now, save the money that would have been spent on vet visits and meds,

BUY 2 hatchling corn snakes (less than $20 a piece)
BUY 2 proper setups for the snakes, and the corn snake manual.

RAISE the snakes up to breeding age (2-3 years)
THEN you can breed them.

In all likelyhood, this is the amount of time you would have to spend before you could breed the one you found now.
 
It looks like a female to me, from what I can see of the tail and yes, you would have to wait until it has grown ten inches or so. The amount of time this takes depends greatly on how much you feed it.
 
Hold on... I re-read the posts and I don't see any place where aintlikeitl00ks says he's going to release the snake after it breeds. Where did you get that idea? If he's planning to take his snake to the vet, maybe he is willing to spend the money on the snake. Or maybe he is willing to wait quite some time to breed the snakes. It just seems like you guys are assuming a lot about him, including things that he hasn't said anything about.

Excuse me if I've just missed something that he said about releasing the snake...
 
kenalotia said:
Hold on... I re-read the posts and I don't see any place where aintlikeitl00ks says he's going to release the snake after it breeds. Where did you get that idea? If he's planning to take his snake to the vet, maybe he is willing to spend the money on the snake. Or maybe he is willing to wait quite some time to breed the snakes. It just seems like you guys are assuming a lot about him, including things that he hasn't said anything about.

Excuse me if I've just missed something that he said about releasing the snake...
Click to expand...

He said so in another thread in the photo gallery...here's the quote:

ima let it go when i get it to breed at least once
Click to expand...

The thing about the money was because he just (like 2 weeks ago) turned 15...probably doesn't have a whole lot of money to spend (I know I didn't)...and the whole breeding idea sounds like something he came up with on the spur of the moment, and not really something thought out. If that's not right, I apologise

Anyway, it's a whole lot more fun watching the snakes grow up, than buying them as adults :)
 
i guess u guyz are all right but if i keep the snake i have now in an invirment where there is no germs and such wont any parasites that the snake might have just like die. i have 50 bucks to my name and i am cuban (thats means my dad wont help) i cant get a job because i am in the middle of nowhere and town is like 15 miles away plus i cant get a ride to where ever i decide to work at. what if i catch another snake or two and if there big enouph i'll breed em and if posible realease em, acording to many ppl corn snakes are thick on the groud down here.
 
Keeping the snake you have in a germ-free environment (just about impossible to do, btw) won't kill parasites he or she already has. The parasites are living off the snake, not off germs in the snake's environment.

If you do breed and get babies eventually, what are you going to do with them? With only $50 it will be very hard to buy food, enclosures and everything else you'll need to raise the hatchlings - which may number up to 25.
 
well my dad will help me buy food and i already have a couple tanks to keep the babies in. if there are that many babies i'll sell some and use the money for the snakes that i keep. i am also gonna breed some mice.
 
Didn't you just say your dad won't help?
i have 50 bucks to my name and i am cuban (thats means my dad wont help)
Click to expand...

Anyway, if you think you will make a profit off of breeding snakes, think again. You will lose a LOT more money than you will make.
You say you have have tanks, but do you have enough for each individual snake? Do you have enough heat pads or lamps for each individual snake? Fifty dollars isn't much. You would have to BUY the mice and BUY the food for the mice and BUY any other supplies you need and PAY for vet bills, etc. Breeding some snakes and selling the babies to make some extra dough sounds nice in theory, doesn't it? In actuality, you will not make a profit from breeding snakes unless you are a big breeder.
I don't remember who said this, but the person essentially said "Don't breed snakes with the goal of making a profit because you won't."

Also, corns only breed in late spring/early summer which means you would have to wait almost a whole year before you could breed a pair together. If you keep Aunt Jemima that long in captivity and then release him/her, (s)he will probably not survive long in the wild because (s)he will have gotten used to living in captivity.
Please release her/him asap where you found him/her.
 
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Iris said:
Please release her/him asap where you found him/her.
Click to expand...

Or, why not just keep this snake and learn as much as you can. Visit the forums, read up on whatever you can find on the internet. I understand how breeding would sound appealing, especially when you visit here and see everyone's cute babies. I know the bug bit me! But, as others have pointed out, breeding is costly and time consuming. But having just one snake is easy, not very expensive, and can be a great introduction to you for learning more about herps.

Best of luck!:p
 
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