New to snakes and this site!

[Sayjoo13]

Hi all! I hope I'm posting this right... haha and just a warning... since this is my first post, its going to be long >.< apologies in advance and thank you to anyone who takes the time to read all this! haha I just got my first snake friday night (7/8/11) and am SO excited! Obviously he's a corn snake or I wouldn't be on this website :rofl:

Anyway, here's some information on his cage and such. Since I'm COMPLETELY new to snakes, I would appreciate advice and for you guys to correct anything I might be doing wrong! I did a lot of reading before buying a snake, but I would love to hear from you all who have had your snakes longer than me!

-I have him in a 20-gallon long with a locking screen lid. He has 3 hide boxes: one on the warm side, one in the middle, and one on the cool side so no matter what temperature he wants to be at, he always has somewhere to feel safe.
-I'm using Sani-Chips as the substrate and so far he loves burrowing down in it.
-I have a thermometer at each side. The warm side stays at 85 degrees F and the cool side stays around 76 degrees F. At night I turn the heating light off and his terrarium drops to a general 75 degrees on all sides.
-The pet store was feeding him one pinkie twice a week, so I'm continuing that. I will feed him a pinkie every Monday and Friday, and once he is bigger I'll increase him to fuzzies and feed him once a week. I feed him in a separate terrarium, which is a 10 gallon terrarium (again, with a locking screen lid). That one doesn't really have decorations in it, but he just eats in there, so I didn't feel like spending the money to make it pretty. Yesterday was the first time I fed him and he ate without problems. I left him alone for about 30min after he ate, then I put him back in his 20gallon long so he could digest and left him alone all of yesterday.
-Other than his feeding days, (which is when I leave him alone), I've been holding him about 30min a day and he seems to be really mellowing out.

Okay, so... I think I covered everything I have for him so far and everything I've been doing. I'd really appreciate any tips or corrections! I absolutely LOVE animals and want to give this guy a great home where he can live a long happy life! Thank you for bearing with this long post!!!!!! :crazy02:

 

[Lennycorn]

Welcome to the site.

As far as the set up your Ok except what type of thermometers are you using?
'Cause the digital thermometers with a probe is the route to good.
And you don't need a heating light. You should have a UTH (under tank heater)
instead.

As far as feeding, try one pinky every five to seven days cause you should handle the snake for 48 hours after feeding. It could regurge. All else seem fine for now.

Read up on the sticky here and take a look around.

Good Luck.

 

[Sayjoo13]

Thank you! =] Oh hmm... everything I've read, including the FAQ's sheet on this website, said that if you're house is generally cold and you need extra heat, use an UTH. But, if your house temp is on the warmer side and you just need a small amount of extra heat, that a light is fine. The thermometers are the round dial type of thermometers.

I have a question though, alot of what I've read says baby snakes need to be fed every 3-5 days and adults every 5-7 days. My snake is a baby (not sure how old, the store just said "baby") lol

 

[Lennycorn]

I use UTH on one set up and flex-watt on another. When the house heat too high...I turn the snake heat off. And just checking the thermometers.


"""alot of what I've read says baby snakes need to be fed every 3-5 days and adults every 5-7 days.""'

That's power feeding. You can do it but from what I read it can shorten the snake life span. Power feeding is done by some so the snake reaches maturity faster, for breeding. If you are a pet owner (for now) you don't need to do this. Save some money too. Also keep in mind is that if you feed them every three days and then follow the rule of no handling for 48 hours after, you're back to a feeding day. You can never handle the snake. Ya see!

As far a adults feeding is every 10 to 14 days.

I think the proper size the the trick tho. Which is 1 1/2 time the girth of the snake.

 

[grankin01]

Ditch the light and use a uth under one side of the tank. Look up using a lamp dimmer or thermostat to control heat output on the uth. The lights burn the humidity out of the air and while corns don't need much humidity using the lamp may give you shedding problems later on.

The 5 to 7 day feeding schedule is the way to go. There really is no need to feed any sooner than that.

Guy A Rankin IV

 

[Serp]

Welcome! I'm new here too

I've had my snake for almost a month! It's a good thing I had done my research, because the people at the store weren't exactly snake experts and I don't think they noticed that the snake was getting ready to shed.

The store he also told me to feed my snake a pinky every four days, but now I'm feeding her a larger pinky every six days.

I use a heat pad on one side and a light on the other side. I think I'm definately going to need to use both once it's winter time lol

 

[grankin01]

Those mats put out ALOT of heat. I don't use a light during any point of the year and my viv temps stay pretty static once I have them set (I use a dimmer instead of a thermostat so I am the thermostat ). With this setup my corn has never had any shed problems (perfect shed everytime). Just make sure to use either a thermostat or a dimmer or you will burn your snake badly. Also, I would ditch the dial thermos and get some digital ones with an outdoor probe that you can bury about halfway down into the substrate. Since you said he likes to burrow you will need to monitor the substrate temps so that he is safe when he burrows.

 

[Serp]

Really? It's an Exo-Terra heat pad. I used the digital thermometer yesterday and it was at about 82.7 So should I get a dimmer then?

When my snake had shed, it shed in two pieces. I'm pretty sure it was stress related since I had just bought her and I had kept the humidity up at a good range. I had also fed her when I saw her eyes were clear so I don't know if that had something to do with it...

 

[grankin01]

Honestly, if it is working for you and the humidity is right keep on keepin' on. Just watch your temps close if you have nothing controlling uth output. Also, I keep my thermos in tue tank at all times l. The snakes like to knock them around a little but other than that they pretty much ignore them. Lol

As for the shed, it may have been stress but I would think that it was being fed during ecdysis (shed). I can't say for sure though. I don't feed my snakes while they are in shed even if they are due for a feeding. Usually right after a shed they are ready to eat and I mean RIGHT AFTER. LOL

 

[grankin01]

BTW, I use the reptitherm uth's. I have read reviews that said the exo-terra's are low output.compared to the others but, remember, these are people's opinions and I personally have no experience with the exo-terra stuff.

 

[restes]

I bought a heat pad from Petco and I leave it about full power around the clock, the surface temp rarely reaches over 85 *F (usually 83).

 

[Sayjoo13]

Oh ok!!! Great advice guys! Thanks so much for all the input!! Looks like this pay day I'll be buying an UTH and a dimmer and switch to feeding every 5-7 days. I hadn't heard of "power-feeding" before, but since this snake is just my pet, I definitely have no need for that and don't want to shorten his life span. I'm glad I joined this site! Lots of helpful tips haha Until pay day, though, I'll just keep a close eye on everything. Also, the 48 hrs after feeding is good to know! I had read (on some other site) that it was 24 hrs. I definitely don't want to stress the little guy out or have him regurgitate, so I will be waiting 48 hrs!

 

[Sayjoo13]

Welcome! I'm new here too

I've had my snake for almost a month! It's a good thing I had done my research, because the people at the store weren't exactly snake experts

Where'd you buy your snake from? I bought mine from Petsmart. I think the generic pet stores like Petsmart and Petco just hire anyone, whether or not they know what they're doing/talking about. Not to say they're not good stores or anything. I ALWAYS shop at Petsmart and they carry really great products. I've learned through trial and error though to not trust what the employees tell me about pet care though haha which is part of the reason I joined this website!

 

[grankin01]

The 48 hours post feed is a good rule of thumb to follow. I personally give mine about 24 to 46 and have had no problems but each animal is an individual and will have different reactions. That isn't to say that you can't touch them at all after feeding just don't handle them for pleasure (ie. Move them to get their water bowl or hide out for cleaning as opposed to a "bonding session").

 

[grankin01]

24 to 36 hours (oops ). I bought my corn and my BP at petsmart and the staff at that store was pretty knowledgeable.

 

[Sayjoo13]

Good to know! Yeah, I moved Lestat from his feeding tank to his "home" tank about 30min after he fed. The tanks are literally right next to each other, so it was a quick short move (picked him up, reached over, set him down). Even then, though, I was worried it might make him regurgitate so I feel better having you say that you can touch them, but just don't handle them for pleasure. He ate yesterday and I haven't touched him since, other than putting him back in his home.

 

[Sayjoo13]

I bought my corn and my BP at petsmart and the staff at that store was pretty knowledgeable.

That's great!!! I'm glad they have some stores with knowledgeable staff!!! :crazy02: I've had good and bad experiences with their staff so I'm usually a little hesitant with taking their advice. It probably just all depends on what employee you talk to. I'm sure they have some good and bad ones.

 

[Serp]

Well the Exo-Terra heat pad I bought is the Rainforest one, and I think the Desert one would have put out alot more heat... Does the type of substrate being used also effect the temperature?

I bought her from a Petsmart, but they only had the one snake and a few lizards. It seemed like they weren't knowledgeable because I would have thought that they would have told me my snake was about to shed.

I actually was going to buy a BP at first, but the staff at Petsmart had mentioned that their was a by law in the area I lived that didn't allow pythons to be kept as pets.

 

[grankin01]

I have only used aspen as bedding when using uth's so I couldn't give you a definitive answer on that one. I would assume that the substrate will affect the temp gradients, especially thin ones like paper towels and newspaper. I don't use uth's with those substrates although with the right control it would be fine. I am also going to have to switch the aspen out in my BP's viv as her latest shed only came off of her head and the rest stayed on. Gave her a soak this morning and misted her viv. Hopefully she'll get the rest off later today.

 

[Sayjoo13]

Found this on "Wiki-how"... not the most reliable source of information, but I just did a quick google search... "Different substrates affect the temperature and humidity in the tank in different ways. When you build a new snake cage, carefully monitor both temperature and humidity." Not really helpful, but I guess the answer is yes, the type of substrate will affect the temperature.

I don't know anything about the different morphs, but I was wondering what kind of morph is my snake. The pet store had my snake listed as a black anerythristic cornsnake... but he's brown... I don't know if that matters or not. Also, he has a bit of pink on his forehead (which the camera didn't pick up) and pink on his cheeks. Is he really a black anery cornsnake?