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Newbie - Advice appreciated!

D

Duke and Daniel

New member
We purchased a 2 1/2 year old, 40" albino corn snake from someone that no longer wanted him. I have spent considerable time on this forum to try to understand the best way to take care of him. I asked advice regarding his first feeding and got some great feedback!

From my reading, I think the original owner purchased items for Duke when they got him as a baby. I'm not sure it is the best set up for him from what I have read and would appreciate any feedback.

1. He has two lamps, one for heating, the other red for night. Previous owner had the heating one on for 12 hours and the red one on for 12 hours at night. From the temperature gauges, the temp fluctuates and I don't think the cooler side gets cool enough and the hot side can get over 90 during the day. Do I even need the lights???? I am thinking of switching to a UTH with a thermostat and ditching the lights. He is in my youngest son's room so the room is lit with daylight during the day and a nightlight at night. I may need to supplement the heat during the day in the dead of winter, but not so much right now or heading into summer.

2. They gave us a tiny water bowl. Certainly not big enough for an adult snake to soak himself in. Does anyone have an online supplier of snake items to recommend?

Thanks so much!
 
You can ditch the lights. Corn snakes dont need extra light, and it sounds as though yours are very strong (going over 90 at the hot side) so your snake could overheat. Youre best off replacing both lights with a heat mat covering 1/2 of the terranium at MOST. Natural daylight is the best, and always use a thermostat to check that the temperature at the hot side is about 75-80 degrees, the cooler side around 70-75.
You can usually get bowls or little tubs for water at a pet shop or from a supermarket. Make sure your snake cant tip it over.
Good luck!
 
I would also ditch the gauges if they are the stick to the side kind and get digital thermometer with the probes. Duke sounds like he has a great new owner that actually cares :) good luck with him
 
Yep, ditch the lights. Definitely invest in an appropriately sized UTH and thermostat. Corns are crepuscular, meaning they're most active at times of little to no light. Due to this, they've evolved to rely on belly heat (they're usually holed up during the day, and there's no sun at night) and rely on it for proper thermo-regulation for digestion and disease prevention. They also won't need any special UV lighting, again for the same evolutionary reasons. Since you've been doing your research, you probably already know this but I'll throw it out there just in case. Warm side temps between 82-85F are optimal. Cool side temps are less important, especially with a proper sized enclosure and UTH. As long as it's not cold enough to mess with the gradient, the snake will know where it needs to be.

As for water dishes (and most decoration for that matter), Your local dollar shop will be your best friend. Just about any water dish will work, if you favor frugal utility over aesthetics, just about any bowl of appropriate size. A lot of keepers have discovered pet water bowls that have "handles" so to say, allowing the bowl to act as a hide too. Sort of hard to explain, you'd know them when you see them. Aesthetically speaking, things will be slightly more expensive.
 
EmmyGee said:
You can ditch the lights. Corn snakes dont need extra light, and it sounds as though yours are very strong (going over 90 at the hot side) so your snake could overheat. Youre best off replacing both lights with a heat mat covering 1/2 of the terranium at MOST. Natural daylight is the best, and always use a thermostat to check that the temperature at the hot side is about 75-80 degrees, the cooler side around 70-75.
You can usually get bowls or little tubs for water at a pet shop or from a supermarket. Make sure your snake cant tip it over.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

Sorry, im not too good with converting centigrade with farenheight (we dont do farenheight where i live) and i just noticed this. Id say 85-87 for the warmer area, actually, the cooler area about 80-83
 
This is all great information. Thank you all so much.
Another question - I have seen different opinions on the boards about the use of a mat under the substrate so the snake won't get burned. Some say it is necessary, some say no. Someone used astroturf and someone used paper towels under the substrate. What are your thoughts?
Also, where do you put the probe for the thermostat? Should it be on the top of the substrate?
 
If you have a thermostat then you definitely don't need anything else under the substrate. The probe should be below the substrate touching the glass, that way it's not too hot for your snake when he burrows.
 
for the warm side you want the probe right on the top of the glass under the substrate over the center of the heat pad.

My house is pretty much thermally controlled environment at 23c. So I never check the cooler side.
 
I don't know about mats under the substrate, NOTHING is gonna stop a curious snake from getting where they want to go, so I've never considered it. I just regulate the temperature at the glass and assume little Plissken will find a way to get through 4 layers of shop towel I use as a substrate.

You will want your thermostat's probe, and probably another thermometer probe down there for accuracy. The glass will need to be slightly warmer than the ground level to achieve proper ground level temperatures, but it should never be too hot to cause damage to the snake (ie over 90F)
 
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