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Newbie needs help.

R

Ravis

New member
If you are easily upset, don't read this posting. About 6 weeks ago I purchased a 21 mo. old albino corn. Beautiful snake. Right from the get go I had trouble getting him (male) to eat. I've never had a snake before and my ignorance is glaring. I tried the frozen mice the seller gave me when I got it (purchased privately not from a pet store) but no go. Finally bought a live one and he ate. Three weeks go by and I'd killed and trashed 4 more mice in an attempt to get him to eat. I'd checked at the local pet store where I got the mice and they told me he may not be interested in eating because it was breeding season and his mind was elsewhere. Now my first question. After eating his first mouse a day later he left a deposit. At the time I thought is was a strange looking poop but I'd never seen snake poop before. This poop looked very muccusy.(dont' think I spelled that right but you should get the point) Because of that, now I'm wondering if he didn't poop it out but rather regurgitated it. What does normal snake poop look like? Now for the sad part of the story. He started to shed and was having a poor go of it. I went to the pet store to get mouse five and see if I could get him to eat. The girl at the pet store who is a friend of my son asked about the shed. She told me to place him in a large container of warm water for 2 or 3 hours. Unfortunately I took her advice. I checked on him every 15 minutes or so. At one hour 15 minutes I went to check and he was dead. I've been reading a lot of postings about helping a snake shed and I've seen nothing about leaving them in a bath for that long. Was this advice about the bath wrong? Based on the lack of appetite and weird poop I'm starting to think he was sick when I got him and that maybe the bath was the final straw. I'm going to get another snake because I thought this one to be great but I sure don't want it to end like this poor guy. Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.
Ravis
 
How deep was this water? Yes, she told you the wrong thing....You don't have to soak a snake for 2-3 hours to help him shed better. If the water was deep, it was most likely he drowned to death...
 
I'm so sorry~
I guess the first question would be~
Define "Warm" bath.
A warm bath to help a snake shed is perfectly acceptable. "Warm" for the snake is about 80F~ this will feel a bit chilly to you. If the water felt "Warm" to you~ well then I'm sorry~ but you cooked him. Warm to YOU is somewhere above 98-100F~ MUCH too warm.

As far as the strange poop~ If it stank to high heaven it was a regurge. Trust me~ there would be no missing the odor if it was a regurge. If it was a poop it may have had an odor~ but a regurge will knock you down when you open the tub!

It's perfectly normal for the corn to go off feed for several weeks in winter.

I'm so sorry you lost your corn.
Good Luck with another.
 
There's no easy way to say this, but if it feels warm to you, it's WAY too warm for the snake. The temp of the water should be inbetween 75 and 80 degrees F, and NO warmer, and should feel slightly cool to the touch (ALWAYS use a thermometer). Do you by any chance know what the temps were?

As for the poop, I would have to guess that was likely a regurg... the reasons for it can rage from insufficiant temps, handling within 48 hours after eating, parasites, there are numerous reasons why a regurg could happen.

Having that this, I am REALLY glad you came here to try to understand snakes a little better, but you might want to concider buying "The Corn Snake Manual" for your own reference as well, before buying your next snake.

I'm so sorry this happened... But welcome to the forum. :)
 
We have no way of knowing if the snake regurged based on your description. ;)

JM is right about the smell. What you may have possibly seen was the snake's urine. It is more solid than the liquid you are used to seeing from most animals.
 
I'm really sorry you had this horrible experience.

I'm really new at this myself, and have just this forum (where I've learned TONS), a good friend, and now (YAY!! Happily dancing!!) Kathy Love's book... Invest in a little knowledge before you try again. The investment (emotionally and financially) is great compared to hanging about awhile and "getting yourself together." This is a fabulous forum where you can learn merely by reading...interacting only makes it better!
 
Thanks all. It's pretty clear to me now that the water temperature as too high. When I was told warm I was thinking warm as in a warm bath. I guess the correct term would have been teppid or luke warm. As badly as I feel realizing my ignorance and some poor advice led to his untimely death at least I know it won't happen again. I'll be reading everything I can get my hands on before I get the next one. Thanks again.
 
I am so sorry this happened. As a new, and pretty ignorant :shrugs:, snake owner myself I can imagine what you are going through. But you have come to the right place, the people on this forum know what they are doing with their corn snakes and they are extremely helpful. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.
 
I am sorry you had to learn some leasons the hard way. Not the way we like to learn, but certainly the way in which we don't repeat any errors.

I agree with CAV, it doesn't sound to me like a regurge. Snake poop is not like any other animal poops that you may be accustomed to seeing.

Yeah, not only the tempurature but also the length of time....more like 10 - 15 minutes tops. I still wonder if the temp was the main cause of its death, I mean, you said the snake was in there for over an hour. It seems to me, if the heat of the water were to "cook" the snake, it would take a lot less time than that, and the fact that the water would be cooling off as the minutes passed. I may be definitely wrong though. Once, when I first got my snakes, I put one in water a bit too warm and believe me, you know it. (the snake came with mites and I was getting 'rid' of them) The snake thrashed around just like any animal put in water too "hot" for them. I immediately remove it and cooled the water down and the snake was fine in it. If the snake did not go spastic in the water when you first put it in, then it may not have been too hot. I am not saying one way or the other, just putting out thoughts.

But, I do wonder on the depth of water. It should be very shallow to allow the snake to be able to keep its head above water without having to use continuous energy swimming. Personally, if I have to 'soak' any snake, I only put enough water in so that the water goes half way up the side of the snake, pretty shallow actually.

In the future, if you need more moisture because of a bad shed, put a "humid hide" in the container with your snake and show it to him. He will go in very willingly and stay there till the shed comes off if he needs it. You can make this by taking a plastic container like a cool whip or margerine container and making a hole in the side a bit more that half way toward the top of the container and putting moistened peat moss or paper towels if you have no moss, put the cover on the container and show it to the snake. Make sure the material you use is moist and not dripping wet, wring it out before putting it in. The moss will hold the moisture for quite a while but the paper towel will have to be remoistened every to every other day depending on how dry your house is.

Definitely do a lot of reading and I am sure your next experience will be better for you and the snake. Good luck!!
 
I agree with CAV and Dianne (sounds like a John Cougar song before he was Melloncamp)...

A lot of people mentioned the Corn Snake Manual...
It is indispensible and will answer many of your questions before coming here and getting mixed reviews and conflicting info...it is available almost anywhere...and can be purchased directly from Kathy Love's site...

www.cornutopia.com
 
Thanks again everyone. One more question if anybody is still following this thread. What about more than one snake at a time together. Would this provide some welcome company or do they prefer it alone? BTW I've ordered the manual.
 
Oh, geez. First thing, no. The snake will do as well or better alone. Second, by reading your initial posts I have one immediate question. If you would put a snake into a hot bath, this shouldn't be offensive. What temperature were the frozen mice you offered the snake that it refused? Frozen? Hot?
 
elrojo said:
Oh, geez. First thing, no. The snake will do as well or better alone. Second, by reading your initial posts I have one immediate question. If you would put a snake into a hot bath, this shouldn't be offensive. What temperature were the frozen mice you offered the snake that it refused? Frozen? Hot?
Click to expand...

Crossed my mind as well...
 
Did you just drop the mouse in the water? It's best to puit the ziplock bag containing the mouse in the water to avoid washing off the scent.
 
That's wonderful, alias. However, I find that several of mine will turn their nose up at a wet mouse when water gets inside the ziplock. Most do not, but I have an adult male that even when hungry for weeks will not touch a wet mouse. It's just a tip for Ravis.
 
Mine will turn his nose up if the fur is wet, but he'll eat it anyway. It just takes a bit more decision making on his part. With pinkies of course, it doesn't matter.
 
Mine all eat their's right out of the water. Every snake is different though. Probably if you're trying to transition over, you might try keeping it dry in a ziploc just to keep the scent strong.
 
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