One corn, two corn...?

[COerriccaRN]

Here is my situation: I have two hatchling corn snakes. One classic and one snow. My snow is housed in a ten gallon tank with a fish tank hood on it. I bought the hood because it had a place in the top to screw in a light (for heat) but I can't put a light on top of it since it isn't screen. My classic is housed in a HUGE 20 gallon with a locking screen lid with two heat lamps (one for night,red, and one for day, a blue bulb.) Anyway, I fed both of them the other day and turned on the heat lights. A few hours later I walked into my roon and smelled burning plastic. Turns out, it was the plastic fish tank hood over my snows viv that was melting from the heat. So I had to turn the light off and let the hood cool off. There wasn't much damage to it and it can still be used as a lid, but I just can't have a light bulb in it that is any more than 20 watts.

Here is my solution: I put the snow in the tank with my classic and turned on the red light for 24 hours. After that, I moved the snow back into her viv (with no light or heat.)

Is this okay to do in the short term? I have priced UTHs and thermostats and I won't be able to get any for a while. It will be at least 3 months. I have just paid for all my college classes and I am only 17. Sadly, I don't have alot of extra money to spend of things for my snakes. Buying a new lid AND clips would also be difficult. Until I can buy new things, would it be okay to house my snakes together for 24 hours after feedings. It seems like its causing them no stress, all they do is sleep. I have alot of hides, and the twenty gallon is big enough for both of them for just a day or two.

Of course, many people do not advise housing two snakes together, but thats not what I am doing. I am just putting them in there for digestive and health purposes for SHORT periods of time...

I also understand that snakes don't NEED heat to digest, but it makes me super nervous is I just leave them without heat...I just can't do it. I worry and fret over them until the next feeding day...I know that it won't hurt the snakes, but I worry alot about them.

Personally, I see no real danger in doing this, but if anyone thinks it can harm my snakes LET ME KNOW. I may not see all the risk...

 

[danielle]

Why not at the very least construct a divider with cardboard to ensure one can't eat the other and reduce stress? Usually people buy supplies first and the actual animals last, but in this case a divider will do for now

 

[COerriccaRN]

I have to many vines in there for a "divider". It doesn't really divide anything because it can't hug the back wall. I will try that though and make it the best I can.

And I did buy supplies first...my supplies just didn't work the way I thought they would. I wasn't betting on my hood to melt

 

[lesleym]

In my opinion, here in Texas (especially with the temperatures we've been having lately), you don't need heat for your babies unless you keep your house especially cold. Our thermostat here in Austin is set at 78, and the snakes are fine - eating and digesting normally. All 12 babies, 4 yearlings and Bob! Also, I don't believe that putting the 2 together for a short time does any harm to either one. I know that there are others who will disagree with that, and who may be speaking from personal experience. However, we have also had to keep snakes together occasionally for short periods and all was well. No one stopped eating, or ate the other one, or suffered any ill effects. As long as there are sufficient hides for them both, I wouldn't worry.

You will have to re-visit the temperature issue when the temperature drops - probably sometime in November the way this year is shaping up! We use UTH's, and a heat lamp at night, and that last is only over the 20L we keep Bob in. His is the only one that is big enough that I don't feel that the UTH heats it adequately. I do cover everyone at night to help keep the heat in.

Hope that helps.

Lesley

 

[COerriccaRN]

Thanks lesley! I know that it would be okay to not provide heat for them, but my house just seems FREEZING to me all the time. It may just be me, but I just worry about my two babies...

 

[ceduke]

So take out some vines and put a divider in.

 

[Hypancistrus]

So take out some vines and put a divider in.

Agreed. But if she does that, then one side will be cold... there are two heat lamps, only one is on at any given time.

Can you at least afford a metal screen lid? They are only $10 at Petsmart. Then you could use the heat lamp....

Just out of curiosity, why did you pick heat lamps to begin with? They are more expensive than heat pads and typically are not reccomended in corn books except for far Northern climates.

 

[COerriccaRN]

Agreed. But if she does that, then one side will be cold... there are two heat lamps, only one is on at any given time.

Can you at least afford a metal screen lid? They are only $10 at Petsmart. Then you could use the heat lamp....

Just out of curiosity, why did you pick heat lamps to begin with? They are more expensive than heat pads and typically are not reccomended in corn books except for far Northern climates.

I bought the snake package at petco. It came with two heat lamps, so thats just what I had. Its what the pet store guy recommended. And heat pads with stats are a tad bit to expenisive for me (17, no job, going to college AND highschool, relying on parents)

Also, the vines are hot glued, so there is no removing them unless its permanent. Which keeping my two snakes together won't be.

I will get a metal lid soon as I can make the two hour trek to the nearest petco store!

 

[ceduke]

Hope neither one gets eaten in the meantime.

Vines can be glued back up, an eaten snake cannot be un-eaten.

I've made this situation work with hognoses, I just put a divider horizontally down the tank so there was a warm side and a cool side for both animals.

 

[Hypancistrus]

That really sucks that PetCo's snake package is so poorly thought out.

In any event, you can make a really cheap Rheostat by using a plug-in style lamp dimmer from Home Depot. They are only $8-10 and act just like a rheostat. Thermostats can be pricey. I have both the fancy pulse proportional models and the on/off model by Zoo Med. Takes a little tweaking, but seems to work well. Runs around $40, maybe cheaper at shows.

 

[Zulu3]

Everyone is going to hate me for this but here goes.
I agree with Leslie M of this one. I mean the babies were most likely already housed together at petco, and MOST LIKELY (of course there are no promises) will not eat each other if they didn't already at petco.

YES co habing long term can have its risks. Very true. BUT short term housing two snakes who have already lived together that are very near the same size together for a couple months is probably not going to harm anything.

It sounds like you had it planned out right and with good intentions, and I know that lots of people use heat lamps and don't cook snakes. Though during the summer it isn't usually necessary like they said unless your house is super cold.

If you can make the divider work, go for it, it can't hurt anything and eliminates any and all risk. If not, I would personally say it would most likely be fine SHORT TERM. Now I am going to go hide lol... I know people do not agree here. It is your call =) Best of luck,

Ali

 

[Hypancistrus]

Cohabbing snakes is kind of like four wheel drive in a truck.

Most of the time, you don't need four wheel drive and find yourself going "Wow, this was a real waste of money... I should have saved that $3000 and gotten the 2WD model instead." You don't really value it until you NEED it and DON'T have it.

Most of the time, people cohab and nothing bad happens to either snake. It's that small percentage of tragic events that keeps me honest... I would not be able to live with myself if something bad happened to one of my snakes because I made a stupid keeper error.

What would I do in case of an emergency? Probably put the snake into a crittern keeper (I have several sizes, multiples, just for carrying them to and from school and emergency situations) and use one of my back-up heat sources, including lights from other tanks, spare heat pads, etc.

And really, Erica is in Texas... I think the snake can go without heat for a couple weeks in Texas, in August!

 

[Floof]

Ali, the snow is a new addition since she got the normal. She didn't get them at the same time... Which would have me worried more about quarantine... Any new snake should be quarantined for a few months before you can trust it to be so much as in the same 10 feet as the established snake's enclosure... Let alone housing them together.

COerriccaRN, I hope that Petco is decent and that snow is healthy. It would be tragic for the classic to catch something from the corn, and then for you to potentially lose both of them (and, even if not, have to deal with vet visits and bills galore for both).

Other than the quarantine issue, I'd be worried about regurges. These snakes aren't normally housed together, but, RIGHT AFTER THEY EAT, they are put together. Cohabbing is stressful for snakes to begin with, even if it's temporary. Even worse if it's temporarily while they digest... You're just increasing that chance of a regurge or two when you dump them in the same tank together immediately after feeding.

I would highly suggest you take Lauren's advice. At least get one UTH, for the snow, and a rheostat... You can worry about getting things to the "ideal" when you have the money for it, yeah, but you should at least make sure your set up is "adequate" and not harmful to either snake.

Even better, if you check out The Bean Farm (beanfarm.com), you can get one of their Ultratherm UTHs (a 6x11 should be a good size for a 10 gal; you can go 11x11 if you're worried about it being too small, but no bigger) and a thermostat for $50 (UTH: $16-20, Alife thermostat: $30) total--about the price of one 30-40 gallon (the size you would use for a 20L) Zoomed UTH from Petco.

 

[danielle]

Why not tear out the vines their $1 at most dollar stores and position the heat lamp over the divided area providing two really small heated spots? Quarantine has already been compromised at this point and even though the chances are low for cannabalism the risk is there. I know about being broke,lol but loosing either animal when a simple piece of cardboard can prevent it is silly.

 

[cobained]

I don't have a ton of money, but enjoy reading your posts and would like to help. If it's a matter of $10 for a screen lid to ease your problems, I can paypal you the money or buy you a 10g UTH on ebay (like $20 after shipping). Let me know if I can help...I was young and broke not so long ago myself.

 

[Floof]

Why not tear out the vines their $1 at most dollar stores and position the heat lamp over the divided area providing two really small heated spots? Quarantine has already been compromised at this point and even though the chances are low for cannabalism the risk is there. I know about being broke,lol but loosing either animal when a simple piece of cardboard can prevent it is silly.

This is true, but I thought the quarantine bit worth mentioning for future reference... Also, even though it's been compromised, limiting any more contact between the two will reduce the chance of the snow passing on something that's a little less contagious than, say, mites.

 

[COerriccaRN]

Hope neither one gets eaten in the meantime.

Vines can be glued back up, an eaten snake cannot be un-eaten.

I'm pretty sure that won't happen. My snakes are well fed and canibalism is pretty rare.

That really sucks that PetCo's snake package is so poorly thought out.

In any event, you can make a really cheap Rheostat by using a plug-in style lamp dimmer from Home Depot. They are only $8-10 and act just like a rheostat. Thermostats can be pricey. I have both the fancy pulse proportional models and the on/off model by Zoo Med. Takes a little tweaking, but seems to work well. Runs around $40, maybe cheaper at shows.

This is probably a stupid question, but how do you make a lamp dimmer control the temp of a UTH? How does all that work???

 

[danielle]

For sure I agree but even with a divider "quarantine" technically can't be done which was my point so why not go with the divider and eliminate risk of cannabalism.

 

[danielle]

There is an entire thread on here about making a $7 rheostat out of a lamp dimmer. I have never done it to be honest, but I here it's pretty easy.

 

[Floof]

This is probably a stupid question, but how do you make a lamp dimmer control the temp of a UTH? How does all that work???

You plug the UTH into the lamp dimmer and adjust it until it reaches and keeps the desired temperature. Just like you would use it on a lamp to get the desired output of light, you're using it to get the desired output of heat. You need to monitor a rheostat/lamp dimmer carefully if your house's temperatures aren't stable, but they do work.