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Paranoid beginner: Is my Snake to Cold?

sbale

sbale

New member
Hello everyone,

I just got a baby corn snake. I am completely hooked.

I set up a 20 gallon long aquarium with mesh wire top. I added a 50 watt light to one side (left side). Left side of the aquarium on average is around 80-85 degrees. On the right side I have nothing to allow the tank to remain at room temps (normally 73-78 degrees). At night the light goes off and the bottom of the tank heater pad comes on keeping the left side of the tank around 80ish degrees and the right at room temps 70-75 degrees.

The baby corn snake makes his rounds when no one is looking but has a tendency to hang out on the cooler (right) side of the tank. The last temp reading I did (in addition to the temp gauges in the tank) was 74.3 degrees (right where the little bugger was sleeping).

I’ve read tons and tons of stuff on the net about corn snakes needing a temp of 80-85 degrees to digest food properly – so maybe I’m just being a concerned parent but is it an issue if he hangs out on the cooler side of the tank?

One thing I found out (after I bought the snake) is that the store owners were only feeding him once a week. He was REALLY hungry when I go him home. I fed him the following day and he wasted no time on the pinky and seems ready to eat again. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Any help on the above questions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve
 
your heating sounds just right to me, as long as he has a warmer side of the tank to go to it's totally normal for him to hang out on the cooler side. Babies can be fed two pinkies every 5 days, but as long as he's eating once a week he's not starving.
It sounds like you set him up perfectly by the books so I would'nt worry too much, congradulations and welcome, I'm new to this forum as well, but I've had corn snakes for about 4 years.
By the way, do you know what type (morph) he is, or is he a normal (wild type)?
 
Morph

Thanks for the quick reply!

As far as I know s/he is a Miami. I think i finally got a picture uploaded.
(I'm still working on understanding the differences between patterns and colors)

Steve
 
Well, I wouldn't really heat the "hot" side with a light. They really don't need or like the light, being crepuscular (active at dusk & dawn). The UTH should be fine.

As for where the snake hangs out... Do you have hides on both sides of the tank (and, idealy, one in the middle)? The snake can then choose where it wants to be and at what temp it wants to be. If you're concerned about him hiding out too much on the cool side, try switching the hides around and see what happens, but it should be fine. In a 20-gallon long tank, you should probably provide more hides as the tank is really quite large for a baby corn although it WILL grow into it and probably out of it.

If it is a baby corn snake, you should feed it an appropriate sized mouse once every 4-5 days. Any more and you would probably get a regurge which is really not a good thing. The pet store probably fed it once a week as that is probably adequate for maintenance of the snake, but not necessarily growth. The pet store does have to keep costs down.

One way to determine if the snake is ready to eat again is to look for its poop. You should only feed your corn after it has pooped out the remains of its previous meal. You can know if you need to feed it MORE by the size of the bulge in its belly after it eats. If you cannot see the bulge, then you could probably double the meal (but not the size of it - ie feed it 2 pinkies as opposed to going to hopper sized mice).

I hope this has been helpful. You should also look up the sticky under "Husbandry and Basic Care". It will probably be more informative there.
 
Welcome! If the UTH can keep the warm side in the low 80s then the light isn't really needed. Corns need the belly heat more than anything to help with digestion and general thermoregulation. My little guy pretty much lives on the cool side so I wouldn't worry about that. Do a quick search on here for the Munson Plan...its a great feeding schedule, based on the weight of the snake, that many of us use.
 
airenlow said:
Welcome! If the UTH can keep the warm side in the low 80s then the light isn't really needed. Corns need the belly heat more than anything to help with digestion and general thermoregulation. My little guy pretty much lives on the cool side so I wouldn't worry about that. Do a quick search on here for the Munson Plan...its a great feeding schedule, based on the weight of the snake, that many of us use.
Click to expand...

The Munson Plan was the link I sent you... See, almost everyone uses it. :)
 
The_thunder,

Your post was very helpful. Thanks again!

I'll head up and turn the light off and turn the UTH on. Do you think and infrared light at night would be a bad thing? Or just stick with the UTH 24/7?

"lookin' for the poo" - that really helps! I'll stick with that schedule!
"Belly size" - I'll keep an eye out

Once again - thanks! This really helps!
 
The _Thunder - I missed one of your questions.

I now have 3 hides one on either side and one in the middle.
 
I personally have success with the overhead light, and the temperatures are regulated just fine, not to disagree because UTH's are good too, I just don't think the light bothers them at all.
I have a good day/night cycle and they have plenty of hides to stay out of direct light, but I see them soaking up heat from perches directly below the light and they are quite happy and healthy.
I also think it looks more natural as a vivarium and the light heats all objects below it which creates heat from the bottom as well, just my opinion.
 
I took everyone’s suggestions into consideration and did a revaluation of the tank. In short, I started over.

The temp gauge I have on the back pane was showing 80 degrees on the warm side. The temp gauge is about 1-1.5 inches above the substrate which is slightly offset to the UTH. To not make any assumptions I measured the temps of the substrate. When I measured the temp of the substrate directly above the UTH the temp was 107.5 degrees!! I thought the new gauge was malfunctioning so I reran the temp with another gauge...again, 107 degrees.

It does make sense why the baby corn didn't spend much time on the warm side of the tank. On good day there would have bee somewhere between a 20-30 degree difference between the different sides of the tank. I reworked the heating with this insulated heating wire from one of the local pet stores. (The type of insulted wire that uses electrical tape to attach it to the bottom of the tank and heats up when plugged into the wall – I don’t remember the name) Even though the temp gauge (on the back pane of the tank) was still showing 80 degrees the substrate temp was down to 87 degrees and stayed there for an extended durations.

After putting the baby corn snake back into the tank he spent the better part of yesterday sprawled out on the substrate, in his little tree, or in his rock hide all on the warm side. S/he is much more visible and is not cold to the touch. The baby snake seems much happier now.

...So happy, the wife went out and bought a baby corn her own. - funny how that works.

I wanted to say THANKS to everyone who posted their ideas and suggestions.
 
As stated Corns do not need the light and MOST dont
like it. I only use the room lights to view them.
The UTH is all thats needed. You can get a thermostat
to regulate the temps or as many do is a rheostat (lamp dimmer)
to regulate the temps. Everything else sounds fine.
Welcome to the forum and to this wonderful addiction!
 
I would also like to suggest a thermometer with probe, since the gauge you have (I assume) is the one you stick on the glass. If that is the case, they don't work...
What I have is an inexpensive thermometer I bought at Lowes. It measures the inside temperature (cold side) and has a probe to measure the outside temperature (warm side). It also records the max and min temps in both sides.
It's fairly inexpensive ($9) and an invaluable tool.
 
You are correct. The temp guages I have are the ones that stick to the glass. For the moment i have one thermometer with a prob. I look at getting some from Lowes this weekend. Thanks!
 
I'm glad you got your temp down, wouldn't want a fried snakey on our hands. Congratulations on your wife getting one too! My roommate really wants a corn now that I have a few. ^_^
 
As for the infra red light.... You could use it... however, I would not use it as a "heat source" per se. Instead, I would back it off of the tank so that it doesn't add any heat. Then you could use it to view the little one at night. Remember that there should be a slight temp drop at night.

Glad to see that you worked things out! Hopefully, what we've all offered has been helpful.

KUDOS on the wife getting one too! Wish THAT would happen in my house! LOL.

Congrats!
 
Congratulations on your TWO new babies! It sounds like you're doing a good job at providing what they'll need to be healthy and happy for a long time to come.
 
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