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Question on hides

M

Mina

New member
Toby, my 5 month old male cornsnake is acting differently since I cleaned his cage. I gave him a bigger (much bigger) water dish, and he stil has his stump hide. Ever since I gave him the water dish he hasn't gone in the hide. He crams himself between the water dish and the side of the viv. He isn't burrowing under the substrate either, he is out all of the time. Is something wrong? He hasn't done this before?
 
he probably just likes it there. It could also be your temperatures. hows your setup, and whats your temps?
 
Right now his temps are 81.1 on the cool side, 93.7 on the warm side. He is in a 5 1/2 gallon tank (I just got him a 10 gallon and am going to move him late in the week, he eats tonight) he has aspen bedding, thick enough for him to burrow into, and a stump hide on the warm side. The cool side is where his water dish is, and where he is curled up. He seems happy and he is active. I was just concerned because this isn't his normal behavior.
 
That seems very warm to me- maybe he just likes the cool feel of the outside of the water dish!

Choco has a variety of beautiful hides all over his viv. He mostly chooses to sit under a plastic tupperware moist hide. Like under the flat lid, not even in a cave. On the aspen, under the whole thing.

Nanci
 
Your temps are quite high. The warm side of the cage should be about 85. And the cool side should be about 75. So he's probably cooling off.
 
I have a corn about the same age as yours and she was doing the same thing. I added an extra hide on the cool side of her viv. Forget spending a lot of money on those pretty hides at the pet store.The best thing that I have found is a paper towel tube. Not the prettiest thing in your viv, but mine seems to love it. She alternates between the two hides quite a bit, but i think her tube is the favorite. It is really dark inside and she can peek out when she wants too and still feels safe.
 
1. Your temps are way too high.
2. You need more hides.

Both of these points have already been covered, so I won't repeat what was said, but I agree with both of them. For a hatchling, I use a minimum of three hides. BTW, the love toilet tissue rolls smashed flat.
 
Mina said:
Right now his temps are 81.1 on the cool side, 93.7 on the warm side. He is in a 5 1/2 gallon tank (I just got him a 10 gallon and am going to move him late in the week, he eats tonight) he has aspen bedding, thick enough for him to burrow into, and a stump hide on the warm side. The cool side is where his water dish is, and where he is curled up. He seems happy and he is active. I was just concerned because this isn't his normal behavior.
Click to expand...

Those temperatures are about right for a ball python, but not a corn snake. Cool side temperatures should be ~70-78, and warm side temperatures should be ~82-86 ºF.
 
BeckyG said:
For a hatchling, I use a minimum of three hides.
Click to expand...

Hey Becky,

Why three? Just what seems to work for you, or is there a specific reason behind it?

Thanks,
Jenni
 
it doesnt need to be a specific number, but enough so that the snake can be in a hide at different temperatures.
In my tank i have 4 hides, 2 on the hot, 1 in the middle, and 1 on the cold.

I didnt use the store bought hides, i just use random rocks and sticks that i find.(bake them first) I often find that i try and make a hide out of something, and then it turns out to be two hides in one! rather then store bought things that are expensive and just have one area to hide.

In conclusion- use a whole bunch of sticks and slate/rocks. Its free, and it works better then storebought

(baking instructions)- wrap the sticks in tinfoil, and turn the oven to 250. leave the sticks in the oven for 2-3 hours.
 
There are no minimum number of hide rules. All of my snakes have one hide and one water dish. That's it. They all do fine.
 
Right now there is not room in the 5 1/2 gallon for 2 hides and his water dish. I'll have to wait until this weekend to move him to the 10 gallon, then I can put in another hide.
I did change things around in his tank while he was eating, I gave him a much smaller water dish, and a smaller hide. I was hoping he wanted to curl up and the other hide was much bigger than him. He curled up in the coconut hut after I put him back, so he seems to like it. I'll put all of your suggestions to use right away, and put in more hides as soon as I can.
Thanks!!!!!!!
 
You have to remember that the smaller the tank, the harder it will be to have a good temperature range.
When I got my snake I started with a 30 gal..It seemed a bit big at first,so I made sure I had a good amount of wood,,hides,,plants and large water dish in the center.
Now,,watching my little guy crawl all around,up and down,in and under,,well,I couldn't see him(her) living in a smaller tank.
 
Jrgh17 said:
Hey Becky,

Why three? Just what seems to work for you, or is there a specific reason behind it?

Thanks,
Jenni
Click to expand...

One on the warm side, one on the cool side, and one in the middle so the snake doesn't have to cross the whole tank feeling exposed. And as always, the bigger the tank, the more hides you need. I use the general rule of thumb that a snake should have to travel no further than 2/3 of its body length to find another place to feel secure.
 
2/3 his body length ??,,won't that get you a "couch potato" snake ??.
A little extra crawling around has got to be a good thing,no ??.
 
Droptines said:
2/3 his body length ??,,won't that get you a "couch potato" snake ??.
A little extra crawling around has got to be a good thing,no ??.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: ... hhh. Your not getting this. just because theres a hide, doesn't mean that he HAS to go into that hide. but he should be able to feel safe without having to slither his whole way across the tank so that he can thermo regulate.The more hides the better!

and anyways, moving from one hide to another isn't the only exercise they get.
 
Having a couch in your house doesn't automatically make you a couch potato. You have to choose to sit on it for long periods of time. Snakes are the same way. Just because the hide is there doesn't mean they stay in it all the time. However, the issue here is not exercise, it's stress.

For a hatchling to feel secure, it has to have cover. When it is out cruising its viv and gets spooked for any reason, it needs to have a place right there for it to dart into and feel safe.

More hides, closer together, less stress.
 
With snakes under 100g, I usually provide one long hide that spans the entire temp gradient. With snakes over 100g, I provide the same hide, if they use it, but most do not. If I never see a snake in its hide, it loses hide privileges. :grin01: But most of these 100g+ snakes are on aspen, and in racked tubs. The aspen itself can serve as a hide, and in a closed rack, the tub becomes one big hide.
 
It seems like my snake doesn't use her hides as much as she did when I first got her.I would say half as much now.But,,also I think it could be a food thing.I have to bump up her food size to keep her full a bit longer.I have 3 of the smaller pinkies left,,then I'm going to go to larger size.When she eats now,,the lump is almost not noticeable,AND she keeps crawling around,right after she has eaten.Shes do to eat tonight,so I'm going to give her 2 pinkies,see how that goes.
 
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