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Shy Snake?

M

MrMerlin

New member
Ok, so 12 days ago I got my first ever Corn snake, a lovely female about 8 weeks old. Had a healthy feeding record etc, looked in good shape so no worries there.

After an understandable nervous hour or so, she came out and was exploring the vivarium , up and down the glass, over the hides, around the edges etc... and she carried on this behaviour for a few days. She used to first come out roughly 4pm and stay out til 10pm, exploring all of the time.

After 4 days I put my hand in the viv and fairly near her (within 6 inches) for her to get used to me, my smell and presence etc, she didn't like this and darted under a hide, but reappeared an hour later like normal.

The day after I gave her her first feed (7 days since the last feed, 5 since I got her), everything went ok. Then she dissappeared for a day or two (presumably to digest in peace) after which she poked her head out for 10 minutes.

Since then I haven't seen her, so thats 3 days without seeing her at all. Is this usual for a snake? Was the initial high actvity only because it was new space, now she's settled she's really quiet? Could she be getting ready to shed? I don't want to check under hides etc just yet and disturb her if this is normal behaviour and I'm just worrying to much.
 
I would say you're safe in lifting hides and looking for her? It'd be good to know she didn't somehow escape and that she's all right if you haven't seen her at all. There's a difference between lifting a hide and going rooting through the substrate.

My not so experienced .02.
 
Oh, yeah, that's real common. Most of ours cruised their enclosures for a few days, testing for ways out, then gave up. At least that's my interpretation. Since they settled in, some spend a good bit of time continuing to search, some curl up on top of their hides (in Lurking Vulture mode), and most of them spend most of their time buried under the aspen or back in their hides. A majority come out and poke around at least a little bit on occasional evenings, but there are a couple we never see until we dig them out of the aspen.

Yeah, it's exciting watching the aspen sit there.

Don't be too hesitant about digging your snake out to check on her - messing with them is the only way to get them used to being messed with. Leave her alone for 24 hours after eating, and when she's in shed (they are a lot more skittish then), but otherwise you shouldn't need to worry much about disturbing her.
 
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