• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

...to rid some corn snake myths

jonmc8

New member
From my personal experience, and also a friend of mine that is a breeder of 1000's of corns and 1000's of retics for over 30 years, you really do not need much to house corns...Heat is not an issue if you can keep the room in the 70's, through say a space heater in the winter here in Ohio...A snake will be more active with a heat gradient of course, but I am personally into more snakes, than one active snake, especially when corns are native right up to the ohio border, which isn't nearly 70 always...I held corns in tanks for a short while, 10 gallon with a laminated board as a lid ($12.00) with usually only substrate, and water dish, since hatchlings will just hide under the water dish...I now take the extremely economic route of housing in plastic containers of roughly the size of a 10 gallon, just without the height, for a mere $5.00...it doesn't hurt to spend a few dollars and put some driftwood for the snake to get off the ground...all in all, as long as you feed the corn correctly, not too big mostly, the heat is not an issue for digesting properly, which heat is obviously the biggest cost, with a heat pad, and thermometor...if you really want heat, wire up some flexwatt and wire a cheap dimmer to it...hope this can help you house more snakes, and for about $10 a setup...
 
I use a rack system. I am not sure if I agree that your snakes would be ok if your room was 70 degrees all year. I don't have a ton of corns, so what works for you I am not going to deny... I just would rather have a thermostat, thermometer, and heat source. I like knowing what the temp is all the time. When it gets colder than "reccomended" temps near the Ohio boarder, the snakes find shelter where 1. they won't freeze and 2. where they can brumate and "rest" for the season coming... Its kinda a different story and a few of the myths have only to do with Captive raised animals, where you'd want to give the best possible care you can provide, and allow for minimal outside influences on your collection (including but not limited to bacteria, temperatures, pests.. etc). As I said if this works for you thats awesome, just be careful what you tell people just entering reptile handling, and care.
 
By all means I agree with you...Most snakes are very tempermental of there surroundings in captivity, such as heat, and tank sizes...I however would say that Corn snakes are about the easiest to deal with...I keep temp in the high 70's, and the snakes are active enough to provide adequate excercise...I would always suggest people new to the world of reptiles, to listen to breeders and to also weed through some of the information your given...In conclusion, more or less, do what works for you, and over time, hopefully one can try and learn more economic habits of housing snakes, to only add to the collection...It's always better to start out safe, than lose an animal due to being cheap...
 
It's always better to start out safe, than lose an animal due to being cheap...

Yeah, that's what I was worried about when first I saw your thread. A new snake owner that doesn't know what to watch out for may give their snake the minimum care needed and lose it.
On the temps my snake agrees with you. I provide an 83F area with a hide. My snake uses it very little, mostly after being fed, if It is set at 85F she will not use it at all. She prefers the cooler side of her viv, which is usually close to 72F. If the room temp gets below about 68F she will be in or near her warm hide.
 
Back
Top