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UTH question

Bribees

New member
I just purchased my first corn snake 10 days ago. I have 40 gallon tank with a UTH and a 50 watt basking bulb above. This allows me to keep the temp on the basking side between 83-85 degrees during the hottest part of the day and then when the basking light goes off at night (the basking light is on an automatic timer) the UTH will keep the temperature on the warm side between 75-80 degrees. I have been using reptile carpet but am thinking I should switch over to aspen bedding to allow my corn snake to burrow. I have been measuring my temps on the top of the reptile carpet.

If I am just using the aspen bedding with no reptile carpet then where should I be measuring the temperature at? Should I being measuring the temperature on the top of the glass underneath all of the aspen bedding, or should I be measuring the surface on top of the aspen bedding, or somewhere in between? I don't want my corn to get burned if it burrows down to the glass, but I want it to be warm enough if it is hanging out on top of the bedding. Also, how deep should the bedding be.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks so much for the response Chip!

With regards to ditching the light I've read that using lights on a timer to help regulate a natural day/night 12 hour cycle is beneficial to corns. I'm guessing that the light from a window will suffice then? I think I'll try ditching the lights and see how she does.

Also, do I need to lower the temps on the warm side during the night, or just keep the same temp on the warm side day and night and let the snake worry about regulating it's own temp by going in between the warm side and the cool side of the tank?
 
As stated, I would ditch the light since your conclusion about the light in the room is accurate.

No need to adjust the temperature at night. Since you have created a temperature gradient, the snake will adjust itself automatically.

Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun with your new addition.
 
Thanks for the reply Jason! That information was helpful. I removed the reptile carpet and lighting last night and added about 2 1/2 inches of aspen bedding to the bottom of the glass tank. I also turned the warm side down a bit to try to be closer to 82-83 degrees inside the warm hide. I was probably closer to 88-89 degrees inside the warm hide before.

A little more information. The snake is a blood red, is about 3-4 years old (or so I was told), and weighs 310 grams. She didn't seem aggressive at all at the pet ship but the second day after I brought her home she started rattling her tail while I was holding her. After that I tried to leave her alone for the most part, for about a week. She ate her first (for me) frozen mouse 4 days ago. She has been pretty skittish since I brought her home, diving for the safety of one of her hides when anyone walked into the room. Two days ago she bit my 9 year old daughter. We were sitting on the floor and I was holding the snake in my lap when my daughter reached out to pet it on the middle of it's body. As soon as she softly touched it's side the snake flinched, turned and bit her. My daughter's movement was not really a sudden movement and so I was pretty surprised as I have read how docile corn snakes are supposed to be. She was fine, until she saw blood, which freaked her out a bit. We washed the bite and cleaned it up but a few hours later she had a rash on her hand. We gave her some Benadryl and that made the rash go away. By the next day my daughter was already wanting to hold the snake again--although I want to work with the snake for a week or two in order to be more confident of it's temperament before I let my daughter hold it again. I think that the combination of the new enclosure, the lights, the reptile carpet (with less places for the snake to hide) and maybe keeping the temperature in the warm hide a bit too high were perhaps all contributing to the skittish/aggressive behavior. The snake already seemed less skittish last night on the aspen bedding as I was able to walk in and out of the room and even reach my hand into the enclosure to arrange some things without the snake diving for one of it's hides. This morning I noticed that she had been burrowing all night through the aspen bedding. So hopefully these changes all help to make the snake more confident/less skittish.

I'm going to take it slow, but hopefully I'll have my daughters handling the snake soon. Any other tips on how to introduce children to a snake that has been a bit skittish/aggressive would be appreciated!
 
Most times aggression in corn snakes is because of inappropriate temperature or housing. I have my heat mats on a probed thermostat to heat to 86 degrees and then cut out. The residual heat rises to about 87.5 and then falls back down until the thermostat cuts in again at 83. Every one of my corns is docile and digests well with these temperatures. The thermostat really takes the guesswork out of the heat mat.

I would get the set-up right so that she's not stressed, and leave her alone for at least another week again, and always for a couple of days after she eats.
 
Thanks Rigby and Marcy. Just curious, when you say your thermostat is set to heat to 86 degrees, does that mean 86 degrees on the surface of the glass above the UTH or 86 degrees on the surface of the substrate?
 
Most people glue their probe to the hottest surface. I have to set my thermostats between 95 and 105 to get mid 80's on the substrate surface, but it varies from rack to rack.
 
The probe is glued to the surface of the glass over the middle of the UTH, inside the warm hide. My snakes push the substrate out of the way if they want it warmer inside the hide.
 
The other thing is that when you bring home a new acquisition let them be for a few days to acclimate to their new surroundings. You could also put a piece of clothe from an old recently worn shirt in the cage so the snake can get used to the smell. I have been reading about hand and arm washing prior to and after handling a snake. Makes sense to me.
 
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