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Want A Corn Snake

I don't really know why it wouldn't be ok to use a black light but it does sound a little strange. I think using heat lamps in general kind of scares me :p. I can't imagine it would be fun to live under a black light 24/7 just looking at those things for a few minutes hurts my eyes. If I were you I would at least get a different bulb for daytime until you figure out the UTH thing. Just look for a lower wattage bulb even a 50 watt gets pretty warm.
 
CaseyUndead said:
Hey again, guys. I'm now officially the owner of an adorable baby cornsnake :) I think he's a "normal" type. Mostly brown and orange-y colors. They called it a "red corn snake." I'll have to take a picture sometime.
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Another common name for corn snakes is "red rat snake".
 
CaseyUndead said:
Right now he's just kind of curled up in the corner of the tank where i put him, not really moving much at all. I guess that's normal for hatchlings to be a little scared?
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Yes, it's normal. Give him a day or two to settle in and he should start exploring his surroundings.
They said they were feeding him once a week, every thursday. So we bought a pinkie there so that we can feed him this week, before we can get the ones from online shipped.
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If your snake is still eating pinkies, once a week is not enough, IMHO. When my snakes are still eating one pinkie at a time, they are fed every four days. When they graduate to two pinkies, I extend it to every five days, then every six days when they are large enough to eat fuzzies. I don't go for a week between feedings on any snake eating food smaller than hoppers.
 
Thanks, i'll try to start him feeding more often. Is there any way to tell if he's hungry?

But i have a concern. About an hour ago i woke up and picked up my corn to make sure he's doing alright(because, so far, when he's in his cage he doesn't really move much. so i get concerned and pick him up to make sure he's alive.). He slithered around in my hand a little, and seemed alright. but i noticed a tiny black bug crawling around on his head. It wasn't under the scales or anything, it was on the outside. I got it off, and checked him all over to see if i could find any others, and i didn't. I'm afraid it might have been a mite. I didn't see any others, but does that mean that they could be under his scales where i can't see them? It was small, but i don't know if it looked quite small enough to fit under this little guy's scales. Is it possible that he just had that one? Is there any way to tell if he has mites under his scales? And if he has then, what's the best way to treat him?
 
CaseyUndead said:
Thanks, i'll try to start him feeding more often. Is there any way to tell if he's hungry?
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Some don't show any outward signs of hunger at all, while others start pacing back and forth in the viv every time they see you, thinking it must be feeding time again.
He slithered around in my hand a little, and seemed alright. but i noticed a tiny black bug crawling around on his head.....Is it possible that he just had that one? Is there any way to tell if he has mites under his scales? And if he has then, what's the best way to treat him?
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If you see one, there are bound to be others. Any decent pet store will have mite treatment.
 
Well, i haven't seen any more of the little mite things. But i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for them on him and in his tank(i'm using white paper towels as substrate, so they should be easy to see).

Since everyone seems to say that he should eat more than the once a week they were doing in the pet shop, i went ahead and fed him his first meal with me today. The pinkie looked huge compared to his head, and it took him about five minutes or so, but he got it down just fine. I held it by its' little tail and moved it around by his face. He struck at it, then i let go and he started cramming it into his mouth. I guess i'll feed him again sometime this weekend.
 
Oh! And i bought a heating pad and rheostat from reptilesupply. I would have gotten a thermostat instead, but we usually keep the temperatures in our house pretty constant. And something constantly going on and off seems like it would be kind of annoying. So i think a rheostat will do the trick. Also bought a pack of 50 pinkies from bigcheeserodents. So, once that stuff get's here i'll be totally set up. I'll just use the heat lamp until the heating pad get delivered.
 
Well, for the price they had it at, I would have gone with the thermostat. I imagine the rheostat probably wasn't that much cheaper. You don't even notice the thermostat switching on and off unless you connect a lamp to it, which is sort of a waste if you got the UTH.
 
CaseyUndead said:
Since everyone seems to say that he should eat more than the once a week they were doing in the pet shop, i went ahead and fed him his first meal with me today. The pinkie looked huge compared to his head, and it took him about five minutes or so, but he got it down just fine. I held it by its' little tail and moved it around by his face. He struck at it, then i let go and he started cramming it into his mouth. I guess i'll feed him again sometime this weekend.
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I am still quite amazed at how big a tiny snake can stretch his mouth to accommodate his food. At pinky eating size, every four or five days is an appropriate feeding interval, so either Saturday or Sunday would be perfect. Congratulations on your first feeding.
 
A rheostat should work fine as long as you check temperatures at least once a day. For one snake this shouldn't be an issue, but I would worry if I had to leave the snake for an extended period of time for a trip or something.

I've also read here that a few people have had problems with ZooMed rheostats not getting the temperature low enough. I've never had one so I don't know for sure, I did use a walmart lamp dimmer for a while and had to turn it almost all the way down to get a good 84-86 degrees.
 
How long should i wait after feeding before handling my snake? I've heard some people say 48 hours(seems a little long..), and some say 24 hours.
 
Oh my god.. i have a regurge. What do i do?! I didn't hold him or anything, and i just went in to check on him and it was there.
 
What do i do with the regurgitated mouse? do i need to wait 7 days to feed him again? It was only a pinkie, should i cut the pinkie in half next time?
 
It could be the stress of a new home, which is why most people recommend not feeding or handling them for 3-4 days minimum, up to a week after getting them. Or it could be that the pinkie was too big, or the temps aren't right. or some other unknown factor.
 
Double check your temps. If they are ok, and you didn't handle him, I would say the regurge is due to the stress of moving. Read the links Jazz provided and follow the advice of Kathy Love (found in the FAQ) to the letter. Throw the regurged mouse away and start with a fresh one next time. Good luck and try to stay calm. They will survive one regurge. But you don't want it to happen again.
 
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