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Where do you keep your hatchlings???

R

Rhoman

New member
Just a quick question. Where do you guys keep the hatchlings you hatch out? Whether to keep or for temporary housing until you sell them? Thanks for the help. Just trying to prepare for next year. I am considering building a shoebox rack. But I've heard that might be too much room for hatchlings. Would something utilizing deli cups be better? Thanks for the help.
Rhoman
 
I think a shoebox rack would be a fine size for hatchlings. I don't like the idea of keeping hatchlings in deli cups - not enough room, IMHO.
 
Well, I'm pretty small potatoes compared to some but... I use deli cups for my hatchlings. Mainly because my room is very limited. I produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 - 150 babies a year and it's just hard to fit that many shoeboxes in my spare bedroom.(My spare bedroom is my snake room.)
I know the space is cramped for the little ones but I look at it that it is at least a lot bigger than that little egg they just hatched out of. I also feel that this set up is only temporary. Once the little one has found a new home I feel it will have a larger home then.

L8r,
wc
 
Personally, I have been keeping baby corns in deli cups as their first cages and definitely feel that the pros outweigh the cons. I have also found that I get more babies to start feeding sooner with them in a confined space with their pinky mouse. Sometimes it is curiosity, and other times irritation at that wiggling pinky mouse that gets them to make that first grab at it. In a larger cage, they might not even find the darn thing or else solve the irritation problem by just going over to the opposite side of the cage.

Getting ready for a show is MUCH easier now than it used to be. Just picking out the deli cups and loading them into the styros takes a whole lot less time than transferring them from a shoebox to a deli cup and then transferring the unsold ones back there when we get back.

I can't remember when I actually first went to the deli cup rack system for my babies, but I believe I may even have an entire generation (or maybe two?) that were raised this way that are now breeding fine and proof positive that it is not detrimental to their health in any manner I can determine. Of course, there are always going to be a few that will resent being in a smaller cage, but I have found that putting them in a larger cage only delays their pushing at the lid until they get big enough to do that there as well. The few snakes I get that get damaged noses is more because of the company that drills the holes in the deli cups doing it in such a manner that the rough edges are on the inside rather than the outside of the deli cup bottoms.

I have kept baby corns in deli cups an embarrassingly long period of time and in most cases they do not care at all. If I could, I would certainly move them to larger cages more quickly than I do, but all things considered, this has been one of the best ideas I have ever come up with. There is just no other way I could maintain the number of babies I do every season without it.

Since I am in this business for the long haul, and many of the babies I produce are for my own breeding stock, certainly if I felt this method were detrimental to the health of the animals, I would have no other choice but to find a different, better solution to keeping all of those babies.

IMHO.
 
Side-affects of using deli cups.

I've noticed one side-affect from your using deli cups, Rich, that I want to pass on. It's NOT a negative side-affect, just an interesting one.

When I receive a new baby, I don't throw away their deli cups. I'll write their names on the cup with a Sharpie and use it as a food dish from then on. That way, they don't get any substrate. Almost every one of the snakes I have that came from you will, to this day, curl up inside their deli cup/food dish after they eat and lay there for a couple of days before going back to their hides. The ones that don't do this CAN'T any more; they're too big.

They have this expression on their faces that says, "Ah, home sweet home!" :)
 
Thanks Everyone!!

I think I'll probably go with the deli cups and then switch keeper to shoeboxes later. Just one more question though, how do you guys heat the deli cups? Do you try to provide a gradient and if so how? Thanks again. Sorry but once you find one answer in leaves just more questions, so my quest for knowledge is never ending.
Rhoman
 
I think a lot of people like Rich don't need heat since they are in warm states. (florida)
Even in PA, where winters are bad, I don't need heat on my corns during hatchling season.
Also, some have snake rooms, so in that room, set the thermostat to 80 and you're all set.
 
I think deli cups are great, if you have a lots of babies.... but I would like to know - how do you provide a water dish, or even a humidity chamber if you wish? don't babies need this too?

J. :)
 
Question about shedding...

Since snakes like to rub against rough objects when shedding, how well do the babies shed in the deli cups? How do they start their sheds since the cups are so smooth?

Thanks!
 
Little drink cups & shedding in deli cups?

Rich can explain it better than I can but there are little drink cups made out of pvc pipe ends. Rich sells these at shows. They are Great!! They allow the neonate to drink water and yet, prevents the little snake from tipping it over. The drink cup I believe fits snug against, (or close enough - there may be just a very tiny gap) the lid. You would have to ask Rich or go to his site to find out what he charges for these cups. Believe me, IMHO, they are well worth the price. You can wash them and use them year after year.
As far as shedding, I find many shed very nicely and will use the water cup itself to help with the shed. Sometimes they will even sit in the water dish to soak before that first shed.

L8r,
wc
 
Go to the section on breeding etc and you can see pics of Rich's cups. I just got 50 and they are a Godsend. I'm going to need 100 or so more for next year. They are great.
 
Yeah, I've been using those water dishes for a few years now and don't know what I would have done without them. I've probably got about 3,000 or so for my own use and I'm milling more of them just about every day. I don't know if I'm going to have enough of them to sell at the shows, as they are rather time consuming even with the machinery I got to make them. But these are much nicer than the ones I was doing on my drill press originally.

I've been sending out a couple of hundred of them a week lately, so I'm just barely keeping on top of it as it is.

Since they are made out of PVC they should last just about forever. When they get dirty, I just throw a batch of them in a 5 gallon bucket fillled with bleach water and then reuse them next season.
 
CornCrazy, about your shedding question

I've noticed my snakes don't require a rough surface to aid in the shed. I've seen them rubbing their snouts on the walls of smooth plastic shoeboxes, which releases the skin from around the mouth. What happens next is aided by the fact that the inside of the shed, as it's being released, is very sticky. A smooth plastic surface actually works great to anchor the skin for the snake to slip out of it. They're out of their skin in a few seconds and then the skin dries and loses its stickiness. If you ever have the privilege of having a snake shed in your hands you'll notice the stickiness and how it is essential for the shedding process.

So, rough surfaces, I am certain, are not needed in deli cups, shoe boxes or aquarium tanks to aid in the shedding process of cornsnakes.
 
Thanks!

To everyone who answered my shedding question! I guess lots of what one reads is misleading:) I've always thought they needed the rough surface. It's good to know that they don't.
 
I never thought about it but...

Most of mine I find their sheds stuck to their water bowl. Well that's cool, I guess you learn something new every day.
Rhoman
 
As most people learn sooner or later, they will tend to shed their skins around and in the water bowls. If the skin drapes into the water, it will siphon out all of the water and soak the cage.

As for the deli cups, I find most of the time that the snake's skin is wrapped completely around the little water dishes. Never had a problem that way, and there is not a rough spot to be found in the deli cup.
 
Rich, can I prepay for some of those water dishes....

for deli-cups and have you bring them up to a show? I hate to pay shipping if I don't have to. Would you sell them in smaller quantities than 100? I know that I won't need near that many (if I can ever get my cornsnakes to actually produce eggs, that is).
Thanks.
suefrederick
 
I know how you feel about shipping but it is really cheap for the water dishes. I just got 50 for $42.50. At a show Rich had them at 25 for $20 so in essence the shipping is only $2.50. A bargain. In another post he mentioned selling them in smaller quantities at shows.
 
RACK

Hello to all, before my corns started hatching, i searched high and low for what i thought was the best way to house them. i ordered a hatchling rack from [email protected]. What do i think of it is as follows. very well built, easy to use and the perfect size for both the baby snake and space considerations. I thought the price was reasonable and included shipping. I am very happy with it. Thanks REG
 
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